Thank you for taking the time to look it up and including the link. Cigarette smoke contains particles that are typically between .1 micron and 1 micron in diameter.
The article you found refers to “median particle size” of cigarette smoke. You did not provide a source for “median particle size” of coronavirus particles just the range in sizes. The statement made did not refer to median particulate size either. You are making an apples to oranges comparison.
The numbers that would seem to be an apples to apples comparison would be .1 micron to 1 micron vs .05 microns to .14 microns. Those numbers do not actually prove that the statement that I repeated from another source “Coronavirus particuate is approximately 10 times smaller than particles found in cigarette smoke” is false. Do we typically find particles in cigarette smoke that are 1 micron or larger? Yes. 1 micron is 20 times larger than .05 microns and over 7 times larger than .14 microns. Obviously there are molecules and particles within cigarette smoke that are much smaller than 1 micron but this does not invalidate the statement made... not that it actually matters. The face coverings and dust masks people typically wear are not useful for filtering cigarette smoke or coronavirus particulate.
The argument that they contain the droplets from a sneezing person might have some validity if the covering or mask does not have an exhilation valve which actually increases the velocity of the expelled droplets. But if the covering is not changed immediately after an infected person coughs or sneezes they merely act as a seive and as the mucus or flem particles dry the coronavirus particulate is released over a longer period of time and unlike the droplets will remain suspended in the air for an extended period of time. I think the source for the Washington Compost story covers this as do others. This is one of the reasons why bandanas, and similar coverings have been shown to be worse than no face covering at all.
Likewise nobody cares if non-N95 masks filter virus particles or not. They don't. Only properly fitted N-95 masks filter virus particles. Masks are used to to stop droplets.
he argument that they contain the droplets from a sneezing person might have some validity if the covering or mask does not have an exhilation valve which actually increases the velocity of the expelled droplets.
That's not my argument either although I inadvertantly adopted it. 99.9% of the usefulness of a mask in the real world is to stop droplets from the vocal cords. People who cough or sneeze into a mask should not be in public at all. The vocal cord droplets are about 1 micron and up: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-38808-z/figures/2
Granted a cloth mask will do very little to stop 1 micron droplets. A surgical mask should stop quite a few of them. Yes, you are correct about N-95 output valves making things worse. Those should not be used in public, only in hospitals or situations with COVID patients.