What is the difference between medical masks and ordinary masks?

The two are essentially the same. It’s just that medical masks must be hydrophobic and breathable, and have a significant filtering effect on small virus-carrying aerosols or harmful dust. Ordinary masks may not have such high requirements; medical protective masks have the function of effectively blocking liquid splashes. Due to the possibility of blood or infectious body fluid splashing during the operation, this kind of splashing has a certain pressure and is not a normal liquid infiltration. The mask material should have a relatively high ability to block pressured liquids. Only in this way can it be effective Protect medical staff. Therefore, in the standards for medical protective masks, special testing methods are used to test the liquid barrier properties of such products; in addition, medical protective masks are not allowed to have an exhalation valve. This is because when medical protective masks are allowed to be used as surgical masks, if you wear a mask with an exhalation valve, the microorganisms carried in the exhalation will be directly discharged out of the mask, posing a threat to patients undergoing surgery.

The main protective masks used for doctors are N95 dust masks, medical surgical protective masks, and ordinary medical masks. Ordinary masks are masks for cold and warmth and other protective purposes, and basically do not have the function of preventing dust and splashing of biological specimens.