Respirators can help protect against COVID, but first you have to sort the real deals from the fakes.
If the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s in this season of the has you searching for N95s and KN95s, then the first thing you should look for is the last thing anyone wants: fakes. The CDC says about 60% of the KN95s it evaluated in 2020 and 2021 were counterfeit: That is, the items did not work as they were supposed to. Fake N95s, meanwhile, are so prevalent CDC has published a running list of counterfeit models. So, how to shop safe? A good place to start is to know what we’re talking about when we’re talking about N95s and KN95s. The, for instance, isn’t a mere mask. It’s a respirator that filters the air you breathe in (rather than just catching the stuff you breathe out, à la an ordinary mask). Even more than that, N95 is an official designation bestowed by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health. By definition, a properly fitted and worn, NIOSH-certified N95 respirator filters out 95% of air particles. (Surgical-grade N95s, per the CDC, are an N95 subcategory, and should be reserved for those who work in a healthcare or medical setting.) As for KN95: That’s an international designation, and, per the CDC, filtration standards may vary. There is no KN95 on the market that’s been officially graded by a U.S. agency. If you think it sounds like the N95 is the gold standard for the average American consumer, then you’re right. But KN95s can be useful, too, because, for one, they’re usually easier to find in stock than N95s, and, two, when properly fitted, the CDC says, they ” seal tightly to your face ” – a quality you should be looking for in any mask or respirator.
