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As the world wrestles with COVID-19, including its variants, face coverings continue to be a useful tool to slow the progression. The last two years have seen companies enter and then subsequently exit the face covering market. Manufacturers have adjusted their supply chains to accommodate the demand. In addition to their primary function, face coverings have become fashion trends, providing chic, and coordinating accessories to complement ensembles or express identity. Although we may not know the final trajectory, face coverings continue to grow in their ubiquity and are positioned to be part of daily life for the immediate future.

Standardized testing is an integral part of the face covering production cycle. For medical grade barrier production, there are well-established standards in place. For general purpose face coverings, the pandemic revealed that guidance was much more limited. To fill the void, ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥and ASTM have both published global standards for general purpose barrier protection. These standards offer a much-needed starting point for manufacturers to provide product consistency and ensure consumer confidence.

In 2020, ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥published ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥M14-2020 Guidance and Consideration for General Purpose Textile Face Coverings: Adult. This method provides practical considerations and recommendations to help manufacturers design and produce face coverings. It offers voluntary guidance for several key areas, including regulations, fit and sizing, product care instruction, filtration consideration, and product labeling. The standard was developed under ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥research committee RA113. The committee is currently working to develop similar guidance for children&/news2021-10b/8217;s face coverings. ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥provides M14-2020 for free at .

ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥M14-2020 can be used as a consistent set of guidelines to apply to face-covering development and evaluation. It covers a wide array of topics to consider in the overall assessment of face-covering evaluations. It does not provide pass/fail criteria but offers best practices and recommendations, which is ideal for development purposes.

In 2021, ASTM published F3502−21 Standard Specification for Barrier Face Coverings. This standard is intended to help ensure barrier face coverings meet stated requirements. Additional revisions to the standards are currently under development.

ASTM F3502-21 provides specifics measurement criteria to meet. It should be used to determine how well a product adheres to a set specification in terms of particle spray and filtration ratings. This is suited for production-based testing. Both standards can be used to complement each other as part of a comprehensive face covering testing protocol.

To contribute to the standard development process, join ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥committees at or attend upcoming in-person and online meetings. Register to attend the free meetings at .

Author: Erika Simmons, ÐãÉ«Ö±²¥Technical Director