Surgical masks:
1. keep the wearer from infecting the patient
2. keep fluid spray (e.g. bleeding) from getting in the face
N95 respirators are meant to protect the wearer from airborne particles, which surgical masks don't really do at all, since they don't form a seal and air and particles still go around the mask into the mouth. Many N95 masks have an ubobstructed one-way output valve for easier breathing that will not protect the patient from the wearer.
And as it mentions, surgical N95 masks (the blue respirators many medical professionals wear in news photos lately) do both.
* Edit: Another 3M brochure shows that many of their non-N95 masks are also tested for filtration efficiency, even though not certified by NIOSH.
And the trillions of loss in economy could have been much lower if everyone wear a mask ( Surgical or not ) and kept business opening. It will also greatly flatten the curve in public health services, while buying time to find a vaccine or improve health services capacity.
There is no reason why Mask's supply problem could not be solved when you are looking at a comparatively speaking trillion of dollars package not to save the economy, but barely holding it up so it doesn't fall.
I am still baffled at the insistence that mask are useless, surgical or not. When there are ample of evidence to suggest it is thebest tool to help and stop virus from spreading.
And N95 is a respirator, which is different from mask as it protects the wearer better from airborne particles?