One of the things this pandemic has taught me is to stock up on good gear.
I live in one of the states hit hardest by coronavirus, and we’ve all been wearing masks for a long time (I started wearing mine before it was mandated).
I wear one just because it’s the only way to increase my odds of not getting sick, you know?
I had been wearing a PM 2.5 mask.
(In fact, I owned it for a year or two BEFORE the pandemic, because I thought it might be good for working on projects in the shop that involve small particles of dangerous material I was grinding or sawing.)
My mask FINALLY fell apart after heavy use… but thankfully, I had one of these high-quality replacements already to go!
For a while there, it was NOT easy to get your hands on masks that use these filters, but a few suppliers have them now (until things heat up again).
This is far better than a standard surgical mask, and better than relying on a cloth mask by itself.
Protect yourself now so you’ll be ready no matter what happens, including another lock-down (God forbid), this “second wave” they keep talking about… or even some other disease.