Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
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Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
#2Some anecdotal experience: I travel to Asia for vacations and majority of the time, I catch a minor cold. The endless coughing and runny nose can really sap my energy. A friend suggested wearing a mask. Once I did, the air I was breathing became warmer and my throat and lungs felt less dry. It really helped a lot. I was glad there were so many others around me wearing masks so I didn’t stand out at all.
Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
#3Some anecdotal experience: I travel to Asia for vacations and majority of the time, I catch a minor cold. The endless coughing and runny nose can really sap my energy. A friend suggested wearing a mask. Once I did, the air I was breathing became warmer and my throat and lungs felt less dry. It really helped a lot. I was glad there were so many others around me wearing masks so I didn’t stand out at all.
Do you know where one can buy those masks in the US?
Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
#4Surgical masks don't protect you against airborne viruses, but if you wear one when you have a cold it does help protect other people from viruses in your snot/water particles.
The facts about this are fairly well known in Japan now (although there may still be people who wear masks in the misguided hope that they won't catch other people's colds despite), so it's not very accurate to try to imply that use of surgical masks in Japan is purely due to some sort of failure to understand germ theory or something like that.
Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
#5Very interesting. I first ran across this in a youtube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xDAjGv5Cwc, and I wondered what it was about.
Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
#6"Why people in East Asian countries wear surgical masks in public (2014)" would seem to be a more accurate title.
As others say, in Japan specifically, it is a cultural-courtesy thing and is about not getting others sick rather than preventing yourself from getting sick.
Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
#7Surgical masks don't protect you against airborne viruses, but if you wear one when you have a cold it does help protect other people from viruses in your snot/water particles. The facts about this are fairly well known in Japan now (although there may still be people who wear masks in the misguided hope that they won't catch other people's colds despite), so it's not very accurate to try to imply that use of surgica…
"The reality is that the woven-cloth surgical masks provide minimal protection from environmental viruses anyway. (Surgeons use them to protect patients from their mouth-borne germs, not the other way around.)"
This is stated multiple times in the article.
Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
#8I often wear a mask during the Winter months in London too. Mostly because the majority of people on the tube are absolute disgusting pigs. They cough and sneeze without holding their hand in front of their face or making any other attempt to cover it up.
Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
#9I often wear a mask during the Winter months in London too. Mostly because the majority of people on the tube are absolute disgusting pigs. They cough and sneeze without holding their hand in front of their face or making any other attempt to cover it up.
Make sure to get your flu shot every year.
Re: Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)
#10Here in Vietnam they also use it to cover their faces from the sun. Having a white skin is the beauty ideal.