US is doing nothing whatsoever to ramp up mask or ventilator production. It's going to result in a lot of deaths.
https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/03/16/8149292...
N95 is a high standard. N99 higher still. (Why not adopt that then?) There are also other mitigation efforts available not as good as N95 that are massively better than nothing and which are also attainable.
Insinuating as you have that only N95 is acceptable and nothing else whatsoever is acceptable means that millions will die in your universe since N95 is in the actual universe we live in unavailable at present. The perfect is the enemy of the good. But hey let's hold out for that perfection and then watch as the world incinerates.
Why do you think that? Couple minutes of googling:
https://news.3m.com/blog/3m-stories/3m-responds-2019-novel-c...
https://www.venteclife.com/page/covid19-coronavirus-ventec-l...
Surely only making medical claims is illegal. You could sell them as a fashion accessory, with all sorts of funky designs. Make masks fashionable and desirable just like funky socks were made cool.
Just make sure to make it clear in your sales copy (not in fine print) that the masks are a fashion item only, don't protect against COVID19, and "These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA" or whatever the asscovering stuff you have to write is.
Personally I find the expert opinion on the efficacy of such masks ("unless they're n95, they're useless") nonsensical. If there's a difference between standing 1m and 3m away from an infected person, there's gotta be added value to one or both of you having a covered mouth, regardless of the material the covering is made of.
The Hong Kong kind is simple enough (and it also suggests a transparent shield):
https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/health-environment/artic...
Video on youtube:
Further, any form of masks provides a psychological aid to help people stop touching their face.
> A Hanes Heavyweight 100% preshrunk cotton T-shirt (made in Honduras) [...] was boiled for 10 minutes and air-dried
> A commercially available N95 respirator requires a fit factor of 100
> The prototype mask achieved a fit factor of 67
> We showed that a hand-fashioned mask can provide a good fit and a measurable level of protection from a challenge aerosol. [...] When made by naive users, this mask may be less effective because of variations in material, assembly, facial structure, cultural practices, and handling
From "Simple Respiratory Mask" (2006) http://dx.doi.org/10.3201/eid1206.051468
edit: formatting