In the United States, wearing masks in public is frowned upon, as if the wearer is a germophobe or a hypochondriac. This view might be changing for the better. The time might have come when wearing a mask is a responsibility to ourselves and our community.

In the United States, N95 is a rating that is certified by NIOSH (National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health). The “N” comes from NIOSH. The CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention) states that the N95 respirator is certified to “filters at least 95% of airborne particles but is not resistant to oil”. That is to say, the respirator is effective as long as it has not been in contact with oil. But there are two other ratings series, the R and the P. The 95 in an R95 respirator is the same 95% but the R means the respirator is resistant to oil. The P in a P95 respirator means it is nearly oil proof. The percentage effectiveness can also be higher. there are N99 respirators. So, in terms of cost effectiveness, N95 makes the most sense to recommend. To make this certification even clearer for consumers, the CDC has a list of N95 certified products.

There are practical reasons for recommending the N95 respirator. N99 and N100 respirators are more difficult to breath through because they are certified to filter out more particulates. This means that the wearer is more likely to find ways to wear these respirators in ways that make them less effective.

Recently, there have been headlines about respirators being sold out. This is absolutely true. People are becoming creative, so, they are looking for equivalently certified respirators from other countries. The giant supplier 3M recently (Jan 2020) published a comparison of certified respirators from various countries. Maybe a journalist can look into the timing of this paper, but someone at 3M clearly realized that a less technical communication. Therefore, even more recently, 3M published Respiratory Protection FAQ: General Public, in which is a section called “What is the difference between different countries’ respirator approvals?” In the section, the company lists the following to be functionally similar:

Australia/New Zealand – P2

Brazil – FFP2

China – KN95, KP95

Europe – FFP2

Japan – DS2, DL2

India – BIS P2

Korea – 1st class

US NIOSH – N95, R95, P95

For disease prevention, respirator is the solution. However, once this pandemic passes, there is still a great benefit to wearing masks.