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Temperatures soar across Japan amid concerns that face masks may cause heatstroke

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My mask smelt of hot garbage yesterday.

12 ( +17 / -5 )

I wouldn't even dare wearing a mask when walking outside in that heat, there's little chance of people walking close to you in that heat anyway. Just wear it when you go indoors. Wearing a soggy mask while walking feels like being waterboarded, I'll take my chances with the virus instead

17 ( +23 / -6 )

I can't breathe... with that thing covering my mouth and nose.

Oh come on! I worked in hospital ICU and A&E Departments for 20 years where we wore them for hours at a time.

I admit they can be uncomfortable, but there is no problem with breathing.

-3 ( +16 / -19 )

Wait... this is Japan, where many sarariman wears suit coats year-round, regardless of 'Cool Biz.'

Where obaa-chan and ojii-chan put on full length trousers, tops, gloves, rubber gloves, and more to do gardening.

Where housewives often wear long gloves that go all the way from their fingertips to their upper arms in order to prevent sun tanning.

Where kids practice for undokai in full length pants and more on a dirt lot for hours at a time, and sports teams... well, let's not even get into what they put their players through.

And yet we're supposed to believe that a simple mask is going to put people into heatstroke? Or that anyone seriously cares about body temperature maintenance?

37 ( +43 / -6 )

And here’s me thinking that the sun and lack of water cause heatstroke...

13 ( +19 / -6 )

Here we go - the media over-dramatization has started

9 ( +18 / -9 )

That’s helpful that the health experts say it’s not necessary to take off masks if you keep distance from others 2m But also we have to take self-management also, like drink water constantly

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Big article, big drama, little common sense

20 ( +23 / -3 )

Don’t wear masks so no problem for me.

this summer will be really hot. Imagine Abe’s Olympics with 45 degrees and compulsory masks!

12 ( +17 / -5 )

My mask smelt of hot garbage yesterday.

Buy some mouth wash?

12 ( +20 / -8 )

I dot not wear masks.

Problem solved.

-2 ( +12 / -14 )

If it’s too hot take it off. Isn’t that hard

7 ( +11 / -4 )

This article is much ado about nothing.

south Asian countries show mask wearing is not the ‘danger’ we think

But if you want run out and get those ‘summer masks’ at 5000 yen a box...

9 ( +12 / -3 )

31C in my town too yesterday, only the sixth time on record in June and as early as June 9th.

I've bitten the bullet this year and had air con fitted in my kids' rooms. We built our place in 2007 and I didn't imagine needing air con, so we didn't have wiring or ducts fitted in any of our rooms. It has definitely got hotter in Nagano since then. You can have air con fitted without existing ducts, but its a trickier and more costly job.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

face masks may cause heatstroke

Covid-19 may cause death, take your pick.

8 ( +15 / -7 )

Seems like some people think the world and it's people are all of the same condition, same health, same age and can survive anything "if I can".

Also Masks vary enormously in quality, material, design & fit. Some quickly become "wet" making breathing more difficult. Some fit tight and are thicker which raises the temp and restricts fresh air flow and impacts breathing. Some are thick cloth - is wearing a winter muffler a good idea when the air temp is 35c, esp if you have weakened or poor health.

The variables under which a person could succumb to heat stroke or just feeling unwell and/or fainting are wide.

In many jobs masks are compulsory , but the conditions under which they are worn is the key point. A dentist wearing a mask in a well airconditioned clinic with few people is not the same as for example a teacher in a room with 36 students with the windows slightly ajar and little or no air movement, even with the aircon on. Or the carpark attendant in full uniform, under a blazing sun ordered to wear a mask by his boss.

All these 3 cases I witnessed yesterday.

Follow the Science.

8 ( +10 / -2 )

@david

We dont breathe out of our skin, we breathe through our noses and mouths. Your logic is flawed.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

> WhatsnextToday  08:53 am JST

@david

We dont breathe out of our skin, we breathe through our noses and mouths. Your logic is flawed.

And the biggest organ of the body responsible for regulation of body temperature? The skin. And the ability for sweat to form, evaporate, and carry heat off of the body and into the air through said evaporation. Your logic is flawed.

6 ( +9 / -3 )

If a face covering helps hasten onset, then maybe the title should be face masks can 'trigger', rather than 'cause' heatstroke.

The other concern they were reporting on TV is that an ambulance crew faced with a non-communicating patient has to distinguish between heatstroke and corona virus, and in some cases this is not so easy.

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

@david

Please go outside with a mask everyday.

-10 ( +1 / -11 )

@david

Im not making statements saying that wearing mask don't make your body hotter and more susceptible to heat stroke.

-6 ( +0 / -6 )

Why is it so difficult to manufacture a wearable mask for all seasons? Seems like a no-brainer.

-6 ( +1 / -7 )

Unless you are in a crowded area you do not need to wear a mask outdoors. I don’t wear one riding my bike or walking on quiet streets etc.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

didou if you go inside, please wear a mask, it's good manners.

if you get hot in a mask, take it off. but not indoors around people.

