4 ms·

I lived in East Asia for many years, and never understand why people here in Europe don't wear masks. Not even now. Really weird.

• TeMPOraL 7y ago
  > Not even now. Simple: there isn't enough of them around for everyone to wear. There never was.
  • stubish 7y ago
    Most masks in Asia are simple cloth. You can make them yourself. Not as good as a N95, but they cut down smog and infection risk and are affordable. Even just a scarf helps if you insist on being fashion conscious. Yet nobody wears them, because we have a shortage of ones good enough to be worn in infection wards.
    • lm28469 7y ago
      > they cut down smog Simple cloth masks Asians wear all the time don't do such thing. Pollutants go straight through these masks.
      • foxyv 7y ago
        They do reduce large particulates but you are right, they do nothing for NO2, CO, and Hydrocarbons.
  • 101404 7y ago
    That's another thing: I am pretty shocked that our government doesn't have emergency reserves not even for these kind of simple items.
    • fma 7y ago
      We do, but it's not enough. National Strategic Stockpile has seomthing like tens of millions of masks. I believe need over 1 billion. It wasn't replenished after H1N1. Hard to convince politicians to buy things we may or may not use.
• odiroot 7y ago
  I blame the foolish need for unrestricted individualism. We're much more of a "me" culture.