KN95 Face Masks 20pk

4/2/2020 – What is the difference between this mask and the N95?

Response From Compac Industries: Here is a response from Noelle, RDH:

N95 is the American made (majority) NIOSH approved mask that has LOW availability for many right now because of the manufacturing shortage. This is a pretty big deal right now and is being investigated because it came to the attention of the FDA/CDC that those distributors were shipping N95 masks overseas in our time of crisis and shortage instead of serving the US first. Hospitals have contracts with suppliers and they are NOT allowed to order supplies from any vendor that has NOT been approved by the FDA, and unfortunately, those are the vendors that are under contract with 3M. This is why there is such a shortage of N95 masks for hospitals and why you see
doctors and nurses making homemade cloth masks and reusing PPE for weeks at a time. The demand has spiked significantly and the supply can not keep up.

Even though the CDC and FDA have approved the use of KN95 (China made equivalent to N95...42 CFR 84 standard), hospitals cannot order them because of the red tape surrounding their vendor relationships, which is why they have asked for donations of any PPE equipment.

Our KN95 masks follow GB2626-2006, China's testing standard for safety and filtration. China's KN95 GB2626-2006 standard is basically equivalent to the US standard 42 CFR84, for safety and filtration, which is why it was approved for import and use during this time.

This same issue is happening right now with ventilators, where the FDA is authorizing the emergency use of alternative equipment and devices. Many individuals and companies are bravely stepping up to the plate and importing or making PPE and devices to help support the COVID19 healthcare crisis in America, including Compac Industries.

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1791500O/comparison-ffp2-kn95-n95-filtering-facepiece-respirator-classes-tb.pdf
https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/topics/respirators/pt84abs2.html
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/respirators-strategy/index.html?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fcoronavirus%2F2019-ncov%2Fhcp%2Frespirators-strategy%2Fcrisis-alternate-strategies.html