I can't believe the amount of you that still don't know how masks work.
Wearing a surgical mask or a cloth mask does not protect the wearer, it protects everyone else FROM the wearer.
Consider these masks like a catalytic converter or a DPF - they prevent emissions created by the car from getting out into the atmosphere.
If you have a cough or are sneezing then you wear those masks to catch the droplets rather than letting them out into the atmosphere for everyone else to breathe in. People wearing those kinds of masks are not aiming to protect themselves, it's the other way around, they're doing a service to protect
you from
them so what you're doing is criticising someone who was likely sick and had the courtesy to not spread their germs around to others.
Have you ever seen an oil filter with gaps out the sides for particles to slip through? No of course you haven't, that'd be useless, the oil would take the path of least resistance and go around the gaps rather than through the filter.
You need a specific type of mask rated N95 or more for the mask to flip capabilities and offer protection to the wearer instead.
Masks rated N95+ will fit more tightly so that
inhaled air is forced through the filtering and nothing gets breathed in unfiltered
by the wearer.
Consider these masks like engine bay air filters, they stop airborne particles from getting sucked into your engine.
They also offer protection to others (exhaled air will be forced through the filtering too) unless they have a valve in them, in which case they will filter what the wearer breathes in but when the wearer exhales the valve will pop open and share it with others. Those people are maskholes.
So to summarise and hopefully make it clearer for people....
- surgical masks and cloth masks filter on EGRESS. they protect everyone other than the wearer.
- N95+ masks have no gaps for air to slip through, they filter INGRESS AND EGRESS. they protect both the wearer and everyone else.
- N95+ masks with vents/valves. they filter INGRESS ONLY and only protect the wearer as exhaled air will pop open the valve and vent it out to share with others.