The coronavirus is spreading further and further every day, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a global emergency. There are now around 10,000 cases of people infected with the virus in China, at least 213 have died due to the illness, and the sickness has now spread to 19 countries around the globe.
So it’s natural that people want to protect themselves and their loved ones. However, there is a shortage of medical masks and not everyone can afford quality medical equipment. And far from everyone can stay at home under a lockdown until this crisis blows over. Some people in China are turning to creative and weird ways to protect themselves from the coronavirus.
Bored Panda collected some of the most peculiar DIY projects people are trying to keep the virus at bay, and it shows how ingenious some people can be. Scroll down and upvote your favorite of these smart solutions. And when you’re done looking through this list of funny masks, have a look through our articles about a dog that stopped its owner from flying to Wuhan by destroying her passport, as well as our post about the realities of medical staff working in Wuhan.
You can view a constantly-updated model of how much the virus has spread globally right here.
This post may include affiliate links.
Yeesh... I hope China doesn't print sunflowers all over theirs...
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Here in Taiwan, the Administration keeps telling us that there is no shortage of face masks. But if any are available in stores, they sell out in minutes, and you still can't buy any. Same with medical alcohol.
Problem is, the people in China can't really afford to p**s off their government.
That's right; what a irony that this country is called "People's" Republic of China.
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"It's" is a contraction of "it is". Does "Taiwan printed it is national flag on face masks" sound right to you?
Oh wait... wow. I just learned something new... its doesn't have an apostrophe in the possessive- damn, I've been messing that up super confidently for more years than I'd like to admit! Lol well, I learned something new...*runs to edit my writing of the past xx years*
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From grapefruit and cabbage face masks to plastic bottles and even bras, some people in China are using whatever they can get their hands on to reduce the risk of contracting the disease. While most of these creative ideas won’t be as effective as proper medical equipment, any protection might be better than none. Probably. Just remember that a grapefruit is not a valid alternative to a professional mask.
Bored Panda talked to a member of flight staff from a major Middle-Eastern airline based in Dubai, who wanted to remain anonymous, about the situation regarding the spread of the coronavirus. According to her, a family of 4 that traveled to Dubai from Wuhan has been quarantined until they are healthy.
She also told Bored Panda that the airline that she works for hasn't stopped its flights to China. Which has her concerned for her own health. That's why she's come up with her own protocol about how to protect herself from the virus.
"After every flight, I immediately wash my clothes and take a shower as soon as I get back home," she said. "While I'm on a flight, I wear a medical mask and I only eat the food that I prepared myself."
She also revealed that it's highly likely that she'll be on at least several flights to China in February. In her opinion, not all countries in the world are equally vulnerable to the virus and calls Dubai one of the "gateways" that is at risk.
The flight attendant revealed to Bored Panda that a large number of people are now flying with masks on and are disinfecting their hands when they can. According to her, people have been advised to touch their faces less and avoid large crowds.
The vast majority of cases of people with the coronavirus abroad are those who’d been to Wuhan, the epicenter of the disease. However, the BBC writes that in 8 cases (in Germany, Japan, Vietnam, and the US), people were infected by those who’d traveled to China. Today, the first cases of the virus reaching the UK have also been documented.
Countries are reacting by closing borders, canceling flights, and quarantining people returning from Wuhan. While companies like Starbucks, Google, Tesla, and IKEA closed some of their shops and partially suspended their operations. However, the WHO is sure that China can control the coronavirus outbreak in the country.
China locked down the province of Hubei (with 60 million people) from where the virus spread. What’s more, China’s advising its citizens abroad to stop non-essential travel back home.
Meanwhile, the UK, Australia, South Korea, Singapore, and New Zealand are conducting voluntary evacuations from Hubei province. These people will be quarantined to see if they show any symptoms. That’s because it takes 1-14 days for symptoms to show and the illness can be transmitted even before then.
Um, I'm pretty sure this guy would be dressed as Cabbage Face even if there were no viruses at all.
Who knew there were so many water cooler bottles just lying around in China?!
@Emily Hong— unless you have x-ray vision, you can't even see it. Also, is that literally the problem here? Because unless I'm mistaken, it's that they need to protect against the coronavirus.
Imagine if you walk into a supermarket to get your groceries and see... this.
