TGA releases Particle Filtration Efficiency of Respirators during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dumb gets Dumber. They failed to measure Exhalation capture of Coronavirus.

Beeswax occupied the minds of the Health Products Regulation Group, Therapeutic Goods Administration.¹

The picture tells a sad story.

Note the experimental setup is the exact opposite of what is required.

TGA used Beeswax to mount the masks before spraying them with high velocity Sodium Chloride aerosol onto their external surface.

Australian and European designated respirator standards utilise a slightly higher flow rate than the US and Chinese standards at 95 Liters/min vs 85 Liters/min but also require a slightly lower minimum acceptable filtration efficiency level: 94 % vs 95 %

Note the absurdity of 94 % vs 95 % - might appeal to a numbers person!

I have written about how masks work to reduce transmission of pathogens from infected to uninfected and the science of testing for Exhaled pathogen capture and how a study from South Korea neatly demonstrated that exhaled Covid19 is easily captured using KF94 or N95 masks, and the inner electrostatic filter was selected for virus quantification that proved superior to trying to measure virus in serum.²

The only reference to Exhalation in the TGA paper is correct:

This study excluded respirators with exhalation valves as they did not meet the criteria to be classified as medical devices in Australia.

I came across this TGA paper when searching for papers published by Lucan Baillie, who is currently Acting Head of TGA Laboratories Branch.³

Looking at the references cited, I see TGA did not perform a rudimentary literature survey that would have made them rethink and have to do sensible testing at exhaled breathing rates found in Humans, about 6-8 liters per minute.

1. Jackson Williams, Lucan Baillie, Wayne Clancy, Travis Dodd, Kelly Tsang, Katie Burns, Lisa Kerr, Amanda Craig. 2025. Particle filtration efficiency of respirators during the COVID-19 pandemic. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876034125001601

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