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A comment on Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014). Parent comment

Re:Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014) by chrischen on Monday March 18, 2019 @08:26AM (#19420470)
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 flu season.

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Re:Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014) by DoofusOfDeath on Monday March 18, 2019 @06:59PM (#19426220)
In my region's public elementary schools, kids are taught to "vampire cough".

I wonder how it's effectiveness compares to that of wearing a mask.

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Re:Why Asians wear surgical masks in public (2014) by JohnFen on Monday March 18, 2019 @07:43PM (#19426510)
This has been studied. Coughing into your elbow is better than coughing into your hands, but not as good as wearing a mask. Wearing a mask doesn't completely protect the people around you (unless you're using something more than just a basic surgical/dust/pollen mask), but it does help a lot.
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