Dual challenges of heat wave and protective facemask-induced thermal stress in Hong Kong

During the COVID-19 pandemic, wearing protective facemasks (PFMs) can effectively reduce infection risk, but the use of PFMs can amplify heat-related health risks. We studied the amplified PFM-induced human thermal stress via both field measurements and model simulations over a typical subtropical mountainous city, Hong Kong. First, a hot and humid PFM microenvironment has been observed with high temperature (34–35 °C) and high humidity (80–95%), resulting in an aggravated facial thermal stress with a maximal PFM-covered facial heat flux of 500 W/m2 under high-intensity activities. Second, to predict the overall PFM-inclusive human thermal stress, we developed a new facial thermal load model, SPFM and a new human-environment adaptive thermal stress (HEATS) model by coupling SPFM with an enhanced thermal comfort model to resolve modified human-environment interactions with the intervention of PFM under realistic climatic and topographical conditions. The model was then applied to predict spatiotemporal variations of PFM-inclusive physiological subjective temperature (PST) and corresponding heat stress levels during a typical heat wave event. It was found wearing PFM can significantly aggravate human thermal stress over Hong Kong with a spatially averaged PST increment of 5.0 °C and an additional spatial area of 158.4% exposed to the severest heat risks. Besides, PFM-inclusive PST was found to increase nonlinearly with terrain slopes at a rate of 1.3–3.9 °C/10°(slope), owing to elevated metabolic heat production. Furthermore, urban residents were found to have higher PFM-aggravated heat risks than rural residents, especially at night due to synergistic urban heat and moisture island effects. ●We studied PFM-induced human thermo-physiological responses via experiments.●We proposed a new PFM-inclusive human thermal stress model.●Wearing PFMs can lead to additional 158.4% of residents exposed to ‘sweltering’ heat risk.●Urban residents tend to suffer more PFM-aggravated heat risks than rural residents at nights.●PFM-aggravated thermal stress increases nonlinearly with terrain slopes.