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KN95 masks are available from China. Those are an excellent choice for the general population and do not affect the supply of N95 masks to medical personnel.

KN95 masks are available from China. Those are an excellent choice for the general population and do not affect the supply of N95 masks to medical personnel. More people need to step and and distribute.

pstrateman 7y ago
Are they though?
ardit33 7y ago
Like the defective ones that were returned back by Holland? https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-netherlands-recalls-defective-masks-bought-from-china/a-52949216 https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-netherlands-recalls-defect...
- castratikron 7y ago
  Well obviously not those
  - pstrateman 7y ago
    Without fairly expensive calibration machines you're not going to be able to tell the difference between KN95 compliant and not.
- azurezyq 7y ago
  Conterfeit and defective items are very general problems throughout all industries. Standard is standard. Importer should do the due diligence to test it and ask for certificates. I just don't see anything wrong with the standard itself.
- bgee 7y ago
  tl;dr: This is misinfoformation; Netherlands tests masks against the wrong specification and blamed on China. KN95 marks that are bought by the Dutch government are not resistant to oily particles (the N stands for Not resistant to oil)[0]; while the European FFP2 standard specifies the mask has to be able to block oil particles [1]. [0]: http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/433598O/european-standards.pdf http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/433598O/european-standard... [1] “Last Saturday, the first shipment from a Chinese manufacturer was delivered in part. These are masks with a KN95 quality certificate.”: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3077428/netherlands-recalls-600000-face-masks-china-due-low-quality https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3077428/ne... Disclaimer: I'm a China national.
  - gruez 7y ago
    >Netherlands tests masks against the wrong specification and blamed on China. >KN95 marks that are bought by the Dutch government are not resistant to oily particles (the N stands for Not resistant to oil)[0]; while the European FFP2 standard specifies the mask has to be able to block oil particles Both of these statements are contradicted by the scmp article you've linked: >The problem with the Chinese masks was first discovered by hospitals that received them, with health workers finding the masks did not fit properly [...] Dutch broadcaster NOS cited a source saying that the Chinese face masks were “not FFP2 quality nor of the lesser safety level of FFP1 – some sort of FFP0.8 at best”, meaning they had less than half the filter efficiency required for the FFP2 designation.
    - bgee 7y ago
      KN95 is not the same thing with FFP2 due to KN95 can not filter oil particles well. Dutch government bought KN95 and tested it against FFP2 and claims it's defective. Updated to have better sentence structure.
      - gruez 7y ago
        >Dutch government bought KN95 and tested it against FFP2 and claims it's defective. The SCMP article says >Dutch broadcaster NOS cited a source saying that the Chinese face masks were “not FFP2 quality nor of the lesser safety level of FFP1 – some sort of FFP0.8 at best”, While I can understand that it can be taken to mean that the masks were subjected to to FFP2 testing (including oil penetration), that would be a very uncharitable/cynical interpretation. A more charitable interpretation of that would be that the FFP2/FFP1 standards are being referenced without oil penetration testing involved, since europe doesn't seem to have separate standards for oil/non-oil like with N95/P95 in north america. This theory is consistent with them comparing against a fictitious standard/rating of FFP0.8. Also, I did some research myself and found the original statement by the health ministry[1]. It actually made no mention of FFP ratings, and only acknowledged that the masks carried a KN95 rating, and that the masks "did not meet the quality standard", which I've taken to mean KN95 rating, not FFP2 rating. I could not find any source that directly said the masks were tested against FFP2 (with oil penetration) and failed. [1] https://nos.nl/artikel/2328673-honderdduizenden-chinese-mondmaskers-teruggeroepen-uit-nederlandse-ziekenhuizen.html https://nos.nl/artikel/2328673-honderdduizenden-chinese-mond...
ikeboy 7y ago
The CDC is recommending KN95 for healthcare workers and I know firsthand of multiple people selling them to hospitals. (I'm bringing some in myself to resell, am very familiar with the market.)

pstrateman 7y ago

Are they though?

ardit33 7y ago

Like the defective ones that were returned back by Holland? https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-netherlands-recalls-defective-masks-bought-from-china/a-52949216 https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-netherlands-recalls-defect...

castratikron 7y ago
Well obviously not those
- pstrateman 7y ago
  Without fairly expensive calibration machines you're not going to be able to tell the difference between KN95 compliant and not.
azurezyq 7y ago
Conterfeit and defective items are very general problems throughout all industries. Standard is standard. Importer should do the due diligence to test it and ask for certificates. I just don't see anything wrong with the standard itself.
bgee 7y ago
tl;dr: This is misinfoformation; Netherlands tests masks against the wrong specification and blamed on China. KN95 marks that are bought by the Dutch government are not resistant to oily particles (the N stands for Not resistant to oil)[0]; while the European FFP2 standard specifies the mask has to be able to block oil particles [1]. [0]: http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/433598O/european-standards.pdf http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/433598O/european-standard... [1] “Last Saturday, the first shipment from a Chinese manufacturer was delivered in part. These are masks with a KN95 quality certificate.”: https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3077428/netherlands-recalls-600000-face-masks-china-due-low-quality https://www.scmp.com/news/china/diplomacy/article/3077428/ne... Disclaimer: I'm a China national.
- gruez 7y ago
  >Netherlands tests masks against the wrong specification and blamed on China. >KN95 marks that are bought by the Dutch government are not resistant to oily particles (the N stands for Not resistant to oil)[0]; while the European FFP2 standard specifies the mask has to be able to block oil particles Both of these statements are contradicted by the scmp article you've linked: >The problem with the Chinese masks was first discovered by hospitals that received them, with health workers finding the masks did not fit properly [...] Dutch broadcaster NOS cited a source saying that the Chinese face masks were “not FFP2 quality nor of the lesser safety level of FFP1 – some sort of FFP0.8 at best”, meaning they had less than half the filter efficiency required for the FFP2 designation.
  - bgee 7y ago
    KN95 is not the same thing with FFP2 due to KN95 can not filter oil particles well. Dutch government bought KN95 and tested it against FFP2 and claims it's defective. Updated to have better sentence structure.
    - gruez 7y ago
      >Dutch government bought KN95 and tested it against FFP2 and claims it's defective. The SCMP article says >Dutch broadcaster NOS cited a source saying that the Chinese face masks were “not FFP2 quality nor of the lesser safety level of FFP1 – some sort of FFP0.8 at best”, While I can understand that it can be taken to mean that the masks were subjected to to FFP2 testing (including oil penetration), that would be a very uncharitable/cynical interpretation. A more charitable interpretation of that would be that the FFP2/FFP1 standards are being referenced without oil penetration testing involved, since europe doesn't seem to have separate standards for oil/non-oil like with N95/P95 in north america. This theory is consistent with them comparing against a fictitious standard/rating of FFP0.8. Also, I did some research myself and found the original statement by the health ministry[1]. It actually made no mention of FFP ratings, and only acknowledged that the masks carried a KN95 rating, and that the masks "did not meet the quality standard", which I've taken to mean KN95 rating, not FFP2 rating. I could not find any source that directly said the masks were tested against FFP2 (with oil penetration) and failed. [1] https://nos.nl/artikel/2328673-honderdduizenden-chinese-mondmaskers-teruggeroepen-uit-nederlandse-ziekenhuizen.html https://nos.nl/artikel/2328673-honderdduizenden-chinese-mond...

ikeboy 7y ago

The CDC is recommending KN95 for healthcare workers and I know firsthand of multiple people selling them to hospitals. (I'm bringing some in myself to resell, am very familiar with the market.)