The Problem

Powered, air-purifying respirators (PAPRs) are currently the gold standard in medicine when treating patients diagnosed with COVID-19 and other highly infectious respiratory diseases^[1] due to their positive pressure system that filters air extremely effectively before it reaches their airway. However, this technology package is costly, totalling $2000, if not more.^[2] Additionally, PAPRs require highly specific motors, batteries and air filters, which are currently in short supply. Both well-established hospitals such as the Mayo Clinic (4500 physicians to 200 PAPRs)^[2] and smaller county hospitals such as the Hunterdon Medical Center (where not a single PAPR is available to physicians) are facing critical shortages of this personal protective equipment (PPE). These barriers render the technology inaccessible for an immense number of people on the front line and consequently leaves them far more vulnerable to infection.

Other alternatives to PAPR include N95s, surgical masks, and currently, homemade masks due to a worldwide shortage of PPE.^[3] Although they provide a barrier against aerosols, standard and surgical N95s are easily compromised with an improper fit and have an assigned protection factor (APF) of ten^[4] (they reduce aerosol concentration by a factor of ten), while PAPRs have an APF of 25 to 1000, rendering the latter far more effective at protecting HCPs. Physicians also prefer PAPRs over N95s because PAPRs are reusable, easier to breathe through, do not require fit testing, and make them feel safe. Additionally, surgical masks and homemade solutions are not designed or certified to prevent the inhalation of small airborne contaminants, resulting in HCP sickness and in extreme cases, death.^[1][5]