6,000 hygiene masks stolen from Japanese Red Cross hospital in Kobe

And as with so many, the picture of the woman here shows how lack of education on just how to properly use these masks and is further proof of them being meaningless!

That little metallic bar inserted into the mask, over the bridge of her nose SHOULD be bent to the point that the mask is nearly flush with her face. The openings on either side of her nose allow her to breath in any air born viruses, and exhale them directly into her eyes, which are a common entry point for many viruses!

Wash your hands often. Don't touch your face. Try not to touch things during your mass transit commute. The virus enters your body through your eyes, nose, or mouth. Even if it's on your hand and you won't get sick unless you touch your face.

Good luck not touching your face.

As a virologist working on this pathogen at present, I’ve been reading comments posted here and just wanted to clear things up.

Wearing face masks can reduce infection via emission (from the infected via coughing) from 33-100% depending on how the mask is worn. Ensure the mask is flush against the face, and DO NOT touch your face after removing it unless washing your hands rigorously with sanitizer and alcohol.

As the transmission of this virus is not fully understood as yet, wearing masks is a good preventative measure, albeit not 100% effective. Please bear that in mind.

Arguing that masks are not an efficient barrier to infection is counterproductive. They can be an aid to prevention, but good hygiene manner, and regular hand-washing HAVE to be observed.

If you need information on the efficacy of face masks, please check this study.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3306645/

Read the front of your mask package. It even says there 'masks do not completely prevent infection'

Desperate situations call for desperate measures.

Dear Government,

Please enforce a policy of online price regulation, where online businesses will control the max price for essential goods: all masks, sanitizers, and alcohol tissues will come out in the open then.

Please enforce a policy where companies allow employees to work from home. The virus will not suddenly change the culture. But, enforcement will.

Please shut down schools for a while. South Korea has already done it, according to some articles I read.

Encourage people to look at traditional medicine to boost immunity.

Please do not sacrifice long term economic stability looking at short term impacts. It's very difficult to take such decisions, but please do.

The Joke is on them. Doctors have said masks are ineffective in preventing you from catching the virus. In fact, they may increase your chances because they cause you to touch your face more often throughout the day. They are somewhat effective in preventing you from giving the virus to someone else.

Maybe people should stop being high and mighty about masks and their "knowledge". Lets look at the bigger picture, if they only help by 1% then they are doing something. And lets look at the practical side of things. Only yesterday, i saw a man on the train wearing a mask sneeze repeatedly into his mask about 3 times. Because of the mask he didnt sneeze into his hand and then touch the poles or handles. Also, it cut the distance that his sneeze would have travelled had he not worn a mask, making the risk of people getting infected much lower. The masks won't stop people getting sick but it will cut down the rate people do. Surely that is a good thing? and before people just say wash your hands and so, unfortunately, there are people everywhere who have no want or feeling to be clean. All over the world there are people who cough and sneeze openly, if one of these people wear a mask then it helps.

Coming to Yahoo Auctions very soon.

Mask do not protect you from surface contamination, such as object contaminated with virus, such as cellphone, vending or restaurant plates or sushi bars

"Police suspect the thieves intend to resell the masks."

You don't say !

People are paying a premium and so people will go through what lengths they have to in order to make that money.

Humans are stupid creatures. These things can happen in any nation under such dire circumstances.

Ignorance is bliss. Information is not knowledge.

Hay Fever,(花粉症)season has kicked off in Japan.These masks are very effective in reducing the amount of hay inhaled.I specifically use them for this purpose even when there is no Corona virus.Again,hay makes people sneeze and compounded with the Corona virus outbreak,using these masks is a no brainer.

@Shaolin74

Thank you for your comments.

Some posters here doubt the efficacy that masks provide -I don’t!

Also, the article states that the masks were stolen from a locked room.

The stockroom doors in the hospital need a key to open them.They are open for part of the day to allow nurses access to medical supplies.

The door was most likely unlocked at the time of the theft.

Kobe Red Cross needs a security upgrade...

I didn't think Japanese did these kind of things. DNA is different, right?

How do you know it was Japanese people that stole it? you don't!

Strangeland,the CDC say they are to be used by people in contact with people with respiratory symptoms, it do not protect from the Coronavirus on surface object we handle everyday

it do not protect from the Coronavirus on surface object we handle everyday

Ok, and as I asked before, are you saying that therefore people should not use masks?

