Researchers with Wake Forest School of Medicine are collaborating on an effort to develop a reusable and more comfortable face mask for health care workers. The testing of the potential personal protection equipment (PPE) product comes as the arrival of several global COVID-19 variants into North Carolina and the United States has drawn concerns in terms of new community exposures. Just as worrisome: How do the variants affect the disposable masks worn by health care workers? The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed the lives of thousands of medical providers in the U.S. alone, most who were exposed and infected as they treated infected patients.