For folks going out to get groceries, will covering the face with any old piece of fabric make a difference? What makes N95 masks CDC approved?
In: Engineering
The grading of a mask basically tells you how thorough it is at removing particles from the air.
As an analogy, consider a mask like a form of sieve – it stops big particles like fluids passing through, but let’s through smaller particles like air.
A high grade mask like an N95 or better is like a fine sieve – only the finest flour or water will make it through, and any lumps will be filtered out.
A cheaper mask might be like a pasta strainer or colander – it has much bigger holes in it, which means it will stop larger items like pasta, but you will find that smaller stuff like rice may still get through.
With masks were are trying to stop small particles of fluid containing the virus, which can vary in size from what is essentially a gas, to the cloud of snot sent out by someone sneezing.
A cloth mask will help filter out the big droplets but will let through the smaller ones, while a higher grade N95 or similar mask will stop a lot of the smaller ones too.
A cloth mask helps, but N95 will help more.
It is also worth noting that you get lots of other grades of mask out there – everything from masks that will only stop things like sawdust and won’t really help at all against a virus, to a completely sealed suit to protect your against scary chemical attacks. So pay attention to what you are buying and make sure it is suitable.
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