I'm just as surprised. I used to wear a cloth mask and switched to an n95. When I tried the surgical mask I was amazed at how poorly the thing fit along the cheeks and how hard it was to form a tight fit on the nose that wouldn't loosen immediately. Breathing through it offered no resistance at all, in contrast to your typical cloth or n95 that hug all sides of the mask pretty well to your face. I thought this was because surgical masks are meant to block flecks of spit off your tongue when asking for surgical tools, rather than aerosols from exhaling. Most people I see wearing surgical masks just put them over their ears and have it loosely covering the face, with large gaps along the sides and especially around the nose.