The long wait is finally over for teachers, staff, and students in Beijing who have been required to wear masks for most of the past three years.

On Monday morning, Beijing authorities officially lifted the requirement for masks to be worn in schools, giving the school-going population the freedom to choose whether or not to wear masks on campus.

According to parents of both local and international schools across Beijing, the wearing of masks on school campuses is now a matter of personal preference.

Several international schools sent formal email notifications to parents this morning informing them of the new policy. Other sources have reported the same move in public schools – all of which finally returned to in-person class today after the extended Chinese New Year Holiday break.

This small but significant step forwards further demonstrates Beijing’s normalization of the Covid-19 situation. Since Covid hit the nation 3 years ago, the wearing of masks had been mandatory in all public spaces, including schools.

Teachers, staff and students alike were required to keep a mask on at all times on campus, which meant at least 6 – 8 hours of wearing a mask for the school-going population.

Many in the school community have commented on the difficulty of teaching and learning while wearing a mask. Communication between students and teachers can be difficult, as well as concentration and focus for students.

The enforcement of mask-wearing has been a low priority in most public spaces since local authorities dropped the Zero Covid policy in December last year. However, there has not been any official announcement regarding the matter. As of press time, there has been no official change in the policy requiring masks in public venues and on public transportation.

Images: Pexels

KEEP READING: Travel By Planes VS Trains in China During Covid

Source: China Global Television Network (CGTN)

Shanghaiist recently took note of all of the fashionable facemasks turning up on young wearers in Beijing and Shanghai but this isn’t the only new twist to what is now unfortunately new  a necessity of life for urban residents in China. Vogmask has just released a line of pint-sized facemasks that are tailored for kids’ faces – a depressing sign of our times, perhaps, but it’s a development that parents will appreciate.

We asked Chris Dobbing, Director of Vogmask China, to explain a bit more about this new line of masks:

Could you share your background with us? How did you get into the facemask business?
I am from Oxford in the UK and graduated from Cambridge University several years ago. I was previously doing education consultancy in Beijing and have interviewed hundreds of students at international and Chinese state schools for summer programmes in the UK.

One of my favourite questions for Chinese students is “What is the biggest challenge for China in the next 10 years?” Around 90% say air pollution. Most state schools still make students go outdoors to do exercises even on really bad AQI days (although Beijing Number 4 just changed their policy).

I want to get the masks made part of the school uniform in all schools so that students can still exercise, but do it safely. Almost every student is aware of what a huge issue the air is, and that it could be permanently damaging them. We have put every possible effort into making an anti-pollution mask that is comfortable, effective and safe.

We are very passionate about Vogmask, and we know how worried many parents are about the air pollution in China. Many years of research and testing effort have gone into its production, and it’s something that we are very proud of. The N99 certification verifies that it is the world’s leading microfiber facemask, and we hope that your readers will like it.

When will these masks be available to Beijing buyers and where will we be able to purchase them?
The adult masks are available now for purchase. The child masks are being made in Korea now, and will be in Beijing from early July. They will also be available from vogmask.cn. We are still talking to retailers, but have a lot of interest!

Is there a link citing the US FDA requirement certification?
If you go to www.vogmask.cn and click ‘The Masks’ you can see an explanation video and download PDFs of all the relevant documents. We have just been certified to N99, meaning that the masks filter 99% of particulate matter (most leading masks are N95 at best).

It seems that some Beijing international schools are placing orders for these masks for their students – can you elaborate and share which schools will be doing/have done so?
We have confirmed an order with The International Montessori School of Beijing (MSB) and are talking to several other large schools. We are also starting to talk to hospitals and hope to get them into hotels and

Have you had any other feedback from parents about their kids wanting or not wanting to wear the masks?
We have four families in Beijing testing the masks out now and will have feedback in  next week.

Other than Vogmask, will there be any other mask brands following suit with child friendly sizes?
I believe Infipure are going to put out a small size, and Totobobo also have a mask you can cut down. But I believe their minimum age is 5+, so not suitable for infants and toddlers (we have 0-5 and 6-12). 3M have a kids mask, but it’s estimated to only fit 40% of face sizes, and they’re just not worth having if you don’t have a good seal (you get this information from the quantitative fit testing data, fit factor – ours is 139, which exceeds us FDA requirements by almost 140%.). I believe Totobobo is 136 and obviously Infipure is almost impossible to test without having surgery.

Any other exciting developments in air filtration/mask technology coming our way?
Yes, we have masks with a unique valve system being developed – this would make the masks even better for heavy exercise. Great for cyclists and runners who like to be outdoors.

Find out more about the Vogmask and Chris on airbusters.org.

Earlier this week we put Beijing’s newest anti-air pollution technology to the test and posted our impressions here. Read on for Infipure co-founder Francis Law’s response to our feedback.

tbj: How did you come about determining that most people breathe through their nose? What kind of experimentation and data was used to determine this?

