Earlier today someone asked if I’d be writing an article about potential tool shortages and delays due to Coronavirus containment efforts, which have shut down factories slowed production in China. Frankly, I lack the information, insights, and experiences to speculate about how all this will affect future tool shipments.
However, there is something I have noticed – many brands and styles of disposable respirators are sold out at many online retailers, and those that aren’t are being sold at exorbitant pricing.
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3M 9211+ folded N95 disposable respirators, the style I like due to their small storage size, have skyrocketed in price on Amazon, from ~$22 for a 10-pack to $145 for 20 respirators via a 3rd party seller.
The same has happened on Amazon, Ebay, and other marketplace sites, where the price of respirators are several times higher than usual.
Looking at Home Depot, all of the respirators I looked at are now marked as unavailable for delivery and with “call to confirm availability” notices of limited supplies.
I’d guess that the more basic and less expensive masks, such as the 3M 8210 (typically ~$20-25 for a 20-pack) sold out first, and then the more premium models with exhaust valves started selling out.
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At the time of this posting, a 3rd party retailer on Walmart’s website is selling 3M 8210 respirators for $13 each.
Reusable respirators don’t seem to be affected as much.
For example, I bought a GVS respirator for $30, and it’s currently priced at $28 via Amazon. It’s not immediately available, but a 1-2 day shipping ETA is a lot better than a red “unavailable” notice.
A 3M “paint project respirator,” a 6000-series respirator with organic vapor cartridge and particulate filters, is the same $31.47 on Amazon as I paid a year and a half ago.
Reusable respirator components still look to be in stock at the retailers I checked.
Health experts have recommended against the “hoarding” and use of masks by the general public, saying that hand washing with soap and water is effective at protecting yourself from contracting viral infections such as the common cold, flu, and coronavirus. They also recommend against touching any part of your face until you’ve had a chance to wash your hands.
It is generally said that flu-prevention practices, such as avoiding touching your eyes, nose, or mouth in public when you could have touched a contaminated surface, can help prevent other viral infections as well.
See Also: WHO Guidelines (PDF) on Hand-Washing (See Page 2 for a Diagram)
If someone is sick, then the use of a mask in public places can help prevent the spread of infections fluids during coughing or sneezing. Or, there’s always coughing into your elbow, which is what is currently being taught and encouraged in schools and public spaces.
(Keep in mind that I’m not a medical authority, and I’m just relaying what I’ve read numerous times over the past few weeks.)
I don’t know how current coronavirus containment efforts are going to affect the tool industry in the weeks and months to come. But, disposable respirator shortages and price-hikes are a very real issue now.
If you rely on disposable respirators for your work or hobbies, I really don’t know what to tell you.
Retailers are sold out.
Online retailers are sold out.
The largest industrial suppliers in the country are sold out.
One supplier I checked is quoting a May 2020 backorder ETA, around 10 weeks from now. At least the pricing is typical – ~$22 for a pack of 20 basic N95 masks (3M 8210). The same May 2020 ETA is listed for various other 3M respirators as well, and might not be accurate. A 3rd party seller on Amazon also has a May shipping ETA, but they’re charging nearly $58 for the same 20-pack.
I checked Acme Tools – they have an October 2020 ETA on a 10-pack of Milwaukee disposable respirators. The single packs have slightly better ETAs – September 2020.
So… what to do if you need a respirator for your work or hobbies? What do you do if you need a respirator NOW? Reusable face masks and respirator filters or cartridges are one option. But what if you need disposable respirators, which are often smaller, lighter, and can be discarded when soiled or contaminated? I really don’t know.
These shortages and price-hikes are a problem, and it doesn’t look like it will ease up anytime soon. Government agencies and commercial buyers are likely going to get priority over current and near-future deliveries, which makes sense.
It was recently reported that the FBI ordered $40K in face masks and hand sanitizer from 3M and PDI Healthcare.
Chances are, retail inventories of disposable respirators of all kinds won’t be replenished anytime soon.
Are these disposable respirator shortages affecting you? What alternative PPE gear are you replacing them with, or will replace them with once your supplies run out – reusable face masks and filters?
Buy Now: GVS Elipse P100 via Amazon
Buy Now: 3M 6000-Series via Amazon
Personally, I plan on using my GVS and 3M face masks until I can restock my supply of disposable respirators. The GVS uses P100 filters, and so does the 3M 6000-series half masks. Don’t forget that reusable face masks are not one-size-fits-all. I believe that 3M’s medium size fits most people, but double check with sizing guides.
I might buy a couple of extra replaceable filters, which still look to be in stock at my typical suppliers/sources. But disposable respirators? It’ll likely be a while before anyone has them in stock and at regular pricing.
