...they work for medical professionals but not for the public???
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Doctors/nurses do not want to exhale their usually benign personal flora into an open wound.
Dentists do not want to do the same into your open mouth, especially if they’ve irritated your oral tissue or caused a wound via extraction.
Medical professionals will take care if they need to insert a tube in a patient’s orifice (any of them).
It reduces iatrogenic infections.
Exactly!!! So we agree that masks prevent at least some of the particles from entering the air.
No one knows if they have the virus and are asymptomatic. So if everyone wears a mask they aren't putting as many particles into the air.
It is also combined with sterile technique and sterile gloves/gown. The face is not touched once the mask is in place the masks are worn once the. discarded. A far cry from the snot rags people are wearing in the grocery stores
> Doctors/nurses do not want to exhale their usually benign personal flora into an open wound.
Is that why many N95 masks have an exhaust valve?