The Price of Nice Nails

In NY, workers are required to wear masks now. Was walking by Kim's, and it's business as usual with no masks, etc.

At the Kims in West Orange they do wear masks.

Masks haven't been proven to be effective.

Here's Sarah Maslin Nir, the author of the Times articles, on the NYS emergency measures:

"One of the additional provisions of the health aspect is they want workers to wear masks, but that seems strange to me given that a lot of experts in occupational health say those masks do nothing. They’re just almost for show of the appearance of safety. They don’t actually protect against the toxins or potential chemical threats in nail salons. But the governor’s office told me that the health department will be conducting a study of best practices, so this is just a temporary measure on an emergency basis.”

https://hereandnow.wbur.org/2015/05/11/nytimes-nail-salon-report-reactions

Masks are probably more useful to prevent the wearers from spreading infection, meaning it would prevent the spa workers from spreading their germs to clients, not inhaling things themselves. Unless they wear full-on gas masks, it probably won't do much to keep them from breathing in the chemical fumes. Ventilation systems in the salons are much more effective; air purifiers and exhaust fans. But that, of course, would be a major investment that the salon owners either can't afford or don't want to pay for.

And it's the workers who need to be protected from clients' germs -- communicable fungus, bacteria and virii -- rather than the other way around. For that purpose, gloves are somewhat effective.

j_r said:
And it's the workers who need to be protected from clients' germs -- communicable fungus, bacteria and virii -- rather than the other way around. For that purpose, gloves are somewhat effective.

Well, gloves are good for avoiding things like nail fungus or skin diseases communicated by skin/skin touch, but for the rest (germ stuff), a mask is good protection. But not against chemical fumes, which is the main point of the legislation, isn't it?