FL: It was an epiphany when we realized that most people mainly breathe through their nose. We initially confirmed [this]through empathic design principles by spending a lot of time observing the way people breathe. This might sound silly, but most people don’t think much about the process of breathing. What’s interesting though is when we asked people about how they breathe or when they consciously thought about breathing, they tended to think they use their mouths or in some case actually began to breathe with their mouths.

However, what we found in our observations is that most people, when going about their normal day-to-day activities (we’re not talking about high cardiovascular activities like running), are not thinking about breathing and use their nose to breathe. We also spent a lot of time reading up and researching about nasal breathing to confirm our findings. There’s a lot of information out there. For example, websites like http://www.normalbreathing.com/index-nasal.php, http://www.breathing.com/articles/nose-breathing.htm and http://www.breathingretrainingcenter.com/blog/28-reasons-to-nose-breathe show the benefits from nasal breathing versus mouth breathing. Nasal breathing gives better oxygen delivery to the heart, brain and lungs, helps maintain the optimal mix of O2, CO2, and NO2 in the blood, filters particles (larger than 10 micrometers) and also improves concentration and reduces stress.

tbj: Who did you work with to develop the NoPM filtering technology? Can you explain how it works?

FL: The product was designed in partnership with an industrial design firm headed by one of the founder’s MIT professor. It took over two years of research and development which included both the design and the testing of suitable materials. One of the biggest issues was balancing effectiveness with breathability, which are opposite ends of the same spectrum. We tested many materials, including those used in some of the advanced facemasks and respirators, and were just never happy with either the breathability, level of effectiveness or both. As a result, we decided to work directly with a leading international filtration company to develop a customized filtration media to fit our needs.

The end result is our NoPM™ filtration technology that can block out 99% of air pollution. While we can’t go into the details of our NoPM™ filter technology, as there are certain trade secrets that we hope to protect, what we can say is that it blocks harmful air particles using a variety of well-known filtration mechanisms such as interception, inertial impaction, diffusion and attraction. In addition, we have also subject our material to tests by an independent US 3rd party filtration testing laboratory to confirm its effectiveness. We combined this filtration technology with what appears to be a simple design, yet which includes many small details to maximize comfort and breathability, to develop our Infipure™ Invisible Air Mask.

tbj:  How do you account for the air that flows in around the device (which does not fit perfectly in my nostrils) and through the mouth? Can you really claim that Infipure is truly filtering out 99% of PM2.5 particles that a person is breathing in? 

FL: Through tests conducted by a US independent third party filtration testing laboratory, the filter material we use in our product can block over 99% of air pollution (including PM2.5) and other harmful air particles. However, there are certain factors that may impact this level of effectiveness. First, as our product is used in the nose, some people may breathe in some particles with their mouth. As mentioned above most breathing occurs through the nose subconsciously. As a result, we encourage people to continue with their normal activities after putting on our product and try not to think about breathing. We also recognize that our product is new and the fact that you have to put it in your nose may be a bit unusual at first. However, we point to when contact lens first appeared on the market and how unusual it must have been for users to have to insert into their eyes but it becomes second nature after a short period.

The other factor that may impact the level of effectiveness is the fit of our product and potential air leakage. An improper fit of our product will cause two issues, discomfort (if it’s too large) or air leakage (if it’s too small). It’s notable that even facemasks may have these issues (see http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19598054). For our product, we spent a lot of time measuring people’s noses to size our product so that it would fit as many people as possible. What we found was that noses are pretty unique with no strong correlation between a person’s nostril diameter, septum, flare, or depth.

In the end, we used our findings to finalize three sizes that should fit a large proportion of the population. This is more customized versus a facemask which only comes in one size and can lead to a lot of air leakage. We also tried to account for the fit/leakage problem through certain design aspects. For example, a properly sized Infipure™ Invisible Air Mask should actually be slightly larger than the nostril opening. The filters should then be positioned to cover the nostril opening and then slowly inserted into the nose. Upon insertion, the edges of our soft NoPM™ filter will slightly bend/fold to conform to the shape of the nose. This slight bend/fold in the filter will help to minimize air leakages and provide for a comfortable fit. Also, our NoPM™ filter uses filtration principles such as diffusion and attraction which helps defend again air pollution particles even despite potentially small gaps. In the future, we hope to be able to offer even more customized versions of the Infipure™ Invisible Air Masks to provide even better fit to our customers.

tbj: Is there any particular group or type of user you would NOT recommend Infipure for? Why?

FL: Infipure™ was designed for everyone to wear anytime and anywhere. And although our product helps people with breathing problems, by filtering harmful particles that can trigger asthma symptoms, Infipure™ is not intended as a substitute for a medical device or treatment for those with severe and acute respiratory problems. In addition, our product is not recommended for young children (as it can be a choking hazard if swallowed) and when people have stuffed or runny noses.

tbj: Do you have any other designs in the works? Will you be producing any more conventional masks or other pollution-guarding products?

