Retailers: Face masks selling fast

• By BILL LODGE
• Advocate staff writer
• Published: May 1, 2009 - Page: 4A

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There is no documented proof face masks can prevent people from contracting the swine flu, physicians and government officials said Thursday.

But such statements did nothing to slow sales in Baton Rouge.

“I’m out,” said Kevin Denoux, owner of The Medicine Shoppe at 5421 Highland Road. “I had 50 masks, and they’re just gone.

“That’s usually a year’s supply,” Denoux added. He said he hoped to receive a fresh shipment today.

Dr. Chad Braden, a family medicine practitioner at Ochsner Health Center Bluebonnet, noted that no local swine flu cases have surfaced so far.

“In Baton Rouge today, I don’t think there is a reason to wear a face mask,” Braden said.

Should that situation change, Braden added, “I would wear one in a crowded area. But don’t think you’re safe just because you’re wearing a mask.

“I don’t know if anyone knows their effectiveness,” he said.

Dr. Marilyn M. Reynaud, medical director for Capitol Region 2 of the Louisiana Office of Public Health, agreed there is limited information on the effectiveness of such masks.

“We’re not recommending the use of face masks, not in the community setting,” Reynaud said.

Use of a mask by a person already suffering from the flu “may be better at preventing that person from spreading the virus,” Reynaud said.

Dr. Fred Lopez, an infectious disease clinician and professor at LSU Health Sciences Center New Orleans, agreed with Reynaud and Braden.

“I think they (masks) are a little bit falsely reassuring,” Lopez said.