Where can you get N95 masks for coronavirus protection (China: buying, dangerous)

[greenusa17]

Where can you get N95 masks for coronavirus protection

we are 100% healthy and dont have issues but wanna protect.

Million thanks

[texstout]

I was on a work call yesterday regarding this and they said that pretty impossible to find them anymore. Big corporations (like mine) have bought all of the remaining ones found online. Suggested that you may find them in some small mom and pops. But - they also said not really needed in the US. They were buying them to ship to our Asian operations.


There are a couple of alternate ones that the CDC recommends that have some availability.



But that said - even our huge contingency planning group didn't recommend buying any for the US and they are in contact with government medical officials.

[platon20]

If you don't buy an N95 mask for flu season then you don't need one for coronavirus either.

[Katana49]

You're better off trying to get the FDA to hurry up and release Tamiflu to be sold OTC so more people will have access to it before they have to visit a doctor.

[Wittgenstein's Ghost]

Originally Posted by platon20

If you don't buy an N95 mask for flu season then you don't need one for coronavirus either.

You don't actually know this.

There are tons of unknowns about this virus. There is a vaccine for the flu but not for the coronavirus. I am not personally scared, and I don't think most people need to be worried about this. But the whole "This is less dangerous than the flu" is nonsense. Maybe it is, but maybe it isn't. When dealing with pandemics, it is the possibility for growth that is both unknown and dangerous.

I'm not in the "Sky is falling" camp, and I'm certainly not buying masks. But I do think there are a lot of lay people who are making comparisons that the CDC wouldn't agree with.

[El Chingaso]

Just use duct tape.

[JTC Mom]

My SIL bought a box yesterday at Lowe’s on Lemmon but they were almost sold out so surely gone by now. You can buy on eBay at a premium

[Katana49]

Originally Posted by Wittgenstein's Ghost

You don't actually know this.

There are tons of unknowns about this virus. There is a vaccine for the flu but not for the coronavirus. I am not personally scared, and I don't think most people need to be worried about this. But the whole "This is less dangerous than the flu" is nonsense. Maybe it is, but maybe it isn't. When dealing with pandemics, it is the possibility for growth that is both unknown and dangerous.

I'm not in the "Sky is falling" camp, and I'm certainly not buying masks. But I do think there are a lot of lay people who are making comparisons that the CDC wouldn't agree with.

In the US, the death rate for flu infections is 0.1%. So far, the death rate for this coronavirus is 2.3% taking all ages into account in mainland China. Strike 1 for people comparing this to just another flu outbreak.


The R0 value (the estimate of how many people become infected from a single infected person) for the flu is 1.3. The coronavirus, 2.2, or nearly twice as contagious as the flu. Strike 2.


For the flu in the US, about 1% of cases are classified as severe or critical enough to require hospitalization. For the coronavirus in China, it's 19.1%. Strike 3.


To sum up, it's more contagious than the flu, it's deadlier than the flu, and if you do get it, your symptoms are going to be a helluva lot worse than just a regular bout of the flu whether you die from it or not.

[tmtex]

The panic has set in

[Katana49]

Originally Posted by tmtex

The panic has set in

No, it hasn't. The people who panic are the idiots who don't take the time to educate themselves about things like this. Then when we do get an outbreak here (and we will, the CDC is already anticipating this), they are the same people who start to panic because they are unprepared and have no clue what to do.