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N95 Vs. KN95 Masks: What's the Difference?
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N95 Vs. KN95 Masks: What's the Difference?
Yesterday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) unveiled new mask recommendations aimed at people who are fully vaccinated. The national public health agency is encouraging everyone-even those who are fully inoculated against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19-to mask up.To get more news about famous nonmedical mask wholesale, you can visit tnkme.com official website.
Specifically, the CDC is recommending that people wear masks indoors in public places where cases are increasing. That includes areas where there have been over 50 new COVID-19 infections per 100,000 residents over the course of the previous 7 days, or where more than 8 percent of COVID-19 tests have been positive over the same period. Meanwhile, the CDC says all teachers, staff, students, and visitors should mask up inside schools, even if those people are vaccinated and community spread is low.
The CDC says the move is part of a bid to "maximize protection" from the highly contagious Delta variant, which experts have linked to the massive second wave of deadly COVID-19 cases in India, among other countries. As of July 20, the Delta variant now accounts for up to 83 percent of sequenced COVID-19 cases in the U.S.; in regions with lower vaccination rates, that figure could be as high as 90 percent.
Some of those cases include individuals who are fully vaccinated, hence the new masking recommendations. As our friends at Prevention note, the CDC "identifies Delta as a 'variant of concern' because it spreads quickly and easily, may make vaccines less effective, and may reduce the effectiveness of some monoclonal antibody treatments."To be clear, this does not mean COVID-19 vaccines are ineffective. Two preprint studies (meaning they have not yet been peer-reviewed) in Israel, published on July 16, found the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine is 81 percent effective at preventing COVID-19.You've probably been wearing a mask when out in public for most of the past year, but are you still wearing the right one? Since new mutations of COVID-19, like the Delta variant, are even more contagious, it's important to wear masks with a high filtration capacity and a snug fit. N95 and KN95 masks best fit that bill.
But what exactly are N95 and KN95 masks, what are the differences between them, and which mask should you ultimately purchase? Here are the facts.
What Are N95 Masks?
The N95 respirator is considered the gold standard of face coverings in the medical world, and even in the construction industry. These face coverings diverge from surgical masks in that the edges are designed to fit snugly to your face.How Do N95 Masks Work?
N95s filter out at least 95 percent of very small particles that are about 0.3 microns in size, according to the CDC. But this is the particle size for which the masks are least efficient. In fact, N95s are better at filtering out particles that are either larger or smaller than 0.3 microns.These masks can filter about 99.8 percent of particles with a diameter of about 0.1 microns, according to a February 2017 study published in the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Hygiene. As an April 2020 review published in the journal eLife notes, SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is an enveloped virus with about a 0.1 micron diameter, so N95s are particularly suited to our current pandemic.