They would ware masks when they got sick from a bad cold or flu. It was supposed to protect other people.
I came back to the US wondering why no one did that here.
I looked up the research on it and it turned out people who wear masks not only aren't protecting others, but actually spreading the disease faster because when you are sick you are supposed to stay home, but the masks also made symptoms worse and caused other infections that can be quite dangerous if not fatal.
I tried explaining this to a South Korean, and they just couldn't understand. Why would you stay home when you are sick unless you are a lazy fat American?
Of course, South Koreans have a hard time with the concept of washing their hands before they eat or after they use the bathroom. (And their bathrooms are filthy.)
There are legitimate cases for face masks which is if you are sick, and need to go visit the hospital. Doctor offices also made sick people coming in wear face masks .. and this was pre-covid so not a new trend.
In asia, sick days are limited. So people who got sick, they don't have the liberty to stay home because employers didn't give them that many days and they may have used up all their sick leave.
Also, if you are sick and coughing from flu, you might recover from the fever after a few days, but still have a cough lasting up to 2 weeks. In that period, what you had is still contagious. People in asia believe wearing a mask will help prevent the spread of flu to others around you if you're actively coughing. This part I have no knowledge of and would need to look into, but it's the belief and etiquette you learn about.
You're right that people have been going overboard with the mask thing in recent times. You don't need to be wearing one if you're healthy.
I have never heard of a hospital asking someone to wear a face mask when they were sick and visiting the hospital. I have never seen this in an American hospital pre-COVID.
The idea that a face mask can block anything is utterly insane. If they were super contagious, you would seal the body in a bubble to prevent any exchange, and run all the air through an advanced filtering system that can remove literally everything.
The research on masks has shown that wearing a mask doesn't limit the spread of the disease in any way, and it does cause other issues. I don't know what research you are citing, but this was a well-known fact before COVID.
I used to live in South Korea in the late 90s.
They would ware masks when they got sick from a bad cold or flu. It was supposed to protect other people.
I came back to the US wondering why no one did that here.
I looked up the research on it and it turned out people who wear masks not only aren't protecting others, but actually spreading the disease faster because when you are sick you are supposed to stay home, but the masks also made symptoms worse and caused other infections that can be quite dangerous if not fatal.
I tried explaining this to a South Korean, and they just couldn't understand. Why would you stay home when you are sick unless you are a lazy fat American?
Of course, South Koreans have a hard time with the concept of washing their hands before they eat or after they use the bathroom. (And their bathrooms are filthy.)
There are legitimate cases for face masks which is if you are sick, and need to go visit the hospital. Doctor offices also made sick people coming in wear face masks .. and this was pre-covid so not a new trend.
In asia, sick days are limited. So people who got sick, they don't have the liberty to stay home because employers didn't give them that many days and they may have used up all their sick leave.
Also, if you are sick and coughing from flu, you might recover from the fever after a few days, but still have a cough lasting up to 2 weeks. In that period, what you had is still contagious. People in asia believe wearing a mask will help prevent the spread of flu to others around you if you're actively coughing. This part I have no knowledge of and would need to look into, but it's the belief and etiquette you learn about.
You're right that people have been going overboard with the mask thing in recent times. You don't need to be wearing one if you're healthy.
I have never heard of a hospital asking someone to wear a face mask when they were sick and visiting the hospital. I have never seen this in an American hospital pre-COVID.
The idea that a face mask can block anything is utterly insane. If they were super contagious, you would seal the body in a bubble to prevent any exchange, and run all the air through an advanced filtering system that can remove literally everything.
The research on masks has shown that wearing a mask doesn't limit the spread of the disease in any way, and it does cause other issues. I don't know what research you are citing, but this was a well-known fact before COVID.