The Ultimus Mask

The Ultimus Mask is a safe, affordable, and comfortable solution to reduce the health disparities caused by pandemics such as COVID-19. 

One of the most efficient, simple, and promising solutions to health disparities amidst the COVID-19 pandemic is an affordable, widely-available supply of masks that can block microbial pathogens effectively. Although there’s personal protective equipment (PPE) with high filtering efficiencies such as N95 or KN95 respirators, they are not available to the general public due to their high price, high demand, and limited supply. Thus, the social need for cheap masks with high filtering efficiency is currently not being met and results in serious health disparities throughout the globe.

Recently, I invented the revolutionary Ultimus Mask, which completely protects the wearer from microbial pathogens. Even the current PPE with the highest filtering efficiency is unable to filter out microbial pathogens completely including SARS-CoV-2. However, the Ultimus Mask is able to completely filter out all of the microbial pathogens. The official evaluation in a GLP-certified lab confirmed that the Ultimus Mask filtered out all of the tested microbial pathogens including SARS-CoV-2 completely. Moreover, its production cost is about 10 times cheaper than current PPE such as N95s.

The Ultimus Mask is a perfect solution not only for mitigating the health disparities but also for overcoming the current pandemic of COVID-19.

Current face masks consist of an outer water-repellent layer, an inner hydrophilic layer, and an in-between filter layer that filters out microbes and dust powder to protect the wearer from external pathogens. The pore size of the filter generally defines which microbial pathogens can pass the filter and not. Logically, the smaller the pore size is, the larger the number of pathogens that will be filtered out. However, this also results in an array of discomforts and critical failures such as a dramatic decrease of breathability, heat generation within the mask due to limited airflow, and foggy glasses and microbial spread from leaking breath. Because of these reasons, current face masks with the highest filtering efficiency have a pore size of 0.3 μm, which is the smallest size that allows smooth breathing. However, almost all pathogenic viruses are much smaller than 0.3 μm, meaning that even PPE such as N95s and KN95s cannot ensure complete protection against viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 regardless of their mechanism of protection.

My invention, the Ultimus Mask, is designed to solve this specific problem of current masks. The pore size of the Ultimus Mask is within 2-20 μm to reduce any problems that are present in current N95 or KN95 respirators. Its protective ability comes from the biological, organic material coated on the pore of the filter, which actively attracts microbial pathogens including viruses such as SARS-CoV-2 to destroy them, resulting in filtration efficiency of 100%.

Despite numerous medical, technological, and scientific advancements within the last few decades, a large number of people throughout the globe do not benefit from them equally, resulting in health disparities. Recently, this problem is being exacerbated by the current COVID-19 pandemic. 

Masks are effective in slowing and preventing the spread of COVID-19. Among them in particular, N95 and KN95 masks offer more protection than regular surgical masks because they have a higher bacterial filtration efficiency. Although this advantage of N95 or KN95 masks is well recognized, many people cannot afford these masks because they are typically ten times more expensive than regular surgical masks, which results in serious health disparities. This disparity is further exacerbated by the combination of the high cost of production, limited supply, and an increase in demand. However, when the face mask is used appropriately, it can become one of the easiest and fastest reliefs against the health disparity caused by the pandemic.

Thus, my solution to mitigate health disparities is to create a safe, reasonable, and accessible option, the Ultimus Mask. The Ultimus Mask completely filters out microbial pathogens upon inhalation, meaning that the filtration efficiency is much better than current N95 or KN95 respirators. Moreover, the production cost of the Ultimus mask is at the level of current surgical masks. As a result, lower-income individuals have an affordable option to protect themselves from poor outcomes of COVID-19, which can slow down the health disparities that are escalating due to the pandemic.

As a scribe working in the Emergency Department, I had an opportunity to experience and observe how different people feel about different kinds of masks to come to the conclusion that an alternative is direly needed. While I was working in the ED, I had never contracted COVID-19 despite my frequent contact with COVID-positive patients due to the N95 I was wearing. My coworkers shared a similar feeling of safety at the hospital due to the appropriate PPE that was readily available. However, there was also a widespread opinion that N95s are too uncomfortable to wear despite their efficacy. It was such a prevalent opinion that hospital personnel often wore the regular surgical masks instead unless the COVID-19 case was rising. Finally, there was an underlying awareness of the possibility of getting COVID-19 despite wearing the N95. 

I’ve also had an opportunity to observe how the unavailability of safe masks was impacting the patients. At our hospital, patients were only given surgical masks due to the limited supply. As a result, patients were often under the concern that they might catch COVID-19 while they came to the hospital, resulting in reduced healthcare visits and an increase in illness unaddressed. Through this observation, I concluded that current masks need to be redesigned to address the protruding problems of N95: imperfect protective ability, lack of comfort, and the high production cost.

I chose the prototype stage of development for our solution, the Ultimus Mask. The investigation stage was motivated by the need for protective masks against the highly transmissible SARS-CoV-2. During this stage, I identified a natural, anti-viral biomaterial that can be successfully coated onto the fiber material of a filter layer. Then, the resulting antiviral surgical mask was tested for its filtering efficiency, or its ability to filter out harmful microbes as well as virus particles. In the ABL3 laboratory, SARS-CoV2 virus-containing air was filtered through either a control mask with a regular, non-coated filter or through an experimental mask with an antiviral, coated filter. Next, the air that passed through the mask was tested for the presence of virus particles. As for the result, the experimental mask demonstrated 100.00% filtration efficiency. I named it the Ultimus Mask since it provides the ultimate protection against the COVID-19 virus that is unavailable via N95s or KN95s. Moreover, it is easy to breathe and affordable at a similar price to the disposable, commonly-used surgical mask. The intellectual property for the masks, methods, and their use are secured by a pending patent.