Just when you thought it was safe...

 I was going through the French press and saw a headline about "duck bill masks" ("bec de canard") and wanted to find out if the term was slang. You are probably aware that cloth masks are pretty much worthless. That's where FFP comes in, or:

FFP2 is actually classed as a respirator, rather than a mask, meaning they offer better protection. FFP stands for "Filtering Face Piece", with the number corresponding to the level of protection the piece provides, 1 being the lowest level of protection and 3 being the highest.

So, these are a little more than the fashion statement that cloth masks make. I'm not sure how effective they are in real life since the one study used the FFP3 masks, which are the most effective of this type of masks.

 Alas, I am not trained to a level where I can make strong opinions on this issue, but people who are and I respect say that this virus may need to be accepted as a fact of life.

Interesting links:

• https://lexpansion.lexpress.fr/actualite-economique/production-de-masques-ffp2-et-d-autotests-enquete-sur-un-retard-francais_2165902.html
  
• https://www.dw.com/en/coronavirus-face-mask-face-shield-ffp2-n95-kn95-whats-the-difference/a-52291265
  
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7248188/