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Ocean Reef & Mares Battle Covid-19 with Full-Face Snorkeling Masks

Ocean Reef & Mares Battle Covid-19 with Full-Face Snorkeling Masks

Written by Fernando Lopez
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Published on April 15, 2020
woman wears a modified full-face snorkeling mask from Ocean Reef

April 15, 2020 – Some of the world’s biggest scuba diving and snorkeling gear manufacturers are adapting their masks to help patients battling Covid-19. In early March, Ocean Reef Group filed an international Patent through its subsidiary, Mestel Safety, for an adapter that could transform a standard snorkeling mask into a personal protection mask. 

Once outfitted with adapters, the full-face masks could be turned into ventilators that feed oxygen to COVID-19 patients experiencing severe breathing problems. Attaching a filter to the mask can protect the wearer from infection and contagious droplets.

The idea of using snorkeling masks to build makeshift ventilators originated in Italy. Italian engineers quickly adapted full-face masks when hospitals started running out of ventilators. As of March 31, 2020, Italy and Spain have suffered the highest death tolls in the world as a result of the pandemic. 

Frederic Bonnier, a respiratory physiotherapist from the Erasme Hospital in Brussels, was one of the specialists who helped design the valve that could connect the mask to a BiPAP machine. A BiPAP machine is a type of ventilator that assists in breathing. It’s often used to treat patients with sleep apnea.

A BiPAP machine works by funneling pressurized air into the mask, giving patients more oxygen and preventing their lungs from collapsing. Ultimately, it’s designed for people with severe respiratory problems. This is why full-face snorkeling masks aren’t recommended for patients with more serious cases that require ventilators that completely take over a patient’s breathing.

The specially designed masks, on the other hand, can help doctors avoid intubating patients with respiratory problems. 

“We do not want to compare our masks, with the adapter or not, to any, more standard, protective equipment. We are just offering a possible solution, in a time of dire need, to physically create a barrier, with the possible addition of a filter, to contagious droplets,” the company stated in a press release

The brand explains that the adapter will be suitable for any Ocean Reef-produced mask. For masks with 40mm threading, all a person has to do is push out the exhalation cover valve for lesser exhalation effort. 

Ocean Reef has released a tutorial on their YouTube channel explaining how to turn a snorkeling mask into personal protective equipment:

The price for the adapter is planned to stay purposely low to help current owners convert their masks inexpensively. 

Mares Adapts Full-face Snorkeling Masks

The Mares team, together with Bologna-based Novamacut and Mira Meccanica, are also turning their full-face snorkeling masks into makeshift emergency ventilators tp help patients battling the pandemic. 

“A dedicated team have been working to transform the Sea Vu Dry + mask into a mask which can be used with CPAP ventilators with the help of 3D printing … and with some additional modifications to the original mask itself,” Mares said.

The mask is also being adapted for personal protection, though this application is still undergoing a testing and certification phase.  

Thus far, the masks have been dispatched to hospitals in Genoa, Parma, La Spezia, Lavagna, and Savona, with more being produced for distribution to hospitals in Italy.

Note from the editor: Scuba.com is committed to reporting the latest news and developments relevant to our community. As such, we are not healthcare professionals and do not in any way endorse any of the solutions proposed in this article.