I don't blame them for trying to protect themselves by whatever means possible. This virus is hitting the lower income population the hardest and they're using what they have. I can only pray this gets under control as soon as possible.
Exactly. You'd do what you can if it's all you had. Even if it's just placebo, that's still something because it keeps you calmer in the meantime.
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While most of these seem funny it is no joke being in China now. In the outer areas of Beijing busses are no longer running and taxi drivers are wearing what look like spacesuits.Housing compound gates are locked allowing no cars in or out. You can leave on foot to go to the supermarket but must be able to prove you are a resident to be allowed back in. People with luggage or otherwise obviously returning from a trip are being refused entry to their homes. These precautions are being taken by the Body Corporate of each complex.
!$@ swear words. Where do they go? if they are not allowed to go home? This would terrify me.
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If this is real then this is really sad. The government should be providing every citizen with a free mask
Most masks won't be very effective. Surgical masks need to be replaced on a very regular basis and only prevent promoting the virus, not contracting it.
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Although many of these are obviously intended to be silly, there's something depressing almost in the desperation. It makes me think of all the weird "remedies" people resorted to during the black plague. Lucky for the victims, we have much better health care these days...even if we are still tying fruit to our faces.
I had the exact same thought about the plague -- in fact, I was wondering if we were going to start to see those long snouted/beaked Plague Doctor masks here.
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Not amusing. These people are very frightened. If we were smart we would be too.
P3 mask or higher to protect yourself against the Corona Virus, but even that does not protect those moist eyes of everyone. Surgical masks don't work to protect against an aerosolised virus.They are used by medical staff protect patients's wounds from doctor spray. P2 masks will filter out industrial dust but not the aerosolised virus. Pollen masks don't work etc etc. annd there is so much misinformation out there about risk, a lot of alarmist anecdotal stories. Go to the page of your local Centre for Disease Control and inform yourself if you are concerned. Reputable sites
What they don't tell you is that the people who die are elders, young children and those with weak immune systems. But out of 10000 only 200 and something died. (Still sad don't get me wrong) but that isn't many. And like I said above. Though stop going to China at this time and if you are in China you shouldn't be able to travel (even if you a tourist) at this time because there is a chance they could have it
They do tell us that (at least in my country they shared that info from the beginning), but does that mean that (for example) I shouldn't do everything in order to prevent myself from catching it? Because ok, I might catch it and survive without complications, but what about other people I meet regularly or on my way? It is contagious even before the symptoms outbreak, do I really want to feel responsible for eventual disease of my parents, grandmother (elder), my children (one with weaker immune system), my neighbours (some of them cancer patients/survivors), other people I don't know? What might happen to them? No, everyone absolutely has to protect themselves so the epidemic can end as soon as possible, for the sake of protecting others. Just like vaccines- everyone does their share, so the others don't have to deal with the diseases.
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I feel like North Dakota maybe should wear masks too. Two people got it already! Keep fighting! We can live! And we can beat this virus
This is so heartbreaking like they have lives and now they gotta fit into there schedule live without chatching a virus
I think it's time China change its animal rights and food handling laws
Thank you for your comment, Laura. Not one person asked where and why these outbreaks originate in China? Always in the live meat markets, where animals are heinously murdered, no sanitation, of course. Like in every other Oriental country, the consumption of meat, including deliberately tortured dogs and cats (boiled - ALIVE, burned to death) and also consumption of "exotic meat" is enormous. Just like nobody (including pathologists) asked why Ebola virus always originates from the West Coastal African countries, where "bush meat" (primates) are murdered for human consumption.There will be many more "new" viruses coming. (Excessive) consumption of ANY meat, and all other animal products (dairy, eggs) wreaks havoc on human body. Also, animal agriculture is a major contributor to our planet's most significant environmental threats, greater than industrial and car pollution.
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I think this is just so very sad. How frightening to be right there where the virus is spreading like wildfire. Clearly people are desperate. Although I did notice that a large number of the folks in these photos aren't wearing gloves -- so you'll risk suffocation to protect yourself, but won't wear gloves?
Who came up with the bright idea of using produce to protect you from a virus?
Very interesting, well u can look about Copper (Cu+) and Silver (Ag+) in wikipedia be more scentific protection!
At least the masks will make it harder for Mainland Chinese to spit everywhere.
