MIT engineers designed reusable face mask that's as effective as an N95 — take a look this affordable mask

MIG: At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, the shortage of N95 respirator masks presented a dire situation for the healthcare and frontline workers who needed them most. Essential workers who relied on N95 masks had no choice but to wear what were meant to be disposable N95 masks for weeks at a time. Some started disinfecting the masks to be redistributed and reused. 

Now, as Covid-19 infections surge and states such as Texas and Florida and hospitals and healthcare workers once again become overwhelmed with the volume of patients, N95 respirators still remain in short supply.

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But engineers and researchers at MIT and Brigham and Women's Hospital have a created a new type of face mask that could be a game-changer. In a laboratory setting, the prototype worked as well as a N95 respirator at filtering out virus-containing particles.

The biggest innovation? While N95 masks are made entirely from a special material that filters out airborne droplets and fluids that could contain the Covid-19 virus, the new MIT mask is made from silicone, with slots for just two small, disposable disks of the N95 material (which serve as filters). That means the masks themselves can be quickly and easily sterilized and reused, and though the small filters must be thrown out, each mask requires much less N95 material.

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