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Ah no any mask decreases the chances of your catching the virus. N95 masks provide complete protection so are important in hospital and health setting. Other masks might not provide 100% protection but if everyone wears them even 50% protection would bring the R to less than 1. People habitually touch their mouth and nose if it is covered they would not do that so that would help as well.

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Yea, this is super important to emphasize. Even though surgical and homemade masks are only good at filtering out a portion of the larger respiratory droplets, that's still going to be a lot better than nothing.

This is the same reason the medical authorities have recommended these types of masks for healthcare professionals in areas where N95's are not available. It's better than nothing.

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/hcp/ppe-strategy/f... (see "HCP use of homemade masks")

The 95 in N95 literally means 95%

But 95% of what?

Probably not calibrated on Coronavirus transmission.

Non-oil particles over 0.3 nm, of which droplets containing viruses is one of. There are P100 masks (oil+non-oil) as well, but they're more expensive and harder to breathe through.

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