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Wildfire Season
Introduction Wildfire season has hit Alberta hard this year, and many people are wondering how they can protect themselves from the overwhelming smoke at home, at school and at work. What is wildfire smoke made up of? Wildfire smoke is a mixture of gases and fine...
COVID 101 – Which Face Coverings Work Best?
Which Face Coverings Work Best? Last year, a consumer organization in the UK, “Which?” performed a consumer test on various types of fabric masks to determine which is most effective. They gave each mask a “bacterial filtration efficiency rating”, a standard test used...
COVID 101 – How Effective are Face Coverings and Respirators?
What are the differences between a respirator and face coverings? Normally, in industrial hygiene, we think about wearing respiratory protective equipment (RPE) to protect people from harmful contaminants such as asbestos, mould, and benzene. However, we now have to...
COVID 101 – Is a Mask Like a Chain Link Fence?
Is a face covering like a using a chain-link fence to stop mosquitos? One of the common criticisms of face coverings centers around particle size. People will say that wearing a cloth mask to stop a virus is like “using a chain link fence to stop a mosquito.” It’s...
COVID 101 – Public Face Covering Mandates
Why are Public Face Covering Mandates Recommended? A study completed by Marianne van der Sande, Peter Teunis and Rob Sabel shows face coverings reduce aerosol exposure over time for all sorts of activities (see resources below). They claim that any type of general...
COVID 101 – What is COVID?
What are viruses? Viruses are a specific type of microorganism. We are routinely exposed to microorganisms and most of them are harmless to us because they are either harmless to us or our immune system protects us from them. Microorganisms which cause infections are...