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I'm curious about the actual mechanism by which this may work. I guess you could say I was of the belief that making could work if you were in the area for a short amount of time, and then moved on to other air. Like, the mask would keep your personal air supply cleaner for a brief time, but eventually more air would have to come into your mask space, so for longer amounts of time, it doesn't make sense to me. This might not be how it actually works, or is purported to work at all, but it's just how I kinda envisioned it.
Is the mechanism your pointing at that there are infected droplets of water from other people's bodies in the air, and the mask helps filter them out, meaning to can have a continuously safe air supply? That model could make sense to me, but only if the air was actually moving through the mask material. For the surgical and cloth masks that were common during covid, I never felt like that was the case. It always felt like the air was just coming around the sides of the mask, not through it. Are you supposed to press your lips right up against the mask, kinda kissing it all the time, sucking the air through the cloth itself?
I wear N95/FP2 masks which have a tight seal and are made of a stiffer material than standard cloth. The air does move through it so if worn properly it should block the majority of droplets/viral particles continuously.
Cloth masks are definitely less effective, especially if there’s a gap on the sides where you’re breathing unfiltered air.
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