# Swine Flu: Why are People Wearing Masks? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 30, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903 "2009-04-30T23:13:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/1 "2009-04-30T23:13:15Z")
As far as the experts say, masks will not prevent inhalation of the virus. People tried them in the 1919 pandemic, they had no benefit then. So why are people using them now?Has the manufacturer of these masks made a killing on them? Personally, I hink this epidemic is being blown all out of proportion…I predict by June, it will be mostly forgotten. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/2 "2009-04-30T23:16:52Z")
Which experts are saying masks don’t help? ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/3 "2009-04-30T23:20:30Z")
Presumably, said experts are noting that the virus is smaller than the mask can block. However, this is not really important. If it stops people from ccoughing on you and stops you fmo touching you face, it should still help. ---
**Author:** ![mutantmoose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a87d85/32.png) [@mutantmoose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mutantmoose)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/4 "2009-04-30T23:23:07Z")
It stops you from transmitting it to other people (or so I heard). ---
**Author:** ![AdmiralCrunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6f9a4e/32.png) [@AdmiralCrunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AdmiralCrunch)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/5 "2009-04-30T23:29:23Z")
Everybody loves wearing masks! It’s like stage hypnotism, people wouldn’t be doing it weren’t so fun. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/6 "2009-04-30T23:31:42Z")
Fear. people are afraid and want to do something. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [April 30, 2009, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/7 "2009-04-30T23:46:50Z")
> [@smiling\_bandit](#): > > Presumably, said experts are noting that the virus is smaller than the mask can block. However, this is not really important. If it stops people from ccoughing on you and stops you fmo touching you face, it should still help. It should also be noted that whether you’re the one coughing, or being coughed at, it’s not like these masks are perfectly sealed around your mouth. At that point, the virus size versus the mask pore size debate kinda goes out the window. For a mask to be truly effective, it must seal your nose and mouth. What these Michael Jackson wannabees need are true sealing masks with filters to have any kind of hope. ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/8 "2009-05-01T00:04:23Z")
But even if some gets out it could be helpful in blocking the rest. Isn’t this flu transmitted by droplets from sneezing and coughing? If it is, even if the mask only stops 50% of those droplets, it is still helpful. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/9 "2009-05-01T01:56:03Z")
As for what the experts say, let’s start with [the CDC.](http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/masks.htm) > [@](#): > > Information on the effectiveness of facemasks1 and respirators2 for the control of influenza in community settings is extremely limited. Thus, it is difficult to assess their potential effectiveness in controlling swine influenza A (H1N1) virus transmission in these settings. In the absence of clear scientific data, the interim recommendations below have been developed … If used correctly, facemasks and respirators may help reduce the risk of getting influenza, but they should be used along with other preventive measures, such as avoiding close contact and maintaining good hand hygiene. … Facemasks1 should be considered for use by individuals who enter crowded settings, both to protect their nose and mouth from other people’s coughs and to reduce the wearers’ likelihood of coughing on others; the time spent in crowded settings should be as short as possible. As far as by June its being all forgotten … assuredly by June it won’t be big news. It will be quite possibly still spreading and mutating but it won’t be new and won’t be disastrous so it will be a nonstory. The issue is what will happen in October, when it has spread across Asia and increases more dramatically with schools back in session and cooler weather and hits into seasonal flu season with the potential to co-mingle with a variety of other flu viruses. Forgetting about it by June would be a bad thing. Being able to forget about it by next April would be wondrous and maybe that will happen, with this having been nothing more than a test run of our systems. I hope so, but I would not bet much money on it. ---
**Author:** ![USCDiver](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/uscdiver/32/354_2.png) [@USCDiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/USCDiver)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/10 "2009-05-01T02:08:48Z")
Just to clarify what some of y’all are getting at. Influenza is transmitted person-to-person via droplets. It’s not like the mask is protecting you from naked virus particles. If you’re wearing a mask and an infected person sneezes on you, the virus isn’t going to crawl through the mask and jump into your mouth. The goal is to stop the droplets from getting into you. See these links for a description of [Droplet Precautions](http://www.med.yale.edu/ynhh/infection/droplet/droplet.html) and [Airborne Precautions](http://www.med.yale.edu/ynhh/infection/airborne/airborne.html). The former being used to prevent most respiratory infections, the latter for infections such as Tuberculosis and Herpes. ---
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/11 "2009-05-01T12:55:04Z")
Not very informative im afraid but [fun](http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/04/30/cool-face-masks-for-these-swine-flu-times/) nonetheless. I overhead a few colleagues at work today saying that they would be wearing masks this week (Its holiday week in Japan, and they think they will be in contact with lot of people) While I do think that they would work, it is probably the feeling that you are doing something to protect yourself that they are after. Personally, I hate masks and wouldn’t want to wear one. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/12 "2009-05-01T13:17:39Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > As far as by June its being all forgotten … assuredly by June it won’t be big news. It will be quite possibly still spreading and mutating but it won’t be new and won’t be disastrous so it will be a nonstory. The issue is what will happen in October, when it has spread across Asia and increases more dramatically with schools back in session and cooler weather and hits into seasonal flu season with the potential to co-mingle with a variety of other flu viruses. Forgetting about it by June would be a bad thing. Being able to forget about it by next April would be wondrous and maybe that will happen, with this having been nothing more than a test run of our systems. I hope so, but I would not bet much money on it. But isn’t it true that any flu strain at any time can mutate into something dangerous? If so, why give the current swine flu more respect than it’s due? Does the presence of the current swine flu constitute a greater health danger than the latent “background” level of danger from “regular” flu? Especially keeping in mind that regular old flu that rarely makes front-page news kills more than 30,000 in the U.S. every year. Given that, why was/is swine flu being singled out? Because the initial cases caused an unusual amount of deaths (when location and access to health care were unaccounted for)? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/13 "2009-05-01T13:26:44Z")