-5 ( +1 / -6 )

Like I mentioned many times before, but received only Down Votes, but now if I read the Posts here, it proves what I said before:

Many foreigners don't wear a mask in Japan. (For what reason ever)

People here complaining a lot about the bad handling of Japan about the corona virus, but they are not even willing to wear a mask.

-1 ( +6 / -7 )

Why is it so difficult to manufacture a wearable mask for all seasons? Seems like a no-brainer.

Uniqlo dropped the ball here.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

The 'temperature' you see in the media is always 2c or so LESS than the real temperature, especially in 'downtown' also its goes up 5+c in the direct sun. Here in the inner 23-ku my weather station recorded 33.8c. Regardless of mask wearing, take care of yourself and your younger / older ones as we endure next 3 months of hot weather (although Thursday could give a brief respite with thundery showers and

4 ( +4 / -0 )

There are only 1000 active cases in all of Japan. 900 deaths a majority people over 80. No children have died. Yet they still force children in schools to wear mask. It's ridiculous.

2 ( +7 / -5 )

Look, every year we read about 2-year olds left in cars while the parents go to play pachinko for 6 hours.

Every year we read about some venerable 88-year-old died of heatstroke, working in a rice field at 12 noon on the hottest day of the year.

Every year we read about kids and their proud parents, at school sports days, collapsing with heatstroke.

I really don't think the masks are going to make the slightest difference.

What might help would be if the government would stop pruning the trees lining the hot streets to within an inch of their lives every year. If the pavements had a welcome shadow on them, they wouldn't be radiating the sun back up into the airless streets.

Maybe if we had a bit of shade, we wouldn't be so damn hot all the time.

13 ( +14 / -1 )

I saw masks regularly when I arrived here 20 years ago, suddenly this is a news headline?

2 ( +3 / -1 )

There is still no 100% conclusive evidence that wearing a mask prevents the general population from catching or spreading the virus. Many people who wear masks still catch the virus and most who don’t wear masks have not caught the virus either. It seems like a lot of fuss over something that is not necessary.

1 ( +7 / -6 )

Covid-19 may cause death, take your pick.

I'll take death. But I think some people are overreacting to this whole COVID-19 mess.

Bring on the negative votes, but you know I'm right.

3 ( +9 / -6 )

Well, don't use one, problem solved. I never used one even at the peak of infections, unless I was visiting a client of course.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Why do people wear them when they are the sole occupant in their own car?

6 ( +7 / -1 )

It all boils down to this, you gotta choose your own poison.

-4 ( +0 / -4 )

There is still no 100% conclusive evidence that wearing a mask prevents the general population from catching or spreading the virus. 

From what I’ve read, the consensus seems to be that they can help prevent the spread of Covid.

Good enough.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

face masks may cause heatstroke

Covid-19 may cause death, take your pick.

Heatstroke may also cause death...

Even more so than covid19.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

I teach PE and we've been told students don't need to wear a mask, as long as they social distance. They're doing badminton so its no issue. Kendo would be difficult and so would many other sports like basketball. Tennis and baseball are probably doable. Been teaching lots of health too. Perhaps another good reason why the Japanese school year should start in September is that the students would have July and August to stay safe from the heat.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Some experts declared..."heat eradicates the airborne COVID-19" making the use of a mask unnecessary. Granted, keeping one with you at all times wouldn't hurt either.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

Evidence from around the world, along with common sense shows that masks help prevent the spread of Covid-19. We don't have a vaccine available yet. Yes. The mask is a bit uncomfortable, but this bully/tough guy attitude of ignorance only helps spread the virus form asymptomatic people to at risk people- sometimes killing them. If a second wave does arrive, it would be nice to identify the anti-maskers so that we could put them at the end of the line of victims waiting for ventilators.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

You can have air con fitted without existing ducts, but its a trickier and more costly job.

Since when do the split system aircons that are usually installed here require ducts?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Evidence from around the world, along with common sense shows that masks help prevent the spread of Covid-19. We don't have a vaccine available yet. Yes. The mask is a bit uncomfortable, but this bully/tough guy attitude of ignorance only helps spread the virus form asymptomatic people to at risk people- sometimes killing them. If a second wave does arrive, it would be nice to identify the anti-maskers so that we could put them at the end of the line of victims waiting for ventilators.

Yeah, prejudice- Just what the world is crying out for more of right now. If anti-maskers (protologism at work there) were to be denied access to ventilators, I'm sure they couldn't possibly transmit the virus due to their stance on masks.

N99 masks can filter up to 0.3 microns- COVID-19 is 0.125 microns, although travelling in coughs and sneezes would increase its relative size to 0.5+ microns.

Masks are really what you make of them, use them properly and hygienically along with social distancing and they can be beneficial.

But they are certainly no panacea. COVID-19, like many viruses, is most likely spread by touch. I sure see a lot of people inappropriately touching their masks.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

People working or walking outside don’t need to be wearing masks...

2 ( +2 / -0 )

To mask or not to mask, that is the question

0 ( +0 / -0 )

To mask or not to mask, that is the question

To mask, that is the answer.

-1 ( +0 / -1 )

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