Originally Posted by Weatherboy

When I travel through NRT, I often notice the locals wearing facemasks ...even in pre-SARS days. And with the big SARS outbreak a distant memory, you'll often find people wearing masks around NRT. I've noticed the mask-wearing more there than at any other airport I frequent in the world.

With the Swine Flu in Mexico and IAH being the closest hub to ground zero, has anyone noticed an uptick in mask wearing at IAH? Do/Would you wear a mask at an airport.... or in the air?

Do they even do anything? I'd think the virus would be fairly small, so unless you're wearing some type of high-end air filtration system, I'd imagine your run-of-the-mill drugstore mask won't do much ...except prevent you from sneezing/coughing droplets onto those around you.