Unless you are health care professional, a hockey goalie, or Batman, or caring for someone who has an infection like a new coronavirus infection, you probably do not need to buy a mask, just because of the COVID-19 coronavirus (SARS-CoV2) outbreak. And if you are Batman or a hockey goalie, a N95 respirator mask isn’t going to help you keep pucks from your face or The Joker from your identity.
The SARS-CoV2 outbreak has been good for face mask manufacturers and sellers. According to Dee-Ann Durbin, Anne D’Innocenzio, and Joseph Pisani writing for the Associate Press, face mask sales have been surging around the world. Demand has been so high that many businesses have sold out of such items or are limiting the number that customers can buy. Yes, in this way, face masks have become like Baby Yoda toys, except less cute.
Don’t expect mask sellers to tell you any time soon that you don’t need masks. After all, how many businesses will ever say, “you don’t really need my product, don’t buy my product, don’t give me money, and screw the shareholders”? Quite the contrary. As Megan Cerullo indicated for CBS News, some mask sellers have used this as an opportunity to raise the prices of masks. Isn’t that wonderful?
Keep in mind that buying most face masks out there can be like purchasing a scented trash bag: a huge waste of money. Many available masks are going to do diddly squat for you. By the way, “diddly squat” is a technical term for “nothing” or “nadda.” If a mask is not tested and approved as a legitimate N95 respirator by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), it’s not going to do much to stop the new coronavirus from reaching your mouth or nose.
Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has maintained that you should only wear a mask if you yourself are infected with the new coronavirus or if you are taking care of someone who may be infected. Otherwise, you are just depleting supplies for those people who may actually need such masks such as health care professionals. The current mask-buying frenzy has even prompted U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, to tweet the following this morning:
You know it’s serious when the Surgeon General has to say “seriously people.” Indeed, the current mask-sales frenzy is exactly that: a frenzy.
That means don’t get swayed by selfies like the following one on Instagram from film star Kate Hudson:
Yeah, a standard surgical mask like the one that she is wearing ain’t going to keep much out except maybe keeping people from recognizing that she is Kate Hudson. Such masks are quite hole-ly, having many, many small holes. And viruses are small enough to get through these holes.
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