Tracheostomy is often indicated for patients with COVID-19 suffering from severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). The French Army Biomedical Research Center provided hospitals with the military gas masks equipped with a P3 filter cartridge and an integrated ventilation unit which will enable the safe performance of the procedure when facing a high risk of transmission of the virus. You can also check out a variety of military gas masks on https://www.gasmaskpro.com/gas-masks
FFP2 or FFP3 masks can provide appropriate protection, as this mask has a 95% -99% efficiency when tested at 0.30 pM particles. However, their success for SARS-CoV-2 protection has not been explored, and the virus has a smaller calibre (0.1 to 0.15 m) 0.1. An additional concern is the potential risk of progressive degradation and increasing porosity, which could explain the lower efficiency of FFP2 or FFP3 masks compared with powered air-purifying respirators.
By contrast, the gas mask was originally designed to protect soldiers against biological and chemical attacks, providing full protection. The filter in the device is comparable with an FFP3 filter and can be fully effective for hours without performance degradation.
The filter and the powered air-purifying respirator are also positioned at the back of the surgeon, away from the patient’s airways and from virus projection during the trachea incision. Gas masks can be useful when FFP3 masks are lacking or when operating in a restricted military situations. Gas masks are also reusable after decontamination.