FL: We definitely have other products/projects in the works. This will include adding new features and also for new demographics (e.g. children). Please stay tuned to our website at www.infipure.com (to be launched in the next few weeks) to find out our latest news and product releases.

tbj: Have you received any other feedback from users that you’d like to share with our readers?

FL: Yes, we’ve received a lot of positive feedback regarding the look, comfort, breathability and effectiveness of the Infipure™ Invisible Air Masks. People love the fact that our product is nearly invisible and how this makes our product so convenient (e.g. you can wear it a lot of different settings including indoors, when talking to people, and even when you are out at a club!). People have also commented on the effectiveness of the Infipure™ Invisible Air Masks with examples of the filters turning dirty/gray after a day of use and also how it’s helped block against second hand smoke.

On the other hand, we’ve also received some helpful customer comments/inquiries. For example, people wonder about the thin and light nature of our filters. For us, this is one of our product’s strengths. While many other facemasks are marketed based on the number of layers they have in their facemasks, we spent a lot of time developing our NoPM™ filter to be thin and light in order to provide maximum comfort and breathability.

The other comment we’ve heard and which we recognized from the beginning is that our product requires a slight adjustment period. Initially it feels awkward to have something in your nose, but after a few minutes you get used to it. What helps is trying to not think about breathing by continuing with your normal activities. What can also help with the adjustment period is after using the Infipure™ Invisible Air Mask for a few minutes, take it out for a few minutes then retry.

So there you have it – Infipure is definitely an intriguing new product in this very important market and our conclusion is that given the manufacturer’s claims, their small size and reasonable price they are worth a try (you can purchase them here), but but you’ll have to judge for yourself if you can really stand to have them stuck up your nose. Please feel free to give us your take below.

Techinasia’s writeup of the new Infipure "Invisible Air Mask" caught our eye, so we decided to get some and see (or rather breathe) for ourselves.

The Beijing-based startup has been selling these "up-the-nostril" air filters with a claim that its "NoPM" air filter technology blocks out "99% of PM2.5 pollution particles."

We had four of our colleagues (including Yours Truly) try them out for a day and recorded their impressions below:

User 1:

"Generally an excellent concept and in fact they ride comfortably in my nose and are discreet though definitely not invisible (people will definitely comment "what’s that in your nose?") …"

"It also does make me realize that in fact I do do most of my breathing through my nose. However, being a big-nosed westerner with rather oblong nostrils (as opposed to round), it was not possible to block the airflow around the filter completely, even with the largest size."

"A filter without a good seal is next to useless, so these are unlikely to do any serious protection from tiny particulate matter."

"Unless they come out with the XL-oblong model (at which point I’ll give them another try), I’ll stick to my trusty 3M 8511 n-95 rated facemasks."

User 2:

"As a lifelong mouth-breather I definitely felt it difficult to remember to keep breathing through my nose to get what I presume would be the full effect."

"Wearing them reminded me of using the Breathe Right strips for snoring – while those helped me a bit with breathing more through my nose at night, I eventually stopped using them because they were simply not very comfortable to wear. I’m afraid Infipure has the same problem."

"It seems reasonable to expect that the air filters do indeed work, but I can’t get around the discomfort of having my nasal passages partially blocked and can’t see myself being able to use this on a continual basis – I kept taking them out to catch a breath."

"To be fair facemasks can be pretty damn uncomfortable too but they do have an added feature of warmth during Beijing winters."

User 3:

"I tried 3 today. First one – medium – lasted about 3 hours. Was ok, mostly didn’t notice it and felt quite comfortable breathing through it. A bit weird, like having a cold or some sort of nasal inflammation. I imagine this might be what the side effects of solvent abuse might be like. Got a bit bored of it, and decided to take it out."

"Second and third – tried the small, thinking it would be more comfortable. I actually felt more aware of it and found it less natural to breath through. Maybe the smaller radius makes the material more inflexible and more likely to block the nose? Anyway, lasted less than an hour before I decided I couldn’t stand it any more. I don’t really want to try this again."

User 4:

"I tried and really liked it actually. It is as convenient as condoms, so you can carry them in your pocket just like a condom and if the air gets bad all of a sudden, you can pop one into your nose. You can’t really see them and I got used to the little tingling in my nose pretty quickly. You can breath very naturally, other masks I tried make me feel like I am suffocating."

"But I don’t think they are really efficient … when you’re outside you still open your mouth to breathe and they don’t seem convenient for running or other sports."

Unfortunately most of the feedback in our trial was critical and it seems that our testers felt the "in-the-nostril" aspect was neither comfortable or really blocking out 99% of the pollutants. 

Stay tuned this afternoon for Part 2, in which we ask Infipure Co-founder Francis Law for his perspective on these concerns.