Except filtration masks don't stop viruses. I made like over 20k selling masks during the initial panic buy, even though I kept telling people it doesn't work that way, they still wanted it. Its like a security blanket I guess. Or maybe they just didn't trust me. BUT, I'm not one to say no, if people are willing to pay for it. (Insert Negev pic here)
At least here in the US, there isn't really a need to worry about the virus, but it is always good for people all over the world to always have emergency preparedness supplies stocked up. Even if not for any major disaster, they are beneficial for economic reasons such as transitioning between jobs. Not having to buy stuff like food for several months can greatly help that bottom line.
Well yeah, it doesn't stop infection the way people think it does. Viruses are way too small to be blocked by your average face mask. It's actually to catch aerosols/water droplets generated by you from infecting others. Which *could* help others from getting infected by you.
Apparently news outlets are saying it helps reduce infection rate by 500% by simply wearing it since it catches aerosols and water droplets from reaching your respiratory tract or something, which they justify as being one of the main way the sickness spreads. It doesn't help that your average person doesn't really know how to use their mask correctly too, and they usually keep it at their chin after a while. So in the end, the mask is just another fashion accessory.
The only problem I have with all of these panic buying and raiding stores is that it'll just help speed up the infection since these people are huddled together in an enclosed public place.
The fact that they're being sold out is a large motivator for people to try and buy them. It gives them the false impression that people are getting them because they're essential, even when they won't really work the way they're thinking.
It also really doesn't help that there is a scarcity of the masks as well, with many suppliers having not received any additional inventory for 2 months while official requests by governments and health organizations have been going up. Pretty much the whole putting too many eggs in a single basket issue, as China represented something like 80% of the manufacturing base for the masks. Once they officially took the steps to suppress their outbreak they had requisitioned all the masks and barred makers from exporting them.