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Child with mouth and nose protection
Photo: Pansfun Images / Stocksy United
The mask over the mouth and nose is now part of everyday life in schools again, it is mandatory to wear a mask.
Stiftung Warentest has now tested FFP2 masks for children.
However, she does not consider any of the masks suitable.
The breathing resistance was too high for all masks and breathing comfort was low, writes the foundation on its website test.de.
The foundation tested 15 masks that claim to be suitable for children.
In addition, it was tested whether the 3M Aura 9320+ FFP2 mask is also suitable for children.
In previous tests of FFP2 masks for adults, it was the only one with particularly low breathing resistance.
Six to twelve year olds in view
The level of breathing comfort when inhaling and exhaling, the breathing resistance, was examined.
According to the foundation, the standards for the maximum breathing resistance of an FFP mask come from occupational safety.
However, this standard does not envisage children as users.
For the test, about half as high breathing resistance was expected as is allowed for masks for adults.
Because children have less vigorous breathing than healthy adults and only about half of the lung volume.
The test focused on schoolchildren aged six to twelve.
As a result, according to the foundation, none of the children's masks tested came close to these lower values; the breathing resistance was in the range of adult masks.
Some masks would even have been above these limits.
more on the subject
Surgical masks and FFP2: How to wear and clean them properlyA video by Rachelle Pouplier, Nina Weber and Jonathan Miske (animations)
FFP2 masks in the test: "We can only recommend one single mask without reservation" An interview by Arno Makowsky
Because the 15 mini masks tested are therefore unsuitable for children, further tests on the filter effect, fit and possible pollutants were no longer carried out, according to the Stiftung Warentest.
The tested adult mask 3M Aura 9320+, however, showed a breathing resistance in the test that is in the children's range specified by the foundation.
It also adapts to small heads, is tight and filters reliably, they say.
But it is not suitable for longer assignments either.
The Stiftung Warentest advises children where there is a high risk of infection, for example in full speed, to wear this adult mask for a short time.
In schools, surgical masks are the better choice.
Through them, children could breathe well and at the same time protect each other.
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