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
N95 means that it stop 95% percent of very small (0.3 micron) test particles.
Common fabric used to make fabric masks has fibers much further apart so it isn’t nearly as effective at stopping stuff from moving through the material.
But even a cloth mask can be upwards of 50-60% effective, so it’s hardly useless. In absence of a medical grade mask a cloth one is much better than nothing.
Keep in mind masks are most effective at preventing infected people from infecting others, not preventing healthy people from getting sick. Surgeons primarily wear surgical masks to prevent their germs from infecting patients, not the other way round. But under these circumstances it makes sense for *everyone* to wear a mask to slow infections and protect medical workers that are constantly being exposed.
Making both healthy and unhealthy people wear them is more effective combined that either.
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