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At the peak of the pandemic, there wasn't much supply so everyone was trying to reserve N95 for healthcare workers. The official advice (US) at the time was use fabric, it's better than nothing and it catches some droplets.

> Probably shouldn't have used "N95" though.

That’s the entire point. Nobody would have cared otherwise.

"Probably shouldn't have used N95 though"... gee, ya think? :P I would like to think that it's clear to everybody that they absolutely should not have claimed that it's even "N95 Grade", which clearly indicates that it's an approved as N95, but is roughly similar.

The actual stats are that it reached, at maximum, with the fan running, 86.3% filtration. That's almost 3x the amount of crap getting through than an actual N95 certified mask (without needing a fan).

Eh, the Zephyr was only released in October 2021, not in the middle of 2020 when fabric masks were in vogue. N95s were much easier to get in mid-2021, not that many people were buying them. In early 2022 they were given away for free in drugstores and even then not many people were taking them.