Rob
I am not surprised they’re sold out, many of us in California have purchased them for fire season the last 4 years. These are the recommended masks during fire season by various air districts and departments of health. They often are sold out from Spet-November at most Brock and mortar stores. If you look at most people wearing them it’s often incorrectly, not using both bands, not having it tight over the nose, and when you use them in smoke once you remove it they say to discard it. I have a stack I keep at the ready for the fire season and I guess now for a possible pandemic.
Ray CR
My daughter is a surgeon and my cousin is a director of a large hospital in New York. I also have a biology background. The gold standard for viral masks is the 3M n95 model 1870 operating room mask.
It is designed for bird flu virus liquid droplets in operating rooms. 3M makes larger pore droplet masks for T.B. bacteria.
The Home Depot n95 masks are for dust particles such as sheet rock dust. The internal medium is different. However, If we get person to person transmission then any mask in a crowded situation is better than no mask at all since viral load is important .
If you use a mask do not touch the filter medium with hands since viruses will be concentrated there and you may wipe your eyes with your hands. Use the elastic straps to put it on or off.
Normally epidemics do not burn out until 70 percent of a population has immunity from exposure or vaccination. Hope this helps.
James
https://www.cdc.gov/infectioncontrol/pdf/guidelines/isolation-guidelines-H.pdf
Since I don’t plan on fluids spraying on me I will stick with a normal N95 that I use for Mold and lead abatement.
Jim Felt
Thank you for the insight. I’ve a few “regular” N95 masks that we’ve acquired and stockpiled.
Obviously proper procedures are critical and even in factories and job sites I’ve frequently seen them misused.
“Human nature”…
Ray CR
One more health recommendation besides washing of hands to reduce cold or flu is to gently irrigate your nose 3-4 times a day. I use the large simply saline can since it is sterile and portable. You can make your own with distilled water and kosher salt. Do not use tap water or iodinzed salt.
I
You Must lean forward so you do not fill your ear tubes or flush the viruses deeper in. The can does a gently spray. Nettie. Pots flush backwards so the company now makes a plastic spray bottle for forward flushing leaning over.
Virus take a couple of hours to establish so.gentle flushing really reduces Colds and regular flu. The behavior of this virus is still a mystery..
Koko the Talking Ape
I am told that tap water is okay. There is a small risk of tap water carrying microbes that could cause infection, but boiling the water first will eliminate that risk. When I boil water for coffee every morning, I put an extra cup of water in the pot to boil, and then to sit in the pot until it cools. Then I can rewarm it slightly, and then add salts for nasal irrigation.
For the salts, I use the prepackaged little packets from the drug store. They are certainly cheap enough, and I don’t have to measure, mix, etc. They do generate trash, though.
I use a squirting bottle instead of the neti pot, which is maybe a bit gentler but more awkward to use.
RCWARD
Try flushing with tap water once and you won’t say that
Koko the Talking Ape
Really? I flush with boiled tap water exclusively, though I warm it up a little, as I said.
Albert
I remember a few years ago Menards was selling boxes of ten N95 Made in India masks for free after rebate. Now I might have to resort to making some for myself — disposable vacuum bags and the better furnace filters come to mind.
Jaycob P.
They had them in rebate for 99 cents during the crazy days sale two weeks ago.
Bob
My original post seems to have gone into a black hole….
I never checked to see where my disposable 3m masks I like are made. It would be ironic if they were made in China.
If I run out its back to wearing a bandana, pulling my t-shirt over my nose or some other “shaking hands with danger” work around wile doing metal prep.
I have a reusable 3m with the pink cartridges. It is my understanding that after opening the sealed filter package the particulate filtration will work indefinatley but the “chemical fume” filtration only last 24hrs??? I guess I should read the directions that come with it. Not sure these offer any virus protection. Might be why they are still in stock? I too will pick up a few extras of these before they are on back order as well.
Ben
I dunno what filtrate level you need for virus protection, however N100 masks filter more than N95 (99.7% vs 95%). P100 masks add in ‘oil’ protection, which I think just means they don’t break down with contact to oils.
Basically your P100 filters are in many ways better than the single use N95 masks. The downside is that the P100 filters aren’t meant to be single use, they should last until clogged with dust. However that’s bad for a virus where you ultimately just want to get from the filter material.
I wonder if there’s a way to steralize those P100 filters.
Toolfreak
If buying on amazon, you can still get the masks in “kits” from 3rd party sellers:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00UZHXRXK/
Stuff goes out of stock online quite a bit when certain items go “viral”.