These are really scary. I mean putting big plastic bags around your kids is just dangerous. I mean really, they are coming really close to suffocating themselves with some of these contraptions! Why would the government let them do this stuff unless they want to decrease the surface population?
Many comments mention that even if a cobbled together mask may not give good protection, it would keep someone calmer. That is a BIG point. When calm, your breath and heart rates are lower (less inhalation), you are more alert to your surroundings, and it's easier to make safe decisions.
how do they breath through the bottle and what happens if they're were out side and it rained theyd'd drown
I think most of the "solutions" shown are plain stupid. They do not offer any protection and open up to new hazards.
Some of these will actually help a bit. 1 - stop people coughing on you. ( yes everyone should know and do proper cough etiquette ) 2- stop you touching your face with possibly contaminated hands.
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The biggest problem with the corona virus is that regular surgical masks and even N95 masks will do nothing to stop the virus. Regular surgical masks stop only the larger particles in the air, N95 masks are capable of stopping smaller sized particles, however, the coronavirus particles are small enough to pass right through even the N95 masks. If you are able to find a mask that is rated higher than the N95 masks, the problem of your eyes being exposed is still present. The coronavirus can get into your system by landing on your eyes (a mucous membrane) and get absorbed. The people with the bottles on their head or completely surrounded by plastic are actually the safest of the ones pictured here.
Correcting your comment about the size of the coronaviruses: If a face mask has an “N95” designation, that means that it will filter out 95% of particles as small as 0.3 microns from the air. The viruses in the coronavirus family are all quite large (at least by virus standards), and on average they are a little over 0.1 microns. - per the CDC. Please be careful with information and your sources. The best case scenario is an infected person has properly sealed the N95 mask to their face and is reducing the chance of spreading the virus.
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People are so jealous of All the emo high school kids who had like the cloth masks to look cool That’s me
hot topic still sells them i bought one a few weeks ago its like $12-$15
Load More Replies... It’s not the flu tho. The people that are most likely to die from it are really young babies and really old people, the elderly. If your healthy you won’t be as likely to die from it. Learned that in world geography.
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I don't blame them for trying to protect themselves by whatever means possible. This virus is hitting the lower income population the hardest and they're using what they have. I can only pray this gets under control as soon as possible.
Exactly. You'd do what you can if it's all you had. Even if it's just placebo, that's still something because it keeps you calmer in the meantime.
Load More Replies... While most of these seem funny it is no joke being in China now. In the outer areas of Beijing busses are no longer running and taxi drivers are wearing what look like spacesuits.Housing compound gates are locked allowing no cars in or out. You can leave on foot to go to the supermarket but must be able to prove you are a resident to be allowed back in. People with luggage or otherwise obviously returning from a trip are being refused entry to their homes. These precautions are being taken by the Body Corporate of each complex.
!$@ swear words. Where do they go? if they are not allowed to go home? This would terrify me.
Load More Replies... If this is real then this is really sad. The government should be providing every citizen with a free mask
Most masks won't be very effective. Surgical masks need to be replaced on a very regular basis and only prevent promoting the virus, not contracting it.
Load More Replies... Although many of these are obviously intended to be silly, there's something depressing almost in the desperation. It makes me think of all the weird "remedies" people resorted to during the black plague. Lucky for the victims, we have much better health care these days...even if we are still tying fruit to our faces.
I had the exact same thought about the plague -- in fact, I was wondering if we were going to start to see those long snouted/beaked Plague Doctor masks here.
Load More Replies... Not amusing. These people are very frightened. If we were smart we would be too.
P3 mask or higher to protect yourself against the Corona Virus, but even that does not protect those moist eyes of everyone. Surgical masks don't work to protect against an aerosolised virus.They are used by medical staff protect patients's wounds from doctor spray. P2 masks will filter out industrial dust but not the aerosolised virus. Pollen masks don't work etc etc. annd there is so much misinformation out there about risk, a lot of alarmist anecdotal stories. Go to the page of your local Centre for Disease Control and inform yourself if you are concerned. Reputable sites
What they don't tell you is that the people who die are elders, young children and those with weak immune systems. But out of 10000 only 200 and something died. (Still sad don't get me wrong) but that isn't many. And like I said above. Though stop going to China at this time and if you are in China you shouldn't be able to travel (even if you a tourist) at this time because there is a chance they could have it
They do tell us that (at least in my country they shared that info from the beginning), but does that mean that (for example) I shouldn't do everything in order to prevent myself from catching it? Because ok, I might catch it and survive without complications, but what about other people I meet regularly or on my way? It is contagious even before the symptoms outbreak, do I really want to feel responsible for eventual disease of my parents, grandmother (elder), my children (one with weaker immune system), my neighbours (some of them cancer patients/survivors), other people I don't know? What might happen to them? No, everyone absolutely has to protect themselves so the epidemic can end as soon as possible, for the sake of protecting others. Just like vaccines- everyone does their share, so the others don't have to deal with the diseases.
