Hey medical folks like Ray Bob and all, do these surgical masks prevent you from breathing in a virus OR prevent you from breathing out a virus and spreading it?

News keeps saying it keeps you from spreading it.

Mask are for protection from droplets. Hand washing will help from catching.

Not a super clear-cut answer that I have seen so far but what little I have read is that covid is droplet not airborne. If it is airborne, the only people that will benefit from all those masks are the mask manufacturers. (unless you have a PERFECTLY fitting n-95 mask)

If it doesn't make a difference, then why do healthcare providers wear one? Keep in mind the coronavirus is airborne. In my mind, it's more effective if the infected person wears it. It should catch anything when the person coughs or sneezes. For non-infected, I would think wearing a mask is better than nothing. It would prevent you from breathing in the virus but your eyes are still exposed leaving you at risk. Don't forget the hand sanitizer. #1 thing you should have and use frequently imo.

The ones most everyone wears will do nothing.

Sold out

And there isn't a cool factor...

I agree. Here’s a recipe for mac n cheese that I want to try.

https://gardenandgun.com/recipe/mac...let022720&utm_content=mac-and-cheese

While we breathe moisture can and will come out. We don't want that to fall into a sterile field and cause an infection.

Oh, so infected people should have these which is what I thought. If an infected person sneezes, then this may prevent the sneeze corona droplets from being inhaled by you.

In operating rooms, doctors wear surgical masks to prevent infecting patients, not because they may catch something when they cut open a chest cavity.

Once upon a time, my oldest daughter was feeling poorly and went to the local Docs here. They did a flu test on her and when they came back in to tell her the results they had masks on and they handed her one. Which now makes me wonder why they did that?

I'm going with the facial bandanna look.

I like it, but don't they make these in Red/White and Blue?

The basic mask helps the wearer prevent the spread of droplets which may contain the virus. The basic mask does not help the wearer avoid droplets very much. As stated above, a well fitted N-95 mask will help prevent the droplets from entering your lungs. The N-95 mask in not very confortable for daily wear.