It’s not that much of a problem if local retailers still have stock. You can still walk into Walmart, Menards, Lowe’s, Home Depot, ACE Hardware, True Value, Do it Best, etc. etc. and get disposable 3M masks of all types for their regular price.
A few days ago, I actually bought a few sets on clearance for 50 cents, not for virus protection but for moving some insulation around in an attic.
If you’re going to the trouble of wearing a mask that covers your nose and mouth to provide some protection against viral transmission, then I would say you might also want to wear safety goggles as well, since the mask might be effective against airborne particles when people sneeze/cough/mouth breathe in your general direction, but you still want to prevent any from getting in your eyes.
You could probably wear a face shield or welding helmet with a clear lens for decent protection without the breathing restriction, or wear the mask underneath for extra protection.
Or, just get a hazmat suit and keep it for halloween or something:
https://www.zoro.com/lakeland-encapsulated-suit-level-a-blue-80714/i/G7674672/
Koko the Talking Ape
For what it’s worth, I far prefer my reusable respirator, a 3M “Quick Latch” 6502QL, to disposables. It is more comfortable, easier to breath through, more secure, and the Quick Latch feature lets you pull the mask down without undoing the head straps, which is handy for answering the phone, etc.
Also, I think disposables are usually tossed long before they really need to be. For something like medical settings, tossing them after a single use makes sense, but not for things like woodworking. So disposables end up being wasteful. They are made of polyester fiber, so they will end up shedding tiny plastic particles into our air, water, etc.
Flotsam
i have a ton of those masks from HF when they were either free or very inexpensive.
I bought them primarily to do dry wall work considering the dust from that is much larger. I wonder if anyone has tested those in terms of how effective they were?
Brandon
I’d argue that nobody should ‘depend’ on face masks. They should always be ‘nice to have’ – otherwise use a tight sealing respirator. The masks don’t seal as intended on most people. I’m guilty of wearing the N95 vented masks instead of a respirator if I don’t feel like shaving and I’m working on a woodworking project or something for a bit… The respirator is definitely more of a commitment.
You mentioned the 3M respirator… it is not limited to using P100 filters. Look into a 3M 603 adapter (which is very hard to find and apparently discontinued) and it can run standard (and cheap) ‘panel’ or ‘prefilter’ style filters that are also N95 rated if you do not want to pay for the P100. You could always just use a paint spraying cartridge kit as a base for the replaceable N95 filters, just be aware that it won’t protect against harmful vapors for too long… but it’s easier to find than the 603 adapter for sure.
It’s also worth noting that the 95 or 100 ratings on protective masks are taken at 0.3 microns. I believe that is around the size of most bacteria, but I think viruses are a lot smaller. I’m not a health safety expert by any means, but I’d assume the primary goal of wearing masks to prevent illness spread is just to block bodily fluids such as water vapor from being inhaled, in which case even a heavy scarf may help nearly as much as an N95 mask – just some food for thought.
Stuart
I’ve read the same, that respirator filters are too porous for airborne viruses.
Yes, you can use other filters with 3M face masks, but I’ve hard hard times finding the adapters in the past, and ultimately the circular filters were easier to work with.
JR3 Home Performance
I’m not an expert but this is my understanding: Standards are based on .3 micron size. That’s the hardest particle size to catch. Larger gets caught by filtration and smaller caught by diffusion or molecular attraction or something like that. Viruses are in the range of .004 to .1 microns. I’d guess they mostly get transmitted attached to other biological particles which is why surgical masks can be somewhat effective. Viruses need a host to survive but I don’t know how long they can survive independently or if there’s risk of a virus persisting inside the filter media etc.
aerodawg
I think the only benefit is potentially stopping some of the particles viruses might be riding on….
Wayne R.
My understanding is that the masks are to trap contaminated aerosols exiting a contaminated person, not to prevent them from entering a healthy person.
Hygiene is what’ll stop most transmission, along with simply keeping contact with others to a minimum.
Ben
Most masks, atleast the more expensive ones, have ‘cool breath’ or some other feature where there’s a valve that opens when you breath out and closes by spring pressure when you breath in. Those type of masks won’t do much for containing the ‘out’ flow.
Koko the Talking Ape
I use N95 pancake-style filters on my 3M mask without an adapter. As far as I can tell, they make every style of filter to fit the mask, without an adapter.
Brandon
Ah, nice. I haven’t found any pancake/disk style N95 filters that mount up without an adapter. I’ll keep my eyes open for them. I can only find the P100 types it seems.
Stuart
https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/565214O/3m-cartridge-filter-guide-and-brochure.pdf
That’s news to me too, I’ve only seen P100 filters. it appears that they also have P95 filters, model 2071 and 2078. It looks like 2071 is the standard P95 filter, and 2078 has “Nuisance Level Organic Vapor/Acid Gas Relief .”
