Poor government messaging also means many people mistakenly assume surgical and cloth masks provide equivalent virus protection to KN95 or N95 masks. Some Americans have steadfastly resisted ...

But while surgical masks do provide some protection to the wearer ... a good idea to wear a mask in public if you have symptoms of an upper respiratory virus — such as nasal congestion, sore throat or ...

Cloth face masks, often cobbled together as a makeshift alternative when stocks of surgical masks run low, and sometimes worn as a fashion statement, offer no practical protection against the ...