[bmdavi3]

Definitely!

I have a beard. A surgical mask fits only lightly over it, floating a half inch away from my face. That's better than nothing I suppose, but it really is only filtering big droplets. All the air is going in and out that half inch.

An N95, with it's rigid faceplate and strong rubber bands pressing it against my face, crushes the beard and makes breathing more difficult so I can tell some air is being filtered. I'm not getting anywhere near the protection the n95 is designed to provide, it's still much better than what the surgical mask does, which is almost nothing. And I don't use the valve kind, so any filtering the n95 is doing, it's doing it in both directions.

The surgical mask with a beard is kind of like walking around with my hand held a half inch away from my face.

[derefr]

> The surgical mask with a beard is kind of like walking around with my hand held a half inch away from my face.

Yeah, but that'd still be better than nothing, too. (As would be a face-shield worn without a mask.) In both cases, the main goal of getting regular people to wear masks isn't to contain exhaled droplets, but to lower the forward velocity of exhaled droplets, so they don't slam right into other people's mucous membranes, but rather have time to get caught in HVAC systems or dispersed into outdoor air.

The faster the droplets are moving when they exit your mouth/nose (e.g. a sneeze or a cough), the less they're going to be able to "turn" to get out the sides of your mask. Masks are very good at stopping sneezes/coughs from contaminating the air, even when badly fit.

That, and masks/face-shields/your own hand/etc. also protect you when someone sneezes or coughs directly "at" your face. Like the sneeze-guard at a buffet. It's not complete protection — the particles, once airborne, can drift "around" the barrier and come in — but it does appreciably lower contamination compared to having nothing there (presuming that people will be sneezing/coughing/breathing directly "at" your face/the buffet. Not a concern for most people; but this is why people in hospitality are wearing the face-shields.)

> All the air is going in and out that half inch.

Out, almost certainly (except for forceful expulsions, as above), but if you're breathing through your nose — and the mask is shaped to surround your nose — then even if it's a half-inch from your nose, at least some of your inhaled air will be coming in through the mask. Even if it feels like all of it's coming in through the gap in the mask. So there will be some fractional protection from that.

Also, I believe high-grade masks are somewhat adsorbant — airborne droplets just like sticking to them if they rub up against them, rather than staying airborne. So a good mask can "passively" scrub the air you're breathing in, even if that air is coming in "around" the mask instead of "through" it! (This is only a small effect, though, and shouldn't be relied on. I'm trying to list the reasons mask-wearing is better than nothing, not trying to justify intentionally wearing your mask less-well-fitted than you could.)

[OJFord]

They don't have to be rigid by the way, though it sounds like that was desireable in your case. I think in general non-rigid is surely more conducive to a good fit.

I have an FFP3 (~N99) one from some DIY pre-pandemic (so cheap, good luck even finding it now! I do wonder what tradesmen who need them for workplace safety, but their work isn't medical, are doing at the moment) - it isn't rigid and fits well.

It is used and 'not reusable', but I'm hanging on to it. If I 'have to' travel or something at some point I figure used FFP3 beats piece of loose-fitting cloth.