I don’t have specific knowledge about N95 quality masks. The Bangladesh RCT found that surgical masks were about 2x as effective as cloth masks (although that difference was on the edge of statistical significance). If I had to guess an equivalent RCT with N95s would find them to be ~2x as effective as surgical masks. But this post is mainly talking about masks = what average people wear and call masks.
If I had to guess an equivalent RCT with N95s would find them to be ~2x as effective as surgical masks.
(My best guess: The difference is much more dramatic than that because non-sealing masks allow unfiltered air to leak from the edges; so the amount of aerosols that gets inhaled while wearing a regular mask can easily be 2 orders of magnitude larger than when wearing an N95/FFP2/FFP3 respirator.)
Over here in Germany, average people are wearing N95/KN95/FFP2′s and I know a few people who somehow got their hands on some N99/FFP3′s. If cloth masks and surgical masks are not good enough, we should acknowledge that and get better ones. Many people would try to claim that as proof that masking doesn’t work and shouldn’t be done.
I don’t have specific knowledge about N95 quality masks. The Bangladesh RCT found that surgical masks were about 2x as effective as cloth masks (although that difference was on the edge of statistical significance). If I had to guess an equivalent RCT with N95s would find them to be ~2x as effective as surgical masks. But this post is mainly talking about masks = what average people wear and call masks.
(My best guess: The difference is much more dramatic than that because non-sealing masks allow unfiltered air to leak from the edges; so the amount of aerosols that gets inhaled while wearing a regular mask can easily be 2 orders of magnitude larger than when wearing an N95/FFP2/FFP3 respirator.)
Over here in Germany, average people are wearing N95/KN95/FFP2′s and I know a few people who somehow got their hands on some N99/FFP3′s. If cloth masks and surgical masks are not good enough, we should acknowledge that and get better ones. Many people would try to claim that as proof that masking doesn’t work and shouldn’t be done.
Getting better masks isn’t enough. You actually need to wear them correctly to get the full benefits and even professionals often fail fit testing.