Efficacy of Face Masks Used in Uganda: A Laboratory-Based Inquiry during the COVID-19 Pandemic

  1. Gerald Mboowa
  2. Derrick Semugenze
  3. Hellen Nakabuye
  4. Douglas Bulafu
  5. Dickson Aruhomukama

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Abstract

With shortages of face masks being reported worldwide, it is critical to consider alternatives to commercially manufactured face masks. This study aimed to test and compare the efficacy of various makes of locally made or homemade cloth face masks obtained from face-mask vendors in Kampala, Uganda, during the COVID-19 pandemic. The testing was performed to assess the bacterial filtration efficiency (BFE), breathability, distance-dependent fitness, and reusability of the locally made or homemade cloth face masks, while considering the most commonly used non-published face-mask decontamination approaches in Uganda. During laboratory experimentation, modified protocols from various face-mask testing organizations were adopted. Ten different face-mask types were experimented upon; each face-mask type was tested four times for every single test, except for the decontamination protocols involving washing where KN95 and surgical face masks were not included. Among the locally made or homemade cloth face masks, the double-layered cloth face masks (described as F) had better BFE and distance-dependent fitness characteristics, they could be reused, and had good breathability, than the other locally made or homemade cloth face masks. Despite these good qualities, the certainty of these face masks protecting wearers against COVID-19 remains subject to viral filtration efficiency testing.

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  1. Version published to 10.4269/ajtmh.21-0030
  2. ScreenIT

    SciScore for 10.1101/2020.09.28.20202952: (What is this?)

    Please note, not all rigor criteria are appropriate for all manuscripts.

    Table 1: Rigor

    Institutional Review Board Statementnot detected.
    Randomizationnot detected.
    Blindingnot detected.
    Power Analysisnot detected.
    Sex as a biological variablenot detected.

    Table 2: Resources

    Software and Algorithms
    SentencesResources
    Data management and analysis: Data from the collection forms previously validated by the study principal investigators and the laboratory team was entered and cleaned using MS Excel 2016 and analyzed using Stata 14.0, a statistical software.
    MS Excel
    suggested: None

    Results from OddPub: We did not detect open data. We also did not detect open code. Researchers are encouraged to share open data when possible (see Nature blog).

    Results from LimitationRecognizer: We detected the following sentences addressing limitations in the study:
    However, this finding is inconsistent with those of other studies (33–35), that reported filtration limitations of surgical face-masks which could negatively affect the ability of these face-masks to offer protection to the wearers against infectious aerosols for example SARS-CoV-2 especially during coughs by infected patients. Above and beyond the apparent imperfect filtration efficiency and breathability of surgical face-masks, several observational studies have found no significant benefits of other respirators (i.e. the N95 and KN95) over these face-masks and have indicated the ability of these face-masks to not only offer protection against infectious aerosols for example SARS-CoV-2 but to also offer a cheaper alternative to the other respirators (i.e. the N95 and KN95), which have been reported to offer better protection than the surgical face-masks (30,36–39). Therefore, despite the limitations of surgical face-masks there remains reason for optimism regarding their real-world effectiveness. The differences in performance of the surgical face-masks that had been obtained from the community pharmacy and the street vendors reported in this study could be due to the differences in the manufacturing enterprises of these face-masks. Different manufacturing enterprises use different materials in production and this could lead to differences in the performance of the face-masks they produce. A similar line of thinking has been documented by related studies (40). In these stud...

    Results from TrialIdentifier: No clinical trial numbers were referenced.

    Results from Barzooka: We did not find any issues relating to the usage of bar graphs.

    Results from JetFighter: We did not find any issues relating to colormaps.

    Results from rtransparent:
    • Thank you for including a conflict of interest statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • Thank you for including a funding statement. Authors are encouraged to include this statement when submitting to a journal.
    • No protocol registration statement was detected.

    About SciScore

    SciScore is an automated tool that is designed to assist expert reviewers by finding and presenting formulaic information scattered throughout a paper in a standard, easy to digest format. SciScore checks for the presence and correctness of RRIDs (research resource identifiers), and for rigor criteria such as sex and investigator blinding. For details on the theoretical underpinning of rigor criteria and the tools shown here, including references cited, please follow this link.

  3. Version published to 10.1101/2020.09.28.20202952v1 on medRxiv