I guess it depends on what you consider silly.
Posted on 03/11/2007 4:34:49 PM PDT by blam
Students too cool for surgical masks?
ANN ARBOR, Mich., March 11 (UPI) -- A project at the University of Michigan has students wearing surgical masks to monitor possible flu outbreaks, but some students have been slacking off.
The Chicago Tribune reported on the project, in which more than 800 students have volunteered to wear the surgical masks at all times except while eating and sleeping. The study, funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is one of numerous studies worldwide to evaluate the effectiveness of such measures in controlling a potentially deadly flu pandemic.
But, the Tribune reported, while some students have been rigorous about keeping the masks on, many others have slacked off due to embarrassment or discomfort. Students have reported feeling silly wearing the mask, and others have talked about the masks being uncomfortable.
"It's hard to breathe with them on," said Kelly Patrick, 18, a project participant.
Experts have not altogether expressed surprise at some of the students not wearing the masks. Tomas Aragon, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Preparedness at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health, suggested that people may not be willing to take such measures until a dire threat is present.
After the cool teenagers see people dropping like flies, coolness goes out the window.
It is one of the great things about being old(er)...
You don't give a rat's ass what you look like, as long as you are NOT having stuff come out of both ends of your body at the same time.
geez, we waste taxpayer money on THIS?
Why not just ask the Koreans or Japanese.....many of them wear masks during the cold and flu seasons.....simple question - do amsk-wearers get less diseases of this sort than non mask-wearers?
Not rocket science, really. Gets grants, tho.
"Students have reported feeling silly wearing the mask,"
People in Asian countries routinely wear surgical masks during winter months to protect themselves from catching a cold or the flu or to prevent passing on their own cold or flu to others. Maybe they should do the study in South Korea or Japan instead.
I guess it depends on what you consider silly.
I wonder if Muslim women who are "niqabis" (cover their face) pick up less flues? They should do a study on it.
I would think probably not - normally they wear a clean face veil and change it daily, but women who cover their faces, in the past, used to be MORE prone to tuberculosis, so it sounds as if it is no barrier to infection.
The only way I can think of them as being a real inconvenience is if you wear glasses because the mask will move your warm breath upwards towards your glasses and steam them up.
OTOH, I would say get contacts or lasik surgery so you don't get bird flu.
I won't argue with someone named 'Black Veil.' LOL
"Would you like to wear a helmet too? You can't be too safe after all..."
I'm willing to wear a surgical mask, a crash helmet, bathe in Purell everyday and encase myself in bubble wrap at all times under all circumstances. Who needs a social life when you can live forever?
BTW - Isn't Micheal Jackson found of wearing a surgical mask? Now there’s a healthy individual for you.
*Triumphant grin!* I am the expert!
I'm not surprised that trivial concerns of reality trump even the serious concerns of fantasy. It is a prioritization mechanism that should be in place well before an individual's 8th birthday. This study lends ZERO valuable information regarding the observation of disease control procedures by the lay civilian community during an outbreak.
You are mistaken. It is only the uncoold ones that will drop like flies, masked or not.
Ah...one of my pet peeves....that and people like the practitioner at a doctor's office I was in....she sneezed...into her hand, then came back to me, grabbed my hand and proceeded to continue doing what whe was doing (it was a test requiring her to hold my hand.) Needless to say, I immediately went and WASHED my hands when the test was over.
I have to wear them sometimes. They are hot and uncomfortable. It's better than getting the bug of the month though.
I would have too. She should have known better. People look at me funny but I teach my grand kids to cover their mouth with their left hand when coughing and when in the bathroom, to throw away the 1st towel, and to turn the water on and off and open the door when leaving with a towel. Many don't even make their kids wash their hands.
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