Contact: Philip Allison
STARKVILLE, Miss.鈥擳o help area medical personnel who are combating the spread of the coronavirus, Mississippi State鈥檚 Department of Aerospace Engineering this week donated more than 1,000 N95 respirator face masks to two area medical centers.
The department gave more than 700 masks to MSU鈥檚 and an additional 400 to Starkville鈥檚 .
鈥淲hen it became clear that our medical professionals would likely need masks like the ones that we had, several people in the department recommended that we donate ours,鈥 department head Davy Belk said, adding that they were encouraged to help by Jason Keith, Bagley College of Engineering dean. 鈥淲e recognized that helping the health care centers is helping everyone, including us.鈥
The aerospace engineering department received the masks earlier this year as part of a donation from Smith and Nephew, a medical technology company headquartered in the U.K. Faculty, staff and students in aerospace engineering typically use face masks for projects that involve cutting or sanding either wood or carbon fiber composites.
鈥淲e have to thank Smith and Nephew for their initial donation and for enabling us to send the masks on to be used for a good cause,鈥 Belk added.
An is a protective device worn over the mouth and nose and designed to fit tightly on the face to block airborne particles. The 鈥淣95鈥 designation means the mask blocks at least 95 percent of very small test particles. If fitted and worn properly, N95 face masks provide better filtration protection than standard face masks.
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