The Chinese in the UK were wearing face masks very early on. They seemed to be simple material, home made or brought back or in from China and not PPE standard.
Surely there should now be enough evidence to say whether statistically it is a good idea or not? Is this being looked at by anyone?
So would the Japanese and Koreans be if there were enough of them around for you to notice. Every pharmacy there has them. It is considered a common courtesy to wear such a mask if you have a cold in the Far East. It is unthinkable there to take a day off work for a trivial illness.
I suspect that the much shallower infection curve in Japan owes a lot to the fact that they bow as a greeting and leave their shoes at the door. The face masks probably do prevent those with symptoms from spreading the virus but nothing about those that are infected but still asymptomatic from spreading it. Only social distancing can do that.
The "protection" such a mask offers to people who are well is largely illusory and could easily work against you. PPE that has been used and contaminated needs to be taken off very carefully afterwards.
As in, several years ago ...
Chinese tourists in London usually wear masks in the winter.
...washed and dried, before putting in a new charcoal filter
I do myself wonder if it might actually be possible to mitigate the use once ppe cheaper then making new ones. Basically,you need to sterilise the outside while replacing the seal but keeping the rest of the device. Why not design something like that for this use case? Brian
Remember also that urban Chinese and Japanese have a culture of wearing anti-smog masks. So it does not seem so alien to them.
Mainly as a result of air pollution, probably equivalent of the London smog of the past.
Dunno if they do it for germs, fumes or out of habit, but leicester isn't exactly smog-central
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