Those Surgical Masks Aren't Actually Doing Much to Protect You From Coronavirus

If you are a person who has come anywhere near the news cycle in recent weeks, you’ve probably heard various reports of a coronavirus-driven surgical mask shortage threatening to sweep the planet while mask-producers race to keep up with demands.

So why is everyone stockpiling medical masks? Probably for no good reason, according to Vice. As health reporter Katie Way pointed out, a fact sheet from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration emphasizes that surgical masks are not intended to prevent healthy people from contracting airborne illnesses, nor are they a particularly effective means of doing so.

“Surgical masks are not designed to seal tightly against the user’s face,” OSHA explains in the fact sheet. “During inhalation, much of the potentially contaminated air can pass through gaps between the face and the surgical mask and not be pulled through the filter material of the mask.”

In other words, wearing a face mask probably isn’t actually doing much to prevent you from contracting coronavirus — which, it’s worth mentioning, remains unlikely in the United States anyway, where there have only been 11 confirmed cases so far.

Meanwhile, as mounting coronavirus hysteria drives more and more people to buy out their local CVS’s supply of surgical masks, the much smaller segment of the population that actually stands to benefit from these masks — that is, health professionals — are left increasingly vulnerable as supplies dwindle. As the New York Times reported, studies conducted during the 2003 SARS outbreak and during the annual flu season found that face masks actually are effective at protecting workers who have regular, direct contact with infected patients.

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CORONA-VIRUS | Wir beten, dass es endlich gestoppt wird 🙏 Dieses Bild hat sich tatsächlich mehrmals so abgespielt. Auf öffentlichen Plätzen küssen @healthy_mandy und ich uns nur mit Mundschutz. Wir haben keine Angst vor dem Virus, aber wir tragen dennoch, wie ca. 90% der Menschen hier in Thailand die Masken, um uns nicht anzustecken. Unseren Urlaub genießen wir trotzdem und hoffen, dass dieses Elend bald gestoppt wird! Wir bekommen täglich sehr viele Fragen zum Virus: „Kann man überhaupt noch nach Asien reisen?“ „Sollte ich meinen Urlaub absagen?“ „Haben die Menschen vor Ort Angst?“ „Wie wird hier mit der Katastrophe umgegangen?“ Diese Fragen, und viele mehr, haben wir nun in einem YouTubevideo beantwortet, welches ich euch in meiner Story verlinkt habe. Was denkt ihr über das Virus? Habt ihr Angst? Tragen die Menschen in eurer Stadt auch Mundschutz? Denkt ihr die Situation wird jetzt in den Griff bekommen oder wird sich das Virus weiter ausbreiten? Schreibt eure Meinung in die Kommentare, sie würde mich sehr interessieren. (P.S.: Kein Photoshop) #corona #coronavirus #virus #kiss #kuss #asien #asienurlsub #thailand #phuket #palmen #palmtree #beach #strand

A post shared by Youtube & Fitness (@fitnessoskar) on Jan 30, 2020 at 7:42am PST

Unfortunately, that won’t stop the masses from rushing out to stock up on the season’s trendiest accessory, which is currently having a moment on Instagram, as influencers around the world sport masks in sexy snaps posted with the hashtag #coronavirus. If things keep trending in this direction, we can expect Yandy to drop a Sexy Coronavirus costume by summer — assuming there are any masks left.

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