New Technology

The suspected narcos were paraded before media with a telling new accessory: masks. Not the bank-robber kind. The doctor kind. After all, even gangsters toting M-16s can get swine flu.

If the swine flu outbreak in Mexico has a dominant symbol, it is the surgical mask, or tapaboca, that millions of Mexicans have adopted as requisite wear despite conflicting advice about whether it does any good. Soldiers have handed out millions of the facial shields, which come in blue, white and hospital-scrubs green. Pharmacies in Mexico City ran out as opportunists hoarded them to sell on the street for up to $3.50 apiece — about 50 times the normal price.

Newspapers carried graphics showing how to turn a piece of scrap cloth into a mask. Some have tried to add a splash of personality by painting their masks with skeleton faces or colourful butterflies. In a land where workaday laws are ignored, Mexico City residents are pretty much obeying the government's call to don tapabocas in public places to prevent spread of the virus.

President Felipe Calderon was on national TV the other night, reminding Mexicans to please cover their mouths. (Or, if they lacked a mask or handkerchief, to cough or sneeze into the crook of their arm.) "I know that thanks to your systematically using the face mask, you have succeeded in reducing the chance of infection in the population," Calderon said, mask-less, from his residence.