> I can order comparable masks from China

Why would you buy safety critical equipment from China? There are good reasons those hospitals have such strict requirements.

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-03/12/c_138870714.htm

> A joint law enforcement operation by government agencies including the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) was launched in early February, with over 80 million defective face masks and 370,000 other faulty PPE items seized, SAMR official Yang Hongcan told a press conference Thursday.

https://elpais.com/sociedad/2020-03-25/los-test-rapidos-de-c...

(350,000 tests supposed to have 80% specificity but actually have something like 30%).

For our use, faulty KN95 masks are better than nothing. Maybe they suck but it’s better than nothing and probably better than home made masks. You have to shop around and find reputable sellers that have been in business a while to mitigate risks as much as possible. I trust Aliexpress slightly less than Amazon these days which says a lot. Amazon used to have my unquestioning trust. Now I barely use them in favor of other retailers.

Are they? It's unclear whether KN95 masks are better than a piece of fitted fabric around your mouth and nose. That's the trouble with masks; we don't know what works and what doesn't.

I wi work on the assumption that it is at least as good with a probability to be better. We know how this virus is transmitted and what is needed to filter it, it’s just a particle. We have strong evidence from the healthcare community that these masks keep workers COVID-19 free. They definitely work on other viruses of a similar size...

> Why would you buy safety critical equipment from China?

Hospitals have done this for decades.

>Why would you buy safety critical equipment from China?

1) Because that's where it's made

2) Because they're obviously a lot more competent at public health than we are. We don't know WTF we are doing.