You can increase your chances with a respirator. But finding a good quality one, certified with a proper standard (that doesn't just cover dust protection like KN95), verifying the certificate with certification company, and hoping it's still not a nice looking fake, one with some helping features that makes making the proper seal easier (like memory foam pad around the nose, or some rubber lining), best with a head band so that you can make it make seal better, is just way too hard, without spending a ton of money.
And that ton of money may not be worth it if you're young enough, and lucky.
I used 3 kinds so far, one was KN95 and just not sealing at all. Probably not much better than a typical "surgical mask", maybe even worse.
Other was marked "FFP3", but without a certification that I could find independently. Much better seal with memory foam around nose, and an ear bands that can be connected behind your had. That one at least felt useful. ;)
The last one is the most expensive so far, with an independently verifiable "FFP3" certificate, and a rubber lining for better seal with a proper headband. That one should be the best on paper. I have not used it yet.
Anyway, if you look at independent tests of random protection equipment that's sold on the market and people buy, sometimes it doesn't even meet the stated specs. That's not encouraging either.
I find navigating all this kinda tough, especially with some sellers proudly showing certificates which are obviously for something else than what they're selling, or blurring some information on the certificate, sometimes including the model information, lol.
(That is for the use case of actually protecting yourself from airborne particles in risky situations, not just "your mask, my mask" thing sibling posters write about)
And that ton of money may not be worth it if you're young enough, and lucky.
I used 3 kinds so far, one was KN95 and just not sealing at all. Probably not much better than a typical "surgical mask", maybe even worse.
Other was marked "FFP3", but without a certification that I could find independently. Much better seal with memory foam around nose, and an ear bands that can be connected behind your had. That one at least felt useful. ;)
The last one is the most expensive so far, with an independently verifiable "FFP3" certificate, and a rubber lining for better seal with a proper headband. That one should be the best on paper. I have not used it yet.
Anyway, if you look at independent tests of random protection equipment that's sold on the market and people buy, sometimes it doesn't even meet the stated specs. That's not encouraging either.
I find navigating all this kinda tough, especially with some sellers proudly showing certificates which are obviously for something else than what they're selling, or blurring some information on the certificate, sometimes including the model information, lol.
(That is for the use case of actually protecting yourself from airborne particles in risky situations, not just "your mask, my mask" thing sibling posters write about)