Wayne R.
A 1988 fire in a Chicago Ameritech Central Office caused so much HazMat (burned electronics & cable/wire insulation) for the telecom restoration workers that the local Big Deal safety products company was bringing in multiple truckloads a week of respirators & hardhats. Nasty work.
If you’ve ever been around hurricane recovery, you’d see pallets & pallets of cases of MREs & bottled water. You’d think someone would have stockpiles of masks, wet wipes and alcohol goo around too…
I’ve still got several boxes of 3M 8511 masks from the SARS era and a Scott full-face SCBA mask from my HazMat days with a bunch of P100 cartridges. But if bad goes worse, I think having a lot of WetOnes, Purell and better hygiene habits will do the most good.
Working from home will continue to be a benefit – unless one of us gets something, then it seems inevitable that both of us will…
Andy Ringsmuth
This is definitely real, and a little scary. My wife is a nurse and even her hospital is having trouble obtaining masks.
Not to mention these masks don’t actually do any good for coronavirus or SARS, etc.
JR3 Home Performance
Toolbarn had a sale last week on 3m P100 cartridges. They were about 50% off so I placed an order to stock up since I’ve never seen them on sale before. I thought it funny timing to have a sale on those. I saw the home depot out of stock notices but my local store still has some. Chinese citizens are trying to purchase respirators overseas which probably explains the home depot situation. My Chinese girlfriend is getting requests from friends back home to go to cvs and the like for surgical masks. I tried to educate her such that if she was going to ship something it may as well be worth it. A n95 respirator has like 40%+ lower chance of virus transmission compared to a surgical mask if I’m recalling the article I read to prove the point to her. We’re both geeks so it required a scientific paper to prove it to her. Personally I would go for a p100. Relative to a n95 the p100 captures 99.4% of the small stuff (like viruses) that the n95 misses.
aerodawg
plan ahead or be left behind
Lizeo
Folks, do not make the same mistake the Italians have made by not preparing ahead as shown by several video clips online. This isn’t me “fear mongering” or “scaring” people, literally grocery stores have had shortages and there have been reported instances of violence. People that are normally nice can become anything but during a shortage. Water, food and sanitation is also important.
Please heed this message to anyone that haven’t already prepared with purchasing water, staple grains and sanitation supplies.
Do not wait.
Cr8on
Good thing we have a few cases sitting at our office.
John
I ordered 1 box of masks from Klingspor’s Woodworking Shop in NC online today. They had 135 BOXES of Niosh N95 AE17400 showing in their system. All are gone in just 5 hours.
I want to make sure I have enough for my wood/welding shop not just coronavirus scare.
Ray
Viral masks have a Rosin inside. That helps catch small particles. That is also why they have an expiration date of 3 to 5 years. They might also have a charge to the medium like negative ions to attract positive ions.
Particle masks have no date of expiration.
Viral load is important. You can get zika from a mosquito bite not HIV.
Ray
Never use tap water in your nose unless it is boiled. The amoeba. that infects people’s brains lives in tap water even in the north of the US. You can drink it with no problem but never put it in your nose.
Only 3 people in the U.S. Have survived that type of infection. Spend the buck twenty five and buy distilled water from the supermarket or
But the large can of simply saline for 8 or 9 bucks. They are 6 large cans from Amazon for 35 bucks.
Stuart
Agreed.
Commercial nasal irrigation products have guidance about which water you can use. I’ve seen distilled water, bottled water, boiled tap water, and reverse osmosis water recommended.
Distilled water is inexpensive and usually easily available at larger supermarkets.
Ray
The press calls that infection brain eating amoeba. Which is a microscopic animal not bacteria nor a virus. People who swim in lakes or waterparks with low chlorine levels especially down south with hotter water temps were impacted. They were advised not to put their heads under water .
It was supposed to be ok if the lake froze in the winter. However, Recent findings suggest IT IS in northern lakes and people should use nose plugs.
Boiling means 20 minutes at a hard boil. Bottled water relies on how great their ceramic filter process is.
Raycr
I just read a study that said you get 1/6 the viral load if you wear a mask. You reduce your exposure by 5/6. That could make the difference between severe case and a moderate or mild case
They are recommending against wearing one since they are 270 million short for health care professionals. And many civilians wear them loosely or leave their nose exposed
When person to person is wide spread I will wear one in the supermarket . Until then I will just irrigate my nose a couple of times a day.
get home tools
Viral masks have a Rosin inside. That helps catch small particles. That is also why they have an expiration date of 3 to 5 years. They might also have a charge to the medium like negative ions to attract positive ions.