Just so you know, air filters have a weird dip there they work for particles much smaller than the filter size and larger, but ones closer to the filter size aren't caught. The large particles get physically caught whereas the small ones get stuck in eddies (analogous to getting stuck under a dam).
Although to effectively catch small particles the air needs to pass over it many times, so your house air filter can catch them, but a mask won't catch many.
And a paper mask doesn't seal at all, so it does virtually nothing. The purpose of those is to keep stuff from getting in your mouth, and block your own sneezes, while you do delicate work. For example in surgery, you don't want blood getting in your mouth. They don't do anything to airborne particulates.
Just so you know, air filters have a weird dip there they work for particles much smaller than the filter size and larger, but ones closer to the filter size aren't caught. The large particles get physically caught whereas the small ones get stuck in eddies (analogous to getting stuck under a dam).
Although to effectively catch small particles the air needs to pass over it many times, so your house air filter can catch them, but a mask won't catch many.
And a paper mask doesn't seal at all, so it does virtually nothing. The purpose of those is to keep stuff from getting in your mouth, and block your own sneezes, while you do delicate work. For example in surgery, you don't want blood getting in your mouth. They don't do anything to airborne particulates.