![]() ![]() ![]() Some finalists innovated the process for fitting or making masks. Finally, it had to have a strong design that would make people want to wear it. Third, it had to address issues such as fogging or discomfort, which cause wearers to constantly readjust their mask. First, the entry had to seem like it would feasibly block viruses and work in real-world situations. To winnow them down to 40 finalists and 10 winners, Lippold’s team and some experts recruited as judges looked at four criteria. After the competition was launched back in March 2021, nearly 1,500 submissions quickly poured in. The Mask Innovation Challenge is run by Lippold and her colleagues at the Division of Research, Innovation, and Ventures (DRIVe), part of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) at the U.S. “Together, we really wanted to create something that was comfortable-that you could wear for a long time and ideally not realize-and that also provided superior and exceptional protection that’s based on evidence so that people would understand what they’re wearing and why they’re wearing it and would want to wear it.” “We really wanted to help support innovation in order to protect the American public from public health emergencies of the future,” says health scientist Kumiko Lippold, challenge manager of the project. This week a project called the Mask Innovation Challenge announced the 10 finalists in a high-prize competition that aims to support innovators working on the masks of the future and to connect these groups with one another. And when people cover half their face, it’s harder to read facial expressions and interact socially. Wearing them for hours at a time can get sweaty and uncomfortable (especially in humid summer heat). But when it comes to comfort and convenience, there is certainly room for improvement. High-quality masks called respirators, such as N95s and KN95s, offer strong protection against the spread of COVID-19. ![]()
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