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I notice pictures on the news of people wearing face masks, seemingly of the sort used against dust, in areas affected by the Swine Influenza (H1N1) outbreak. I wonder how much protection these people think masks give - I'd say none, approximately.

I wouldn't put a lot of trust into those disposable ones you buy at the hardware store, but there are medical versions that create a better seal around the face and are certified to filter very small particles, so they would be useful in preventing the inhalation of microbes.

Yeah, I'd say that the dust mask people are living under a false sense of security.

What I think is really stupid are the people on the news reports, walking around with a mask over their mouths, yet their noses are fully exposed.

I've seen a lot of them on TV.

Richard Bell;1181052 wrote: the inhalation of microbes


This virus is minute in comparison!

Those TV types aren't always very clever, by the look.

They are now saying (the media) that the masks are worthless and just wash your hands 24/7.

The masks are not to stop you taking it in but to stop you sneezing it out. Unfortunately that isn't explained when you get one........

Im always prepared for anything.

Bill Sikes;1181024 wrote: I notice pictures on the news of people wearing face masks, seemingly of the sort used against dust, in areas affected by the Swine Influenza (H1N1) outbreak. I wonder how much protection these people think masks give - I'd say none, approximately.


I'd really have to disagree here, Bill. I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis about ten years ago, which is an autoimmune-runaway disease. Because of that, I take auto immune suppressors and I have to be VERY careful not to get infected.

Now...I work at a school. A bacteriological battlefield if I ever saw one!

When my doctor suggested that I make sure to use a mask when working with sick children, I had to laugh. (On any given day, that's at at least a quarter of the kids I work with which averages out to about 40-50 sick kids.) But when he told me the consequences of getting sick with no immune system, I had no choice. At first I felt goofy, and of course the children thought it was a gag. But I noticed something. I stopped getting sick.

Totally. I haven't caught a cold or the flu in four years. Nothing at all.

I swear by them now. If you have to get right up in the face of a sick person, use one, you'd be amazed. It only takes a second to put on, it isn't obtrusive or confining. Oxygen flows smoothly through it, but bacteria and viruses don't. It is treated (I think) with something that kills most of them anyway.

It's a new day, there are new protocols, adapt. Get used to it. In a world rapidly becoming overpopulated, we'll all have to change our ideas and thoughts about behavior in public.