The Govt Just Gave 80,000 of the Wrong Type of Mask to Sarawak & Netizens Are Unimpressed

With the haze conditions getting worse and worse by the day, Malaysians are finding all kinds of ways to cope with the polluted air. Malaysia was even announced as the most polluted country in the world yesterday (18 Sept) and we’re just hoping and praying that things will start looking up soon.

Meanwhile, citizens are advised to protect themselves as much as they can by staying indoors, drinking lots of water, and wearing the appropriate mask which is the N95 mask.

Source: berktree

You’ve probably seen various kinds of posts on the Internet saying that the N95 mask is the only kind of mask that protects users from dust particles, instead of the more-commonly-found surgical mask, which only catches fluid. Therefore, surgical masks are “useless” for haze conditions as it does not filter dust particles.

Yet the government has recently given out 80,000 surgical masks to residents of Sri Aman in Sarawak, which is the first region in Malaysia to have “hazardous” conditions, according to The Star.

They were reported to have crossed the 300 mark in their API reading on 17 September and are also reported by Bernama to experience a shortage of water supplies.

Source: twitter

Source: twitter

80,000 topeng penutup hidung dan mulut akan diagihkan kepada penduduk sekitar bandar Sri Aman yang terjejas #jerebu – Residen Bhg Sri Aman, Indit Bangai pic.twitter.com/t32Sa25s9C

— BERNAMA (@bernamadotcom) September 18, 2019

This has seen Malaysian citizens calling out the government for distributing the wrong type of mask, with a few of them pointing out the irony of how Public Health Malaysia released a post on Facebook telling netizens to use N95 masks instead of surgical masks.

“This face mask doesn’t help lahhh!!! It’s only a physical barrier between the mouth and nose of the wearer and potential contaminants in the immediate environment,” one netizen commented.

“Wrong mask… Stop giving people a false sense of security…” another netizen commented.

Meanwhile, Malaysian citizens are finding it hard to purchase N95 masks as they have almost been sold out!

Also read: Viral Photo Shows Malaysian Man Creatively Using a BRA to Protect Himself From Haze