The public have been urged to exercise caution when buying cloth masks in traffic as their efficacy and the condition of production cannot be ascertained.
Chief Executive Officer of AirMask and Textiles Company,
manufacturers of respiratory protection devices, Muntaka Chasant, expressed
worry that flaunting cloth masks in the faces of drivers and passengers for
sale in traffic could lead to the contamination of the masks.
“Street hawkers displaying their cloth masks ostentatiously in the faces of
drivers and other commuters who touch them to select which design they prefer
is an area we have to look at quickly,” Mr Chasant told the Ghana News Agency
in an interview on Saturday.
“Cloth masks may help to block the larger droplets from the wearer in case they
have the virus, but it is absolutely important wearers understand that they get
minimal protection compared with certified filtering face pieces such as N95,
KN95, and P2, which use electrically charged fibers to filter out particles down
to 0.3 microns.”
Mr Chasant, chief executive of AirMask, an anti-pollution mask company in
Accra, explained that the N95 respirator, for instance, was airtight and when worn
correctly, enables the wearer to breathe through the snug mask without leaks on
the sides.
He expressed worry that cloth mask wearers may be having a false sense of
security, thinking they had the same level of protection as wearing of
certified respirators.
“Homemade masks fit loosely, and usually use filtering layers that are not
scientifically tested to filter out tiny particles that are of concern to the
wearer.”
“Some people seem to position the masks to sit right below their noses, which
expose them to infection, especially the coronavirus”.
Mr Chasant is also an air pollution awareness campaigner, known for his
campaign on the health effects of air pollution in low income areas such as
Agbogbloshie and Jamestown in Accra.
He said respiratory protection was based on science and it was time to educate
mask wearers on the ‘dos and don’ts’ in order not to put themselves in harm’s
way.
“Aside the benefit respirators provide during this COVID-19 pandemic, we should
be happy that wearers may also see reduced exposure to particulate pollutants
from car exhaust, road dust, open burning of residential trash, and soot from
the use of biomass-fueled cook stoves indoors,” he said.
Mr Chasant urged people with lung function problems to seek medical advice before
wearing any kind of respiratory protection device.
Meanwhile, he has urged the Accra Metropolitan Assembly to ensure that street
beggars stopped touching vehicles in traffic and getting too close to drivers
and passengers because “nobody knows what infection they may be carrying.”
“You find panhandlers in a lot of traffic stops in Accra, and it is frightening
at this point in time to still see children and adults darting from car to car,
touching car windows and getting too close to drivers.”
“They move between hundreds if not thousands of cars each day begging for
money. They are at risk themselves, and also expose commuters to infection and
disease. It’s a difficult situation but the City of Accra must endeavour to do
something about it,” Mr Chasant said.
GNA