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SALT LAKE CITY — With the air quality seemingly deteriorating by the day, pollution masks have once again made their return to downtown, and makers of the masks don’t expect the trend to go away anytime soon.
“The last three days — it’s just gone crazy,” said Jeff Morton, founder of Salt Lake Valley-based jaMo Threads, which makes inversion pollution gaiters. “We’re hitting between 40 to 60 people at any given time on our site. For a company like us, that’s putting a lot of stress on our server.”
The masks, which have been commonly used in places like China, first came into Salt Lake’s public consciousness during the winter of 2013-14. Now in their fifth winter as something of a trend in Utah, Morton said he believed the masks were growing in popularity because people are caring less about how they look wearing them.
“This is where I think the momentum is,” Morton said. “I just don’t think people care anymore because they’re getting so sick from the pollution that they don’t care what they look like.”
Experts recommend wearing a mask with an N95 designation, meaning it filters out at least 95 percent of small test particles. JaMo's website states its inversion mask "meets all filtration requirements of a N95 mask."
Related:
Utahns begin wearing masks to protect from pollution
They're showing up in growing numbers on the streets as the air has thickened, turned a yellowish brown and, in some cases, developed a taste: people wearing masks to protect themselves from breathing in the pollution.Joe Powers said he started wearing a mask outside during inversion weather long before masks became more popular — after an open-heart surgery 12 years ago.
“My doctor told me in a filthy environment, I should wear a mask,” Powers said.
He said he was pleased to see others were following suit.
“I see it all the time — more and more people are starting to do it, and I think it’s smart,” Powers said.
Doctors recommend staying indoors as much as possible to avoid pollution during inversions, said Intermountain Healthcare spokesman Jesse Gomez. If people do need to go outside, they should wear an N95 mask as surgical masks do not offer adequate protection against particulate pollution.
For more information on personal protective masks, visit cdc.gov.
