We'll wear masks after the pandemic, researchers predict, and they're trying to make them better

Anesthesiologists recently came to Ravi Selvaganapathy and his colleagues at McMaster University with a problem.

They needed a superior face shield that would protect them from the coronavirusbut didn't require a mask to be worn underneath and wouldn't fog up.

Selvaganapathy and the teamat McMaster's Centre of Excellence in Protective Equipment and Materials (CEPEM) ended up creating a face shield with mask materialaround it.

"This is a completely new design of PPE that comes from a user specification that we can develop," said Selvaganapathy.

"Now some of the companies are interested in commercializing something like this."

While many Canadians may be longing for the day when masks are no longer required, teams of researchers across Canada like Selvaganapathy'sare working on creating the next generation of masks and personal protective equipment (PPE) for both health-care workers and the public.

Their hope is that if they make masks and other PPE more comfortable, safer, or easier to breathe in, there's a higher chance the general public will use some protective gear after the pandemic.

Benefits to masks

Selvaganapathy said there arebenefits to people wearing a mask more regularly, as it could slow the spread of other viruses, like the flu or common cold, something many provinces have already seen this year.

Dr. James Dickinson, a professor of family medicine at the University of Calgary'sCumming School of Medicine,hassaid that COVID-19 measures in place like mandatory mask-wearing rules and physical distancing could be why there hasn't been asingle lab-confirmed caseof influenza in Albertasince September.

Nova Scotia's health department spokespersonMarla MacInnissaid a similar statement about that province's lower-than-average flu numbers.

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Selvaganapathy said that's motivation to continue research onhow to improve PPE and masks so people want towear those items post-pandemic.

"I think we got used to the flu infections increasing in the fall and then decreasing in March. Our system is primed to handle that but we never got into thinking 'Can we reduce that?'" said Selvaganapathy, director of the CEPEMin Hamilton, Ont. The centre was created due to the pandemic and helps companies test and redesign PPE.

Using PPE post-pandemic

Patricia Dolezis leadinga teamat Edmonton's University of Albertathat's trying to make better PPE to help reduce the spread of COVID-19 and other diseases in the future.

They'redeveloping a fabric treatment for medical gowns and masks that could kill viruses and bacteria on contact, Dolez said.

The researchers, who received a $50,000 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada grant, are modifying a chlorine compoundso that it can be used on masks or gowns.

"This is something that can really help a lot to reduce the propagation of COVID-19, but also any other viruses and bacteria that could be creating a lot of issues," said Dolez, an assistant professor in textile science in the university's human ecology department.

If successful in their testing, Dolez and her team would work with Logistik Unicorp, a uniform and safety equipment manufacturer, to manufacture products with the fabric treatment.

More efficient masks, PPE

Because PPE can help control more than just COVID-19, researchers in the field imagine the general public continuing to wear it post-pandemic but only if the next generation of PPE is morecatered to users'needs,Selvaganapathysaid.

"I think masks are likely to become more integrated into the sorts of things that ... people in the general public have normalized," saidJames Scott, head of occupational and environmental healthat the University of Toronto's Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

"I think that as people have gone through this issue ofCOVID-19, I expect a number of them have probably been aware that there are things that normally make them sick on an annual basis that haven't made them sick."

Scotthas been researching different mask materials and their effectiveness to block out airborne particles.

He's been working with both companies and health-care professionalsand is now testing how well masks work on mannequins that replicate breathing.

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From here, Selvaganapathyexpects more developments, like creating biodegradable PPE, or masks with a sensor warning front-line workers when it's time to throw out an item.

If people can be encouraged to wear improved masks post-pandemic, public health will benefit, he said.

"I think [there will be] lots of improvements that's going to come in the future where public health will be less burdened than they were before."

WATCH | Why some experts suggest wearing 2 masks now:

Experts rethink mask use as concern grows over COVID-19 variants

4 years ago

Duration 2:23

Concern is growing over the threat of new variants of COVID-19. Scientists have confirmed they are more transmissible. Not only that, but new evidence is showing they may be more lethal and vaccines may be less effective against at least the South African variant. As Chris Glover explains, it's leading experts rethink the masks we wear again.