Face Mask: Big Business. Mask That Kills Covid-19

According to RT, researchers in Israel say they’ve created a face mask that kills the Covid-19 virus with heat. The virus-zapping mask has a USB port that allows a power source such as a phone charger to be connected to it.

Once powered, it takes 30 minutes for the mask to heat up to a temperature that will kill the virus (70 degrees Celsius or 158 degrees Fahrenheit), thereby disinfecting its inner layer of carbon fibres.

USB mask prototype © Technion – Israel Institute of Technology

According to the report, professor Yair Ein-Eli, who led the research team at Technion, the Israeli Institute of Technology, in Haifa, explained that one of the main problems with the typical disposable face mask is that it’s environmentally damaging.

“You have to make it reusable and friendly, and this is our solution,” he said about heatable masks.

The researchers submitted a patent for the mask in late March in the US, and discussions are ongoing about bringing it to market in the private sector. The prototype reportedly looks similar to the surgical-grade N95 mask used in hospitals worldwide, but, when commercially available, will sell for $1 more than the standard version.

The face mask is a multi-billion dollar business.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s medical mask deal with a Chinese manufacturer will proceed after the company succeeded in obtaining federal safety certification. This deal is worth $1 billion.

According to Forbes, 30+ fashion brands pivoting to make stylish Coronavirus masks. Brands such Harem London priced at fifty three dollars, Steven Madden at fifteen dollars with cheaper brand at ten dollars and below.

Eric Toner, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, said that he believes Americans will be wearing masks ‘for several years’.

The question is, with all the money to be made from wearing mask, will we ever get out of them?