Originally Posted by
azepine00
N95 is far more effective. As you breathe in you will simply draw air and particles around shield an through surgical or cloth mask. Some will get filtered but not as much as by well fitted N95.
I used to think so too (since I've had experience with using N95 for other things where surgical masks are of little/no help), but according to "Effectiveness of N95 respirators versus surgical masks in protecting health care workers from acute respiratory infection: a systematic review and meta-analysis": "no significant difference between N95 respirators and surgical masks in associated risk of (a) laboratory-confirmed respiratory infection, (b) influenza-like illnes, or (c) reported workplace absenteeism".
https://reference.medscape.com/medli...tract/26952529