IвЂ™ve done this as part of my reporting for WirecutterвЂ™s guide to cloth face masks but also for personal reasons: My husband (a teacher) and child had been attending school in person for most of the academic year that ended in June 2021, and we have older parents weвЂ™ve been trying to keep safe. IвЂ™ve spent months scrolling through scores of masks online, poring over documents from the CDCвЂ™s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) and the FDA, and puzzling over little certification slips half-written in Chinese (a childhoodвЂ™s worth of Saturday morning Chinese school has not helped). Here we recommend legitimate N95, KN95, and surgical masks you can buy from trusted retailers now.

In the past several months, weвЂ™ve tried 35 models and confirmed their filtration claims with government agencies or our own lab testing performed in collaboration with Colorado State University. Still, separating the good options from the bad can be tough. And even though medical-style masks were all but impossible to find early on in the pandemic (when most were reserved for front-line workers), theyвЂ™re now much easier to get-and, in some cases, theyвЂ™re your best bet for the most-protective face coverings. Although vaccinations are now widely available, recommendations and regulations are continually in flux, and masks will likely remain a part of peopleвЂ™s lives for some time.

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