flu masks

The masks can help protect the wearer a little, depending on the quality. They definitely help when sick people wear them, in order to prevent sneezes and coughs from landing everywhere.

drewdad, you are a silly goose.

It's better than branding (oo) Flu on their snou... er... foreheads....

I saw such even in your local paper ...



... and thought at first, masks wearing people were indicating the "Critical Moment".
(I told my dentist yesterday that there was no need to wear a mask: I could identify him with and without.)

I swear to God I'm going to rip the mask off the first person in Chicago I see wearing one and sneeze into their mouth.

<errrrr.... quickly nudges JPB, jw, JoeFC and chi-towners... errrrrr quick.... take off yer masks before Gargamel sne...neez....eeezes ... achoo ..........>


Bless you!

He's right. Covering your cough and these masks can help reduce the spread of airborne viruses. It's not failsafe, but it helps.

I don't think there's any reason to use them in the United States right now, and even if I were in Mexico I'd probably not use it myself, but if I were in Mexico I'd want authorities passing them out and getting other people to use them because it can help mitigate the spread of flu, especially in crowded conditions.

Sneeze . . .

Sure, but those who die from the good ol' fashioned flu are elderly or have compromised immune systems.

In Mexico there are 1600 confirmed cases and around 160 deaths? Surley the good ol' fashioned flu don't kill 10% of all infected?

I'm no alarmist, but I do appreciate the quick and by all appearances thorough measures taken so far.

One of the puzzling things in Mexico is that the influenza seems to be "targeting" young adults, rather than the elderly and infirm. What i heard from a Mexican official of their ministry of health (whatever it is called) yesterday evening is that there have recently been 159 deaths due to respiratory conditions, 20 of which were confirmed as being swine flu. He also said that they have now determined that a toddler in Veracruz had had the swine flu as early as April 2nd, but it was not recognized as that at the time.

Nothing will keep these 2 young lovers from their run in the park.

Well, here in the a-hole o' Texas we had our first customer walk in to the office yesterday wearing a surgical mask. Apparently, this individual wasn't versed in the proper wearing of the mask, because he had it on when he got out of his car in the parking lot, walked in to the building, proceeded to the counter at one of our departments, and took off the mask as soon as our clerk attended him. Once he walked out the door, he put his mask back on, got in his car and drove off.

Where would that be? So many places to choose from....

I'll add that there are people who should be more concerned about this, or about infection in general. Let's not make fun of cancer patients, organ transplant recipients, or other immune-compromised people....

I agree with DrewDad on this one. We should not make fun of cancer patients, organ transplant recipients, or other immune compromised people. In the Med. Center that we are in, we see a lot of people wearing masks. We have to understand that this is a very alarming situation to some people.

Funny DD, I was just coming back on here to address something like that.

Not just high risk people, but people in general really should be taking reasonable caution.

In fact, I lean toward being a wee bit more than reasonable, since I know there are a lot of people out there oblivious to any risk of getting sick.

Example...
There a new young lady working in my office, very intelligent in regards to her work it seems, but I'm not sure about common sense.

Yesterday she said that "Bill", a guy she's been dating about a month or so, and is all hot for, just called to say that the schools in the suburb of San Antonio he lives & works in have all been closed. I said boy, Bill better be careful. Her response, seriously was "Why? If it's in the schools they've closed them."
Just now she announced that Bill had just texted her saying a client had come into his work, talking to everyone, then, saying as he left that his daughter had just been admitted to the hospital with suspection of swine flu. She jokingly said "I don't think I should go down there this weekend....no, I'm just kidding."

I said "I don't think you should go down there this weekend either....and I'm serious."

Of course she'll go down there, end up going out to bars and stuff, with a bunch of other people who think they're safe because the schools have been closed.

So yeah, even though I was kidding about plastic bubbles, I'm not at all opposed to extra hand washing, staying away from places with a lot of people, and if there was an outbreak here, I wouldn't absolutely discredit wearing a mask. (in my car at least )

The masks do little but according to the CDC, washing your hands often helps including using products with alcohol in them....



In a related story. Alabama liquor stores are almost out of liquor. It seems some people are not about to let good liquor be used for hand washing by Obama.