You are correct, in my country in europe only ones who wear masks are medical professionals and even then not all of them. Nobody wears one when they get cold o

You are correct, in my country in europe only ones who wear masks are medical professionals and even then not all of them. Nobody wears one when they get cold or flu and still decide to go out. So in my country there is no buffer at all and I assume that people watched tv saw chinese wearing them and heard that china made it mandatory to wear when going out which led to panic buying of face masks. Because local press and tv say it doesn't protect a healthy person, which is true. I can see how it can be effective when every single person wears these masks outside, like china did, since it would prevent people without symptoms spreading disease as much, but in a situation when we can't supply everyone it is better to leave them for use by medical staff and people in need only.