He's now in semi #quarantine, masked, in his bedroom. We are all masking in our home now too. All 5 #HEPA air purifiers in the house are running on full. Windows cracked open for better #ventilation . Dad just finished setting up with a laptop so he can play #roblox and a walkie talkie so he can chat with his brother.
We send our kids to school in #FloMask #elastomeric #repirators . No one else in their class masks anymore.
How did we know he had #COVID with no symptoms (yet), we've been #COVIDtesting them twice a week since school started in September. We swab the inside of their cheeks, tonsils, throat, and nose.
We'll notify their teacher and school tomorrow morning. They are unlikely to do anything. I'm pissed.
FWIW the #flomask fits reasonably well but it's only going to work as well as an 8 yr old can wear it. The seal breaks when they smile or open their mouth wide. The strap also becomes looser over the course of the day and slips down a bit I've noticed. I'll buy the #Halo strap soon, but annoyed that our kids have to try this hard to keep themselves safe. If everyone was still masking, we'd all be better off. #covidIsNotOver #BringBackMasks
Ugh sorry you're all going through this. Keep doing your best to keep the kid safe. It's all we can do as parents.
FWIW, the halo strap is helpful(my 9yo uses it), but, you're right, particularly with bigger kids the kid's flo is a great mask but the seal can break during the day.
@agathachristieandcoffee @BE I was actually considering buying an adult #flomask for myself, then checking the fit on the kids. It's expensive though, especially in canadian $$ so I've been hedging....
@TerriBlue416 @BE I really love what Flo is doing but their adult mask has been too wide for our kids meanwhile the nose is too broad for my petite face. Their customer service is so nice but it’s hard to trust a mask as your daily driver when it requires so much fiddling. I use a Dentec Comfort Air but it’s still too big for 7 year old. We’re still looking for what the next step up would be.
@agathachristieandcoffee @TerriBlue416
We had good luck with the flo masks for the kids originally. The 11yo has pretty much outgrown it at this point. The 9yo still uses it.
The next mask is largely up to what your kids will wear, honestly.
My wife and I have the GVS Elipse and a couple of fit tested N95/KN95 options, but going to a P100 is a bridge too far for some.
@masknerd has done some great testing and although some of it's older by now, you can still buy most/many of the masks. If you haven't checked out his database of testing data and you're interested it's at:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eE2BERAvRzs28kG87ft3a27FS9-gHvdC
With the latest data set at:
@BE @agathachristieandcoffee @TerriBlue416
I've found this thread to be a good resource on elastos for especially small faces: https://notabird.site/ParentMishmash/status/1490022987596132352#m
@agathachristieandcoffee @TerriBlue416 @BE we found the flomask to be too fiddly as well. Given how critical seal is to a mask’s functioning, I feel better in an N95 that I can really tell is a tight fit. FWIW, the Gerson 3230 available from @ProjectN95 feels tighter than most to me and is flexible enough that it should fit a variety of faces. Rated to perform above N95 in testing.
@kmck @TerriBlue416 @BE @ProjectN95 we love the Gerson here too- very breathable. My husband plays softball in his.
@BE @TerriBlue416 we took the adjustable neck strap off our Flo Mask Pro that wasn’t working as well for us adults and put it on the 7 year old’s and that improved things a little but not completely. You might be able to just buy that strap? Flo tends to sell the parts.
@agathachristieandcoffee @BE yes, I've already put the Halo strap in the Amazon cart. I'm hoping that will give them a better fit going forward.
@BE @TerriBlue416 we’ve tried to find slightly bigger elastos for our oldest who is 7 for this reason. Has anyone had any luck?