Inefficacy of cloth masks

[mtbc]

I remain ongoingly irritated by the news coverage of cloth masks versus surgical masks or N95s. It reminds me of the red meat / white meat research that tends to be vague about pork or, if mentioning it, doesn't distinguish between cured or not, etc. Anyhow, sure, I would expect that many cloth masks suck. I'm using cloth masks made from densely woven fabric that sandwich many square inches of edge-to-edge HEPA-rated filter and with a wire for the bridge of my nose. How do those compare? Given the popular reporting's vagueness, I have no idea, but I am struck by how loosely some surgical masks fit. Though, for events like grocery shopping, I wear an FFP2 underneath it anyway.

Comments

[thewayne]

I was able to get two boxes of 50 N95 masks that have horizontal bands rather than fitting behind the ears, plus ordered another box for my dad in Phoenix. For me, they fit much MUCH better with glasses plus hearing aids. For my dad, he was born with a malformed outer ear and no ear drum and can't wear most forms of masks without massive adaptation, i.e. bent paperclips and such. I'm hoping these new masks will do him much better.

These proper N95s I can basically wear them all day much more comfortably because of the better fit. Realistically I should shave my mustache and beard for the best fit, but there are limits.