You're watching the Omicron variant race around the world and think it might be time to upgrade your mask to a gold-standard N95 or KN95 model. A quick search on Google should find you one, right?

Not so fast, experts say.

According to Anne Miller, executive director of the nonprofit group Project N95, the masks that offer the most protection are indeed the N95 and the KN95—both are approved by the U.S. government to block 95% of the new coronavirus.

But she warned that there are lots of counterfeits out there.

The U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) tests masks to be sure they meet the standards for what's called "filtration rate," she explained. As the pandemic began, lots of masks were submitted to NIOSH for approval as companies sought to cash in on surging demand.

Only a few succeeded.

"Some of those masks were like 20% filtration," Miller noted. In fact, "over 60% of the masks that were submitted did not pass NIOSH tests—they did not perform," she said.

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