[not_apathetic_anymore]

I may be wrong, but I really doubt the masks do much of anything except make people feel more in control- like they're doing something. If this is caused by a virus, my suspicion is that the viurs particle size is small enough to get through poores in the masks.

At least in the OR we have special viral masks that are made with smaller poores so that the smaller viral size particles are filtered out.

If anyone has definitive info about whether or not masks make any difference I'd love to know about it.

[tickles]

Actually the anounced hospital policy that I heard this week when dealing with a suspected case of SARS is the patient is put into a room like the use for TB patients (has air pressure to keep air inside and make it go through filters before recirculatiing or something like that) and anyone working around such persons wears a TB mask with a disposable mask with eye shield OVER the TB mask, the outer mask to be discarded on leaving the room.