On January 30, 2020, the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak a ‘public health emergency of international concern’. As of February 11, 2020, 43,103 people (2,560 new in the last 24 hours) in 24 countries have been infected and total 1,018 deaths (108 new in the last 24 hours) were reported according to WHO daily report. WHO has named the disease COVID-19, short for “coronavirus disease 2019.”

Facemasks have never been so highly demanded and routinely used as they are today in China and other infected countries in preventing the virus spread. Coronavirus fears lead to worldwide facemask shortages. Meanwhile, there is a strong desire from the general public to understand the basic principles of face masks, including filtration mechanisms, types of facemasks, performance and test standards, how to choose and use facemasks, and if/how they can be reused. Waterloo Filtration Institute (WFI) has scheduled an education seminar to the general public worldwide to address these issues. Our panel experts will answer your specific questions at the end of the webinar.