Maybe all the people you see wearing masks are really doctors, like out on their lunch break from surgery or something. ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/14 "2009-05-01T13:42:53Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > But isn’t it true that any flu strain at any time can mutate into something dangerous? If so, why give the current swine flu more respect than it’s due? Does the presence of the current swine flu constitute a greater health danger than the latent “background” level of danger from “regular” flu? > > Especially keeping in mind that regular old flu that rarely makes front-page news kills more than 30,000 in the U.S. every year. Given that, why was/is swine flu being singled out? Because the initial cases caused an unusual amount of deaths (when location and access to health care were unaccounted for)? Because Spanish Flu was an A:H1N1 also. (Even though there has now been some reassuring data on what this one does not have that Spanish flu did, which reassure some scientists that this current form is not as deadly as Spanish was.) Because Spanish Flu also had a mild Springtime first wave, staying confined mainly to a few US military training camps, but then came back and by Winter was the massive pandemic that it is infamous for. Because it has markers that the vast majority of people have no immunity for and it has shown that it can spread widely human to human fairly easily. It is therefore probable that it will spread widely and hit at least the level of a mild to moderate pandemic - which means several times more infections than seasonal flu and by extension several times more annual flu deaths even if it is only as deadly as regular flu. Another 100-200K flu deaths would be news. Because avian flu (A:H5N1) is still out there waiting to co-mingle and would be expected to a much more deadly bug. The more humans with a infected with a human to human transmissible influenza, the more times we will have humans infected with both avian and a human to human transmissible bug at the same time, the more chances that avian influenza can pick up the NA that gives it human transmissiblity. Get a pandemic going - 50% of Asia infected with a relatively benign bug - and the odds of H5N1 and H1N1 becoming intimate enough time to produce a love child of Satan goes up significantly. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/15 "2009-05-01T13:51:57Z")
\*\*DSeid \*\*-- I follow you, but aren’t those dangers everpresent? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/16 "2009-05-01T14:11:17Z")
No **bordelond** , they are not. Regular seasonal influenza does not have the same markers as Spanish Flu did, does not start up in Springtime, _has_ markers that most have seen before to some degree, and doesn’t infect 50% of a population all at once. Honestly masks now seem a bit superfluous, the current risk of exposure, even in a crowd, is tiny indeed, but this bug is not getting “more respect than it’s due” … we may hit next April and be able to say this swine just flu by, this little piggie may not go to market, but the risk that it may turn into something very very Bad is very very real and very very significant. Yeah it can blow the house down. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/17 "2009-05-01T15:00:39Z")
> [@DSeid](#): > > Honestly masks now seem a bit superfluous, the current risk of exposure, even in a crowd, is tiny indeed, but this bug is not getting “more respect than it’s due” … **we may hit next April** and be able to say this swine just flu by, this little piggie may not go to market, but the risk that it may turn into something very very Bad is very very real and very very significant. Yeah it can blow the house down. I apologize in advance for asking what may well seem like silly questions to the informed. Addressing the bolded above – why would the one-year mark be important? Once swine flu is “out there”, couldn’t it mutate into the worst-case scenario, say, five or ten years down the line? ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/18 "2009-05-01T16:38:04Z")
Sheesh, doesn’t anybody [read the classics](http://www.online-literature.com/poe/36/) anymore? ---
**Author:** ![DSeid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dseid/32/20194_2.png) [@DSeid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSeid)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2009, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/19 "2009-05-01T17:55:18Z")
> [@bordelond](#): > > I apologize in advance for asking what may well seem like silly questions to the informed. > > Addressing the bolded above – why would the one-year mark be important? Once swine flu is “out there”, couldn’t it mutate into the worst-case scenario, say, five or ten years down the line? Not silly. Two reasons I choose that timeline. Generally “second waves” have occurred anywhere from 3 to 12 months after the first wave (although it is not at all clear how modern travel will influence that dynamic). Also the riskiest time for it to erupt will be after it has had timer to spread broadly across the globe and then hit all the factors that make seasonal flu erupt seasonally - schools back in session, people staying inside more again. That first Fall through Winter is when it has the most chance to infect the most people for the first time - overlapping with other flus going through their seasonal epidemics. Consequently if we get to next April and we haven’t had a pandemic yet then there is every reason that from there on it is no additional risk then the baseline seasonal flus are from there. ---
**Author:** ![Alan\_Smithee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/2acd7d/32.png) [@Alan\_Smithee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alan_Smithee)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2009, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903/20 "2009-05-02T14:40:31Z")
It’s just that they’re terribly comfortable. I think everyone will be wearing them in the future. Since airborne droplets from sneezing and coughing are the primary mode of transmission, it certainly makes sense that masks would work, even though it’s not backed up by data. Of course, if you aren’t around people sneezing and coughing (within 6 feet, according to the local public health nurse here) you won’t likely get sick. What seems pointless to me is all the talk about washing and sanitizing your hands. I understand that for flu (unlike colds and some other infections) the virus doesn’t survive in the environment long enough for hand contact to be a significant route of transmission. Still, I can see why they emphasize it. It has very little downside, and even a small change in transmission rate could have a big affect on the spread of the disease, I imagine. But on an individual basis, I don’t think hand washing is likely to make much difference. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/swine-flu-why-are-people-wearing-masks/494903.md?page=2)