Remember when the NIH, CDC, WHO, and all the rest used to remind us about how cloth face masks couldn’t protect you from a virus? The experts were so adamant that back in 2003, you could get fined for claiming otherwise.
Retailers who cash in on community fears about SARS by exaggerating the health benefits of surgical masks could face fines of up to $110,000.
NSW Fair Trading Minister Reba Meagher yesterday warned that distributors and traders could be prosecuted if it was suggested the masks offered unrealistic levels of protection from the disease.
“I’m sure everyone would agree that it is un-Australian to profiteer from people’s fears and anxieties,” Ms Meagher said. …
“Penalties can range from fines of up to $22,000 for an individual or $110,000 for a corporation,” she said.
Oh, how times have changed. Seventeen years later, you might get fined for not forcing people to wear them in your business (unless they were sitting down, of course).
That latter bit seems to have calmed down in the past 12 months, but the real issue is efficacy which, according to an industrial hygienist, does not exist for cloth or medical face masks.
Medical doctors are what they are, but they are not certified industrial hygienists. They are not experts in the field of workplace or public safety when it comes to real threats and solutions. They are not even experts in these fields regarding a hospital or clinical settings.
These masks will not get the job done for many reasons (listen to the testimony for a few) but mostly because they were never made to do that. Even N95 and K95 masks require special training to be remotely effective.
And to this day, if you grab a box of those medical masks, it says right on the side that it will not provide any protection because to state otherwise could (still!) get them sued.
I guess no one thought to get them a special dispensation from the public health pope.
Nearly everyone else got one.
HT | RCSB
