So let's face it. Folks are starting to freak out about the Coronavirus. It's reached every continent but Antarctica. It's spreading heavily in Italy. It's even made it here to the States.

Folks are being told to prepare as it will cause disruptions in their lives. Travel plans are being altered. Social gatherings and sporting events are being reevaluated.

And people are buying face masks like their lives depended on it.

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It's beginning to happen and show up locally. In Grand Traverse County, a local pharmacy is seeing shortages. Residents are sharing their thoughts and concerns, and a local pharmacists even chimed in to discuss how he feels about people buying up all the face masks they can in preparation for when things get worse.

Take a look at this video from UP NORTH LIVE

Before you decide to go splurge on that last box in the pharmacy or even load up on them online, you need to know a couple of things.

If a mask is not tested and approved as a legitimate N95 respirator by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), it’s not going to do much to stop the new coronavirus from reaching your mouth or nose. (Forbes)

Moreover, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has maintained that you should only wear a mask if you yourself are infected with the new coronavirus or if you are taking care of someone who may be infected. Otherwise, you are just depleting supplies for those people who may actually need such masks such as health care professionals. The current mask-buying frenzy has even prompted U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, MD, MPH, to tweet the following:


(Source Credit: Forbes)

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