An elastomeric respirator or PAPR paired with N100-equivalent filters should provide the best available protection and should significantly reduce risk.
Here’s the reasoning:
You can’t get anything that can filter out more stuff short of using an oxygen tank.
There’s more recent quick-and-dirty evidence for covid and disposable N95s here. There might be even more such evidence, but I haven’t looked for it.
Elastomerics and PAPRs can provide more protection than disposable N95s.
Even if some tiny amount of virus aerosols penetrate the respirator, it would still be extremely difficult for them to actually produce an infection due to the different hoops they’d have to jump through (i.e., they would be extremely diluted, have avoid sticking to the walls of the respirators, and then have to reach the right cells and avoid getting stuck in mucus).
You could use a respirator until you get access to a better vaccine or other effective therapeutics.
An elastomeric respirator or PAPR paired with N100-equivalent filters should provide the best available protection and should significantly reduce risk.
Here’s the reasoning:
You can’t get anything that can filter out more stuff short of using an oxygen tank.
There’s some empirical evidence suggesting that elastomeric respirators have provided adequate protection for health care workers in a TB ward, whereas disposable N95s might not provide adequate protection in similar circumstances.
There’s more recent quick-and-dirty evidence for covid and disposable N95s here. There might be even more such evidence, but I haven’t looked for it.
Elastomerics and PAPRs can provide more protection than disposable N95s.
Even if some tiny amount of virus aerosols penetrate the respirator, it would still be extremely difficult for them to actually produce an infection due to the different hoops they’d have to jump through (i.e., they would be extremely diluted, have avoid sticking to the walls of the respirators, and then have to reach the right cells and avoid getting stuck in mucus).
You could use a respirator until you get access to a better vaccine or other effective therapeutics.