
Face masks could raise pollution risks - sohkamyung
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02938-1
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oblib
I think it's a stretcher to say those could raise risks.

I doubt anyone wearing one of those believes they are filtering out anything
more than dust, but wherever there's traffic dust will be thicker on a dry day
and that dust gets contaminated from pollutants too, but that wasn't even
mentioned.

The real stretch comes in the assumption that "They have the potential to lull
people into a false sense of security, encouraging them to spend more time
outside in dirty air."

That's bullshit. If one is wearing a mask they're more likely to be very aware
of the problem with sucking in polluted and dusty air and also more likely to
avoid it as much as possible. The obvious proof of that would be they're
wearing a mask.

And it's pretty easy to see when they're getting worn out. Despite what they
say about not being able to filter gases they still filter out a lot of junk
and turn from bright white to nasty light yellow/brown pretty quickly so it'd
be easy to spot people wearing over used ones but we don't see much of that.
And that is something that would stand out to me but I don't recall ever
seeing a photo where that was obvious.

Finally, I was one of the very few people among all those I worked with at
manufacturing products in an industrial environment that was diligent about
wearing respirators and dust masks. The greater risks come from not wearing
them when and where you should.

~~~
sohkamyung
Not quite bullshit, I think. Even in Singapore, which has been hit by
transnational haze several times (due to plant burning in neighboring
Indonesia), people still are not aware that there is a proper way to wear face
masks, or even the right type of masks to get. Here's an example article about
it recently [1]

[1] [https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/should-
surgica...](https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/should-surgical-
masks-be-worn-inside-out)

~~~
oblib
I can understand those concerns. People I worked with used to give me some
guff about always wearing a respirator when, really, they should have been
too.

You really should be able to figure out pretty quickly all on your own if you
need one and if it's working or not. But... you're right, and my own
experience mentioned above confirms that.

