"Well, Technically", 3-ply masks are fine enough to trap germ particles. They consist of a woven:non-woven:woven layer, the non-woven layer blocking nanometer p

"Well, Technically", 3-ply masks are fine enough to trap germ particles. They consist of a woven:non-woven:woven layer, the non-woven layer blocking nanometer particles. If you look at a n95 mask, it has the same woven:non-woven:woven layer structure. The problem of 3-ply masks is that 10-25% of the air you inhale leak from the side/nose, bypassing the filter. n95 mask "fixes" the problem by tight(er) fitting, not by additional filtering layers. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonwoven_fabric https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nonwoven_fabric