# Masks: what type do you wear?



## Thomas Veil

Not how often you mask or where, just...when you do have to mask up, what is your mask of choice?

You might have different masks for your job (looking at you, medical people) and home, so you may choose two three answers.

Me, I'm KN95 all the way.


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## Cmaier

Recently went from a two-layer cloth (with a pocket for a hepa filter) to N95s.  Amazon has them reasonably priced from Honeywell or 3M lately.


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## Runs For Fun

I've been using cloth masks but I've got some KN95s on the way. From what I've heard cloth masks seem to be pretty ineffective against Omicron.


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## Edd

For non-work use, I use a couple of cloth masks with inserts for filters.  I'm comfortable with that setup.


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## DT




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## Thomas Veil

Viddy well, brother, viddy well.


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## User.45

It depends on the setting.
Patient care setting: N95 + faceshield.
Controlled indoors environment: 3-layer cloth +/- insert => shifting to surgical mask due to omicron
Outside/places with social distancing is easy: cloth + insert
Crowds: surgical mask covered with cloth mask or N95, depending on what I have and the duration.

Truth be told, N95s were designed to hermetically seal the face so for these to be adequately worn, they need a clean shave for optimal performance.


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## Hrafn

I was using dual layer cloth with pockets for extra filters.  I’ll wear whatever is mandated by my company, particularly in light of the general consensus that cloth is not as effective against omicron.


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## Herdfan

Milwaukee gaiter when required.


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## Clix Pix

I've been wearing surgical masks since the very beginning of this whole thing.  A friend gave me a few to use right as everything was starting and I liked them so much that I bought my own after that and have continued to use them ever since.   Sure, they're not pretty and fashionable and they don't match my outfit, but I really don't care about that.  I like the disposability piece of this:  I go out, I wear the mask, I come home and discard the mask and that's the end of that.  No need to fuss with washing a cloth mask in the laundry, no need to worry about if I sneeze while wearing the mask -- have done that a couple of times and while it's certainly not pleasant,  the mask protects others and that's important; again, once home, the whole works goes into the trash anyway.


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## User.45

Herdfan said:


> Milwaukee gaiter when required.



Gaiters are less than worthless.


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## Thomas Veil

Added gaiter to the poll. I didn’t think to include them because I haven’t seen one in forever. I also added the option of a third response. 



P_X said:


> Truth be told, N95s were designed to hermetically seal the face so for these to be adequately worn, they need a clean shave for optimal performance.



I know somebody who wears a surgical mask over his huge, scraggly “mountain man” beard. I give him a wide berth since it doesn’t look like that mask even begins to sit anywhere close to his face.



Hrafn said:


> …particularly in light of the general consensus that cloth is not as effective against omicron.



That’s what actually prompted me to ask the question.


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## User.45

Thomas Veil said:


> I know somebody who wears a surgical mask over his huge, scraggly “mountain man” beard. I give him a wide berth since it doesn’t look like that mask even begins to sit anywhere close to his face.



 I look like a turtle if I shave my goatee and I'm only willing to do that if I get redeployed to a COVID ward. But I really hoped the pandemic took mountain beards out of fashion. I'm shocked it hadn't.


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## DT

P_X said:


> Gaiters are less than worthless.


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## Deleted member 215

It's a black cloth mask. I like it because I barely notice it. It's like putting on a hat or a shirt.


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## Eric

N95 in almost all cases, will use the surgical if I can't find it but it's rare. It's not the most comfortable and if it's longer than an hour or so I get headaches but I feel safe with it. In my rural area I would say maybe 50% still refuse to wear them in establishments where it's required, I also assume they're unvaccinated as a rule and stay as far away from their selfish asses as possible.


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## Yoused

Spoiler: must have Goals in life


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## Herdfan

P_X said:


> Gaiters are less than worthless.




It's 2 layers of fairly tight-knit fabric that covers both my nose and mouth.

Can't be any more worthless than the homemade t-shirt ones.

And when I do wear it, I wear it properly.  Right now our local Lowe's and Home Depot require their employees to wear masks.  Very few wear them correctly with some wearing them below their nose and the rest like a chin strap.


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## Alli

I have a week’s worth of masks. Not that I go out every day. They are washable and have filters. My biggest problem is remembering to change the filters. But again, I don’t go out often.


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## AG_PhamD

Either a surgical mask or N95 depending on the situation. I wear an N95 if I’m around a lot of patients or new hospital intakes. They are also handy in the cold since they don’t cause my glasses to fog up.


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## Eric

AG_PhamD said:


> Either a surgical mask or N95 depending on the situation. I wear an N95 if I’m around a lot of patients or new hospital intakes. They are also handy in the cold since they don’t cause my glasses to fog up.



I can't stop my N95 from fogging up my glasses no matter how tight I try to make it fit. For the most part I just take them off. I know it means air is getting in/out but short of taping it up I'm not sure what else I can do.


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## AG_PhamD

Eric said:


> I can't stop my N95 from fogging up my glasses no matter how tight I try to make it fit. For the most part I just take them off. I know it means air is getting in/out but short of taping it up I'm not sure what else I can do.




Try a different brand. I find 3M brand masks generally fit my face the best. I have the same issue as you with most Honeywell N95’s. If you’re having that problem, it’s kind of defeating the purpose.


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## jonblatho

For much of the pandemic I've generally worn cloth masks, but given that my employer discourages WFH and handed out free 10-packs of KN95 masks last week, I've recently taken to wearing my cloth masks over a KN95 mask.


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## jonblatho

Eric said:


> I can't stop my N95 from fogging up my glasses no matter how tight I try to make it fit. For the most part I just take them off. I know it means air is getting in/out but short of taping it up I'm not sure what else I can do.



I actually have _much_ worse issues with my glasses fogging up with my KN95 mask than I ever did with cloth masks only. Give and take, I suppose.


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## User.168

.


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## Citysnaps

3M Aura 9205+ masks work well for me.


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