So many people wear mask every year in Japan because of seasonal pollen. Pollen is almost all year around. Mask is the best for allergy. More people wear mask due to corona virus. Anyway I don't wanna drop my runny nose all over.

There is a shortage of masks because the govt. has imposed a price fixing on the masks, and doesn't allow the price to go up. It's the same in China. China is the factory of the world, so one would think they wouldn't have any problem producing any amount of anything especially when there is a huge demand for it. How can a manufacturing giant like China have a shortage of anything? The answer is price fixing. When there is a huge demand for something, the price of that product goes up, and producing that product becomes more profitable, as a result production increases, and more producers shift their production to that product. As supply of the product increases, the price once again falls down. When you however prevent the price from going up from the start, you kill the incentives for producers to increase production, and you discourage others from shifting their production to that product. If they can't increase their profit, they can't increase their output either, unless they work on a loss. Ironically, govt. trying to prevent a shortage is actually causing one. Also ironically the liberal media crying about racism is actually causing more racism with their profit-driven in and out hysteric covering of this virus.

Masks help because there is less chance to touch you mouth

That wasn’t the reason he gave. He said that they are created of multiple layers, and it’s not like the holes all long up. So even if the virus is smaller than the hole sizes, it’s not like it can just flow through without any barrier.

"They're only as good as the world allows them to be. I'll show you. When the chips are down, these... these civilized people, they'll eat each other. See, I'm not a monster. I'm just ahead of the curve. -The Joker”

Was the door locked at all times? If yes, then it was an inside job.

What about the security cameras at the hospital? Those four boxes must have been relatively large, so the thieves probably used a car. Reading the number plates can help solve this theft.

The best ways to protect yourself are the basic hygienic measures. That includes washing your hands regularly and covering sneezes and coughs. But if you are sick and need to go out you should wear a mask.

SpeedToday  08:18 am JST

I didn't think Japanese did these kind of things. DNA is different, right?

They generally would not, not because of their DNA, but on account of how they are socialized from a young age.

As another poster pointed out, it is probably the yakuza, who are go to extreme lengths (i.e. pillaging a farmer's whole harvest) to pay tribute money to their superiors.

The government is basically not putting enough efforts to improve the situation.

Japanese government, please consider:

-Temporarily stop Chinese citizens from entering Japan

-Control Resale items on the internet. (Mercari). The police can easily find out those people who resale items through cooperating with the website owners. their bank account info can be provided by the website..

The above solutions should help greatly until a cure is found to Corona virus

IloveCoffeeToday  08:24 am JST

There is a shortage of masks because the govt. has imposed a price fixing on the masks, and doesn't allow the price to go up. It's the same in China. China is the factory of the world, so one would think they wouldn't have any problem producing any amount of anything especially when there is a huge demand for it. How can a manufacturing giant like China have a shortage of anything? The answer is price fixing. When there is a huge demand for something, the price of that product goes up, and producing that product becomes more profitable, as a result production increases, and more producers shift their production to that product. As supply of the product increases, the price once again falls down. When you however prevent the price from going up from the start, you kill the incentives for producers to increase production, and you discourage others from shifting their production to that product. If they can't increase their profit, they can't increase their output either, unless they work on a loss. Ironically, govt. trying to prevent a shortage is actually causing one. Also ironically the liberal media crying about racism is actually causing more racism with their profit-driven in and out hysteric covering of this virus.

One of the few on JT who understands economics! Well said.

those people are the scums of the earth. hope they get arrested and spend few years in jail.

How long are people planning to wear these masks? Forever?

Japanese Government is extremely useless, they allow Mafia to trade masks at 10 times it's usual price, I've been looking for masks for my family for over one Week, not a single store selling them where are the new production going, well directly to the Mafia so they can sell them on Amazon and Rakuten, the Government is useless, I'm flying away tomorrow, I'll never pay any taxes again.

Yakuza at the finest

The Joke is on them. Doctors have said masks are ineffective in preventing you from catching the virus.

That's not what the doctor whom I asked said.

Mask do not protect you from surface contamination, such as object contaminated with virus, such as cellphone, vending or restaurant plates or sushi bars

Are you saying that people therefore shouldn’t use masks?

I didn't think Japanese did these kind of things. DNA is different, right?

Read the front of your mask package. It even says there 'masks do not completely prevent infection'

Not being 100% effective does not equate to being 100% ineffective.

It is just 4 boxes. Chances are the hospital used them and forgot to mark them as used.