Most of the rest of what you’ll see on the market are KF94 masks, the South Korean equivalent of an N95 mask, and pleated disposable masks. Yi Cui, a professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford University who co-authored a study on the efficiency of various mask materials, says the certification processes for KN95 and N95 masks are “nearly identical.” The main difference is their shape and the fact that many of the KN95 masks on the market today are unfortunately counterfeit. Imported KN95 masks, the Chinese-made equivalent to the N95, are also a popular disposable option. They’re especially good for high-risk occasions, like spending a long period of time in a crowded enclosed space. The very best disposable face masks are N95 masks, approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), as they filter out 95 percent of airborne particles. In light of all this, every health official we talked to recommends choosing disposable masks that offer high filtration, such as KN95, KF94, and N95 masks, over less effective reusable fabric masks. “That’s way below the levels that we would want at this stage,” he says, noting that immunity from previous vaccines will have waned by now and the bivalent booster gives you the best protection against all new variants. population is technically “fully vaccinated” against COVID-19, Lee says that less than 10 percent of the population has gotten the bivalent booster shot. and assistant professor of pediatrics with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth, Houston, adding that indoor public spaces with poor ventilation pose the greatest risk. “Even if you are the only person wearing a mask or a respirator, you will still have protection that is pretty good,” says Michael Chang, an M.D. While masks are most effective at the community level, the health experts we spoke to stress that one-way masking is still an important tool in lowering your personal risk of infection. And masks can also help protect you against surges of other respiratory viruses, including RSV and influenza. Ravina Kullar, an infectious-diseases specialist, epidemiologist, and spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America, explains, newer COVID variants like BQ.1 and XBB.1.5 are capable of substantial immune evasion. We’re in a transition period,” he says.įor this reason, mask wearing and other infection-prevention strategies are still an important tool in many situations. “Things are getting better, but we’re definitely not out of the pandemic yet. Lee, professor of health policy and management at the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health, no significant scientific organization has declared the pandemic over. But it’s also clear that COVID-19 itself isn’t going anywhere - as of late February, an average of 3,000 people were dying of COVID each week in the U.S. At this point, mask mandates and other COVID-19 mitigation policies in the United States are more or less nonexistent.
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