That is not correct. I understand where your confusion comes from, but please be careful about spreading wrong information! I will try to make it clear:
R and P rated masks (such as R95 and P95) are used in environments where oil aerosols like pesticides, chemicals, paint, etc. are used. They are special purpose safety devices for workers in certain industries, not intended for general use. They filter “oil based airborne particles”, this is, sprayed particles containing oil. It does not refer to petroleum based pollutants. In particular, it does not refer to pollution generated by petrol fuel vehicles.
For protection against typicial urban air pollution, the approppriate rating is N.
The cost of air purifying machines is also oddly expensive here in Taiwan. I flew to Japan and bought a sharp air cleaner for 1/3 of the price of Taiwan. The store even sent it to the airport for pickup free of charge. Anyone traveling to Japan might want to think about picking one up. As for the water, the government really doesn’t do a good job at educating people on how to clean their water. I personally use a reverse osmosis 4 stage system and wouldn’t use anything else.
Today I heard a tawanise saying to a tourist “normally the wheater is really good but today is cloudy and foggy”, I was shock, 6 months living in Taipei and is never sunny, and the air always bad, but they always denied everything
I think it’s relative and people are used to a certain type of weather. If you live in Taipei and don’t travel and don’t experience good weather often, then whatever is best, seems “really good”.
And not raining… could be considered good in Taipei
But if you get out of Taiwan, outside Taiwan, or have lived anywhere with nice weather, then you know Taipei weather isn’t good.
You just live in Taichung or further South and you will know Taipei has horrible weather… You don’t need to have lived overseas at all.
Taipei hotter than hell in Summer, damp grey in Winter.
Might get lucky in between.
Just bought a Xiaomi air purifier 2s. Has some cool features, such as, displays the room temperature, humidity, and pm2.5 levels. Also connects to wifi and you can control it from your phone. It’s quite affordable compared others at 4,495 NT. No wonder they are usually sold out. I had to put my name down on a list and they called me a couple of days ago when their new shipment came in.
Smog looks quite bad today I just use my senses … aqi reports seem to not represent whatever the cause is sometimes maybe you can take a pic @Brianjones?
I just use my senses … aqi reports seem to not represent whatever the cause is sometimes