Iâm using cheap surgical-style masks that cost 0.40 AUD each from the hardware store.
The restrictions in my state combined with working from home mean the only occasions Iâm in close proximity to people outside my household are when Iâm buying food, so I donât go through many masks.
Once things start to open up Iâm hoping to switch to reusable masks but I havenât been able to find any that fit well yet.
These ones I got from the nurse at the vaccination clinic. It's a mask with a half shield built in. It's quite beefy but light and comfy to wear. Pad feels thick like there's charcoal or something inside.
I work outside all summer though I am around the public all day. Since being vaccinated I stopped wearing masks outdoors and I havenât been anywhere inside around people since the spring. When I did wear a mask it was just the disposable type. Probably go back to that this winter when out and about.
N95 is just a filtration specification - masks and respirator filters that meet the spec are available in a wide variety of formfactors. The variety one will come across in the likes of home improvement stores may have check valves while the varieties used in the medical field do not.
Not entirely sure who youâre addressing this to, but the answer depends on who youâre protecting. A N95 mask worn effectively offers good protection to the wearer - especially outside of an occupational situation where exposure is immensely higher than in public. Protection for others against yourself not so much so, but in my case I use a common surgical mask over the (valved) N95.
Early on in the pandemic, the United Statesâ CDC put out odd messaging - that N95 and better masks were solely for the medical field and that the only reason for the average person to wear a mask was to protect others.
The former statement was to prevent hoarding of medical-grade PPE by the general public at a moment when the medical establishment was caught flat-footed. I remember entire shelves at the likes of Home Depot and Lowes going bare of every possible flavor of respiratory PPE practically overnight - unrated dust masks, valved N95s, cartridge respirators - to be sent to medical facilities. The situation was dire for months as the medical profession burned through stockpiles that would otherwise be yearsâ worth of such PPE in weeks. It wasnât until a couple months ago that I started seeing N95 masks on the shelves again at Home Depot and Lowes.
The latter statement addressed the underlying reality of low-grade improvised PPE and what was then available to the average person in early 2020 - source control was the best such equipment could hope for. Even with a large swath of homemade cloth masks incorporating filter pockets and N95-esque (typically FFP2 - a genuine and reasonably effective filtration standard) ), fitment is apt to be meh thus the protection offered still mediocre. However, using a well-fitting mask conformant with one of the aforementioned filtration standards one can actually begin to reasonably protect oneâs self - especially outside of the occupational exposure those in the healthcare field would be facing.
To your apparent point, yes one should choose a mask without a check valve over one with a check valve to protect those around you. I do not because otherwise my glasses fog relentlessly forcing me to constantly adjust my glasses and face mask to mitigate the effect as best I can and largely negating the point of wearing a face mask at all; however I do wear a surgical mask over my primary mask (with the dreaded check valve) to filter my exhalation. Do not point me to the first bits âhelpfulâ advice you might find around solving this problem - i.e. applying shmutz to my glasses, using a thick(er) wire along the ridge, or taping the mask/my face - Iâve either tried them without success, find them too inconvenient for my very occasional mask usage, or they were seemingly written by people that donât actually wear glasses.
No mask mandate around here so I donât really wear one. I keep some classic blue disposables in my glove compartment just in case a particular business requires one. I have so far resisted getting cloth masks because I donât want more laundry to do
I have to travel soon via airline for the first time in two years. I am debating with myself about whether to try some N95âs I have, or go with ASTM Level 3 masks that will fit better. I was leaning toward trying the N95âs while in the airport and on the aircraft, but now Iâm thinking it would be smarter to wear the Level 3 surgical masks to make sure the fit is better.
Iâm fully vaccinated, but because I have to be around other people while traveling (the purpose of my trip is to visit my 88-year-old father and other family), and after traveling when I come back home, I wouldnât think of being in public without a mask on, to help protect others in case Iâm infected, and to help prevent from being infected myself. The Delta+ variant of the virus is much more easily transmitted than the previous variants, and almost all the current infections in the USA are Delta+.
These, in black! I have 3 in use, washable (for around 50 times). I have 2 not used yet! MĂĄscaras / MO Online | Moda para Mulher, Homem e Criança. Celebramos a famĂlia!
They fit more or less in the social mask category but they have been developed and tested by the Institute of Molecular Medicine. Quoting and translating from the site: