PHOTO LINK BELOW: No. This is not a joke.

People were selling masks outside Rabbi Landau’s Shul on Avenue L in Flatbush, & outside the Shomer Shabbos Shul on 13th Avenue in Boro Park on Wednesday night.

Along with boxes of masks on display was the front page of the weekly Hamodia showing a Yeshiva Bochur in Mexico wearing a mask. (Similar photos appeared a few days ago on YWN).

The price for the mask: $4.00

And yes, people were buying them!

Click HERE to view photos taken by Shimon Gifter for YWN of people buying masks.

Two leading makers of respiratory masks said Wednesday they are ramping up production as reports of swine flu surged to nearly 100 people in 10 states across the U.S.

Diversified manufacturer 3M Co. and consumer product maker Kimberly-Clark Corp. both said they are increasing manufacturing to keep pace with orders from pharmacies like Rite-Aid and CVS, which are reporting heavy sales of the tight-fitting masks.

While both companies make a variety of masks, the products now in demand are known as N95 respirators, which must be individually fitted to the wearer. The respirators are designed to filter out tiny particles which might might contain bacteria or viruses. They differ from regular surgical masks worn by doctors and nurses, which are designed to contain bits of saliva from the person wearing them, rather than keep particles out.

A manager at 3M’s plant in Aberdeen, S.D., said employee work stations are operating around the clock to meet demand.

The Centers for Disease Control is not recommending that people wear the masks, saying there is limited evidence that they effectively prevent the spread of the disease. The agency’s Web site states that “very little is known about the benefits,” of wearing masks during a pandemic, and the top preventive measures remain hand washing and covering one’s mouth when coughing or sneezing.

Meanwhile, The NYPD sent out thousands of surgical masks across the five boroughs over the past week as the threat of swine flu continues to grow, but police sources said don’t expect to see neighborhood cops wearing them anytime soon.

More than 20,000 masks were given to each borough giving cops the option of protecting themselves from the virus that is spreading around the globe, police sources said yesterday.

Yet many of the masks are still sitting in the offices of neighborhood brass who think the precautionary measure spreads fear rather than safety.

On Monday, the department circulated an internal memo – “Swine Influenza/ Emergency Measures” – to be read at roll call detailing how officers should handle a possible pandemic.

Police are urged to wear gloves and the new masks when dealing with people showing flu-like symptoms, according to the memo obtained by the Daily News.

(Yehuda Drudegstein – YWN)