Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014)

Post by DoofusOfDeath » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 10:59 PM UTC

chrischen wrote: post #64

fiblye wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And if ever you visit Japan, you’ll see a significant number of people pull down their masks to unleash their coughs and sneezes completely uncovered in a crowded area. Covering coughs and sneezes isn’t really a concept here, and when it’s done, it’s done with bare hands which most people don’t wash during their bathroom visits. People wear masks here during pollen season or handling dusty/dirty things, to indicate t…

That is not characteristic of why they wear masks. And at least a lot of other less crowded parts of Asia are just meme-ing Japn, as they do for a lot of other stuff as well. I was on a short trip there and caught a cold, and an okder businessman gave me one of his masks because he saw I was struggling to contain my coughs with just my hands. It gets very crowded in Tokyo, so these masks are essential during cold and…

Post by JohnFen » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 11:45 PM UTC

FabHK wrote: post #77

resoluteteeth wrote: post #4

Surgical 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…

I came to say the same thing. From my understanding, people in HK wear the mask largely to protect their colleagues and friends when they themselves are sick (or even potentially sick, eg when one of their family is). The article didn't delve sufficiently into that, and even implied the opposite motivation with a (snide) parenthesis ("(Surgeons use them to protect patients from their mouth-borne germs, not the other…

Post by JohnFen » Mon, Mar 18, 2019, 11:56 PM UTC

mikekchar wrote: post #38

apsdsm wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Depending on the company you either take personal leave, dipping into your paid vacation, or you have a day worth of pay reduced from your salary. The companies that give you actual sick days are rare, but thankfully more of them are popping up as the old guard changes. one notable exception from memory is that kids coming here to teach English get unusually cushy conditions.

Just a quick comment: as I noted in my other post it is normal for companies to give 20 days of sick leave. Often you can't take them, though ;-) I don't know a single person working as an employee of a large company in Japan that doesn't get 20 days of sick leave. But those stresses are very important. Most foreigners do not get permanent jobs and are not employees . They are contract workers, who get no sick leave.…

Post by FabHK » Wed, Mar 20, 2019, 10:28 PM UTC

JohnFen wrote: post #103

FabHK wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I came to say the same thing. From my understanding, people in HK wear the mask largely to protect their colleagues and friends when they themselves are sick (or even potentially sick, eg when one of their family is). The article didn't delve sufficiently into that, and even implied the opposite motivation with a (snide) parenthesis ("(Surgeons use them to protect patients from their mouth-borne germs, not the other…

I believe that the parenthetical comment wasn't intended to be snide, and wasn't trying to imply that Eastern mask-wearers don't understand this. I think it was more to explain it to Western readers, as this is something that is very commonly misunderstood, at least in the US.