Abstract: Recently, the new coronavirus pneumonia (also called 2019-nCoV, SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19) is spreading rapidly in the world at large, especially in China. The related protection urgently requires a large number of masks, which are in short supply in the global market. In addition, the general public is lack of understanding of performance, classification, and usage methods of masks, which are not conducive to choose the suitable masks. The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requires N95 masks to be worn on dusty construction sites. And the World Health Organization (WHO) also recommends the use of N95 masks to protect against tuberculosis, bird flu, swine flu, SARS, COVID-19,and other types of airborne diseases. This paper briefly introduces the concepts, structural features, protective properties, usage methods and regeneration methods of medical masks and N95 masks, as well as their differences, so as to help consumers properly choose masks and contain the currently spreading epidemic(COVID-19). Meanwhile, in view of the shortage of mask filter elements, i.e., electrostatic meltblown nonwoven fabric, the paper carried out a possibility analysis on the replacement of electrospun membrane to solve the current shortage of masks.

Key words: medical mask; N95 mask; electrospinning; nanofiber; electrospun membrane; PFE; BFE