Wearing >a surgical mask would be about as effective as wearing a baseball catcher's >mask to prevent viral spread; that is how tiny viruses are. Agreed! But I think they may have intended it to prevent mom from inadvertantly rubbing her eyes, nose, or mouth and contaminating her hands, as (if I remember correctly) the influenza virus is transmitted by nasopharyngeal secretions on hands and surfaces rather than airborne. I wrote a letter also, with my MD and MPH/MS candidate degrees, though mine was less eloquent than the previously posted. Shannon McElearney, MD PGY4, General Surgery University of Virginia *********************************************** To temporarily stop your subscription: set lactnet nomail To start it again: set lactnet mail (or digest) To unsubscribe: unsubscribe lactnet All commands go to [log in to unmask] The LACTNET mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's LSMTP(R) mailer for lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html