Load More Replies... I feel like North Dakota maybe should wear masks too. Two people got it already! Keep fighting! We can live! And we can beat this virus
This is so heartbreaking like they have lives and now they gotta fit into there schedule live without chatching a virus
I think it's time China change its animal rights and food handling laws
Thank you for your comment, Laura. Not one person asked where and why these outbreaks originate in China? Always in the live meat markets, where animals are heinously murdered, no sanitation, of course. Like in every other Oriental country, the consumption of meat, including deliberately tortured dogs and cats (boiled - ALIVE, burned to death) and also consumption of "exotic meat" is enormous. Just like nobody (including pathologists) asked why Ebola virus always originates from the West Coastal African countries, where "bush meat" (primates) are murdered for human consumption.There will be many more "new" viruses coming. (Excessive) consumption of ANY meat, and all other animal products (dairy, eggs) wreaks havoc on human body. Also, animal agriculture is a major contributor to our planet's most significant environmental threats, greater than industrial and car pollution.
Load More Replies... I think this is just so very sad. How frightening to be right there where the virus is spreading like wildfire. Clearly people are desperate. Although I did notice that a large number of the folks in these photos aren't wearing gloves -- so you'll risk suffocation to protect yourself, but won't wear gloves?
Who came up with the bright idea of using produce to protect you from a virus?
Very interesting, well u can look about Copper (Cu+) and Silver (Ag+) in wikipedia be more scentific protection!
At least the masks will make it harder for Mainland Chinese to spit everywhere.
These are really scary. I mean putting big plastic bags around your kids is just dangerous. I mean really, they are coming really close to suffocating themselves with some of these contraptions! Why would the government let them do this stuff unless they want to decrease the surface population?
Many comments mention that even if a cobbled together mask may not give good protection, it would keep someone calmer. That is a BIG point. When calm, your breath and heart rates are lower (less inhalation), you are more alert to your surroundings, and it's easier to make safe decisions.
how do they breath through the bottle and what happens if they're were out side and it rained theyd'd drown
I think most of the "solutions" shown are plain stupid. They do not offer any protection and open up to new hazards.
Some of these will actually help a bit. 1 - stop people coughing on you. ( yes everyone should know and do proper cough etiquette ) 2- stop you touching your face with possibly contaminated hands.
Load More Replies... The biggest problem with the corona virus is that regular surgical masks and even N95 masks will do nothing to stop the virus. Regular surgical masks stop only the larger particles in the air, N95 masks are capable of stopping smaller sized particles, however, the coronavirus particles are small enough to pass right through even the N95 masks. If you are able to find a mask that is rated higher than the N95 masks, the problem of your eyes being exposed is still present. The coronavirus can get into your system by landing on your eyes (a mucous membrane) and get absorbed. The people with the bottles on their head or completely surrounded by plastic are actually the safest of the ones pictured here.
Correcting your comment about the size of the coronaviruses: If a face mask has an “N95” designation, that means that it will filter out 95% of particles as small as 0.3 microns from the air. The viruses in the coronavirus family are all quite large (at least by virus standards), and on average they are a little over 0.1 microns. - per the CDC. Please be careful with information and your sources. The best case scenario is an infected person has properly sealed the N95 mask to their face and is reducing the chance of spreading the virus.
Load More Replies... People are so jealous of All the emo high school kids who had like the cloth masks to look cool That’s me
hot topic still sells them i bought one a few weeks ago its like $12-$15
Load More Replies... It’s not the flu tho. The people that are most likely to die from it are really young babies and really old people, the elderly. If your healthy you won’t be as likely to die from it. Learned that in world geography.
Load More Replies...