As per the ARIA-MASK study group,the COVID-19 pandemic has coincided with the seasonal/spring allergy season. Hence sneezing, a common symptom in patients with Allergic rhinitis could end up being a potential source of rampant disease spread.A face mask would not only protect the wearer from allergen exposure and direct air currents over the nose but would also offer protection to the people around as these droplets released following a sneeze shall be contained within the mask.
Van der Sande et al., in an experimental simulation  compared the filtering capacity of three different masks, (i ) home-made (DIY) of cloth, (ii ) standard surgical masks,(iii ) FFP2, the European equivalent to an N95 mask. The FFP2(or N95) mask filtered out more than 99% of particles,leading to reduction of aerosol load by 100-fold, while surgical masks lowered the number by a substantial 4-fold. [4] It is noteworthy that the N95 masks are effective but expensive too.