By choice or order, people forgoing masks in valley

By Brian Eckhouse (contact)

Wednesday, May 6, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Chris Morris

Even as swine flu slowly spreads across the Las Vegas Valley, we’ve been spared the unnerving scenes of masses of people wearing masks, as have been televised from Mexico City.

And that’s primarily for two reasons.

A) People realize the masks aren’t very effective in warding off the virus.

B) Some employers don’t allow them to be worn on the job.

The company that operates the county’s bus system told its drivers last week that if they wear masks, they’ll face disciplinary action.

Masks are banned, too, for workers at casinos owned by MGM Mirage.

Employees of McCarran International Airport aren’t forbidden from wearing masks, though they need the permission of their supervisors. (None of the 1,400 workers has made such a request.)

But employees of US Airways — ticketing agents, flight attendants and baggage handlers — are not allowed to wear masks, a company spokesman said. (The airline’s flight attendants are wearing rubber gloves when they distribute food.)

All of these companies cite Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, which note that masks are not as effective as handwashing or the use of sanitizers. People who are sick should stay home, except to seek medical care. Facemasks may help reduce the risk of getting the flu, but shouldn’t be used as a lone preventive measure.

Las Vegas has another reason to avoid mask wearing. Does anything kill a fun night on the Strip faster than the sight of masks?

MGM Mirage spokesman Alan Feldman says a mask is a symbol of panic inconsistent with the apparent mildness of swine flu and if worn by dealers and other casino employees would certainly weaken tourism here.

“Masks heighten fear and tension,” adds Dennis Pirages, a political science professor at UNLV who studies infectious diseases and pandemics. “I doubt it’s time to bring out all that weaponry.”

As of Tuesday afternoon, the CDC had confirmed five cases of swine flu — officially known as the H1N1 virus — in Nevada and more than 400 nationwide. Another 700 cases are suspected. Most confirmed cases nationally have been mild.

Pirages notes that about 35,000 Americans die annually from flu-based viruses; about 200,000 are hospitalized. That would seem to indicate that swine flu has, thus far, been mild.

Donning a mask may be akin to clutching a security blanket.

As Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal of The New York Times wrote in Sunday’s Week in Review section: “Wearing a mask casually draped over your ears is more of a totem against disease than a scientifically valid form of protection.” But Rosenthal, a medical doctor, also noted: “Masks are for when you can’t avoid an enclosed space during a serious outbreak — when, say, you need to travel by a crowded bus or plane or subway.”

Veolia Transportation, the company contracted to operate the county’s buses, provides its drivers with sanitizers and instructs drivers to stay home if they’re ill.

“We are following CDC guidelines,” spokeswoman Valerie Michael says. “If it comes to a situation where masks are OK’d, then we’ll move toward that.”

One bus driver alleges Veolia officials, in a company break room Friday, threatened nine bus drivers with expulsion if they violated the company’s edict.

Michael disputes the driver’s allegation: “No one was told they’d be terminated.” But, she said, drivers would face discipline.

Veolia’s edict is not necessarily a new course for the company. Drivers with allergies or illnesses requiring masks are deemed too sick to drive, Michael says.