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Ahh, yes I was a bit confused on the terminology. So surgical masks are just masks with some filtering capability but without a respirator.

And N95 is a respirator, which is different from mask as it protects the wearer better from airborne particles?



This 3M product brochure explains it more clearly than anything else I've seen.

https://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/1794572O/surgical-n95-vs...

Surgical masks: 1. keep the wearer from infecting the patient 2. keep fluid spray (e.g. bleeding) from getting in the face

N95 respirators are meant to protect the wearer from airborne particles, which surgical masks don't really do at all, since they don't form a seal and air and particles still go around the mask into the mouth. Many N95 masks have an ubobstructed one-way output valve for easier breathing that will not protect the patient from the wearer.

And as it mentions, surgical N95 masks (the blue respirators many medical professionals wear in news photos lately) do both.

* Edit: Another 3M brochure shows that many of their non-N95 masks are also tested for filtration efficiency, even though not certified by NIOSH.

http://multimedia.3m.com/mws/media/312703O/masks-and-respira...


> So surgical masks are just masks with some filtering capability but without a respirator.

Surgical masks mainly prevent droplets from entering your nose and mouth, and your breath/sneezes/coughs from affecting others.




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