Mississauga’s firefighters are so short on N95 respirator masks that they will now wear cumbersome self-contained breathing apparatus – complete with heavy metal oxygen tanks – to any medical call in the city, a union official says.
The Mississauga Firefighters Association tweeted this morning that starting Wednesday, fire crews will don breathing masks connected to oxygen tanks – weighing as much as 15 kilograms – to any calls that pose a risk of COVID-19 infection.
The N95 respirator mask blocks at least 95 per cent of airborne particles from entering the wearer’s mouth and nose if worn properly.
N95 respirator masks have been in short supply across Canada since the outbreak began, with no domestic ability to produce them and surging demand on the American and Chinese plants that churn them out.
An emergency stockpile of the masks gathered by the provincial government after the SARS crisis expired before the coronavirus pandemic reached Canada.
