LOOK: ‘I can’t breathe.’ Hospital releases powerful photo to mask up

As repeated threats of arrest and fines by the government fail to make people wear a face mask and face shielf properly in public spaces, perhaps a powerful photo will succeed.

St. Luke’s Medical Center released a photo on its Facebook page today showing two men: one is wearing a facemask and face shield; the other is lying in a hospital bed, with an oxygen mask.

Under the images are two similar captions: “I can’t breathe.”

The hospital wrote in the post: “Wearing of face mask and face shield is highly recommended to protect you from the COVID-19 virus. A safety reminder from St. Luke's Medical Center.”

The Philippines as of March 26 has 693,048 CCOVID-19 cases and 13,095 deaths. The country’s daily infections have been rising since the beginning of March with yesterday’s numbers at 8,773.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), face masks work best when everybody is wearing one.

“Masks are primarily intended to reduce the emission of virus-laden droplets, which is especially relevant for asymptomatic or presymptomatic infected wearers who feel well and may be unaware of their infectiousness to others, and who are estimated to account for more than 50% of transmissions.^”

The CDC added that face masks also help reduce inhalation of these droplets by the wearer. It emphasized that community benefits increase “with increasing numbers of people using masks consistently and correctly.”