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I work at Sherwin Williams paint store. We have them in stock still because most people don’t think to look there. Carry a variety of N95s etc.
3M N95 masks. Can get them at hardware stores.
Not the most comfortable but safety >>>>> comfort.
To check if you have a good seal, take a deep breath and you should feel the inner layers of the mask being "sucked in" if that makes sense.
N95s have an expiration check valve. They're banned in most serious contexts for that but even where they aren't, if you're looking to protect others as well as yourself, you should use a KN95.
edit - at least the ones they usually have at hardware stores
I mean you can buy them without the valve. N95 is just a filtration standard. Most n95s don't have an exhalation valve.
3M disposable N95s are really uncomfortable btw, it starts to hurt after a while.
Are you in high risk settings? (Extended periods of contact, particularly indoors).
If not, disposables are fine and not fake.
You could probably get away with it but yeah idk. Ive not been able to afford (or source) enough n95s so have been using disposables this whole time
Fortunately and unfortunately they cut my hours and I'm in school anyway, so I only work on the weekends. Weekends are pretty high volume and while people here are good about vaccinations and masks there is just way too many fucking people for comfort.
100%, you gotta do what you can. A fitted mask is the only one that'll help in not breathing other's viral exhalations, the rest is common courtesy that protects others lol.
Stay safe comrade
bearded brethren, you may also want to consider losing the beard to get a better seal. i know i am thinking about doing it before i go out again
Honeywell Surgical N95 Respirator or Honeywell Safety DF300
You can re-use either until they are wet. Surgical fits for a smaller face. DF300 for larger.
We used to get ours from iherb.com
They had 10 packs for $2 (so $0.20 per mask). It was great, but last we checked they didn’t have any.
Fucking feds have a literal death wish because they removed the emergency authorization for most KN95s that could be sold earlier in the pandemic (I personally will never forget that move, and will use it to remind me why we won’t be making any excuses for the terror!)
My mom let me know the other day that something called “MobStub” (appears to be US version of Wish or whatever) had KN95s for sale.
The website is legitimately awful, but for whatever reason KN95s were on sale for basically the old price, 100 for $20. Both the originals and these were Sunjoy brand
But I haven’t checked either in a minute. Looks like prices now are like $0.33/mask minimum on Amazon, if not a full 5x more expensive at $1/mask
https://www.grainger.com/product/3M-Disposable-Respirator-2KJJ5
https://www.envirosafetyproducts.com/
https://www.industrialsafetyproducts.com
Half that price at https://bonafidemasks.com/powecom-kn-95 , and they are real.
If you come across them Korean KF94 masks are another option. From what I can tell the real ones are made in South Korea (duh) and are individually wrapped in a kind of thin foil packet.
The upside is the conspiracy is in the other direction.
Two layers of simple fabric mask like you would buy from the trunk of a little old lady in the parking lot of your favorite grocery seem reasonably effective. So while a full n95 respirator is ideal. KN95s work just as well. The good old fashioned kind our ancestors uzed to wear might be good enough if eveyone wore them all the time. So you can feel a reasonable degree of safety like that if that is what is available to you.
Also, i gotna big box of nice kn95s from the asian market for a reasonable price
Iirc cloth masks don't do much to protect the wearer from omicron since it's so transmissive
I haven't seen much study done since the first covid so this could be true. Since mathematically a 10x more corulant virus should be able to infect a person with 10x less present viri. Not a perfrct rule. But tht would mean something like an 80% coverage mask might not protect against the now extreemly virulant form
Fairly certain I got the rona due to a fake kn95 but can’t verify thanks to Brandon making testing impossible
