Design and Development of a Protective Face Mask to Mitigate Community Spread and Prevent Wearer Infection from COVID - 19 Using Design Thinking

Abstract

Relatively early during the start of the COVID-19 pandemic it was widely recognized that community spread could be mitigated by the widespread wearing of face masks.  However, at first, they were difficult to procure and   the CDC discouraged the use of masks for the general public since this might cause shortages for healthcare workers.   Subsequently, the CDC suggested that cloth masks, without filters, should be used by the general public since these were considered ineffective for healthcare workers.  Using the concepts of design thinking, effective protective face masks with filters were designed and developed using readily available materials that could be used by the general public.