Rush to buy face masks reaches Baguio City

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines — The rush to buy face masks reached as far as Baguio by early Sunday evening.

Most of the drug stores in the city have run out of surgical masks as well as the the N95 masks recommended against hazardous ash from Taal Volcano. Government experts indicated that the wind could blow the the ash northward to Baguio City, Benguet, Ifugao, Kalinga, Southern Apayao and Abra.

Stocks of even the less-suited surgical masks at the St. Joseph Drug store along Session Road ran out by late Sunday evening as droves of panicky buyers tried to buy the masks in anticipation of an eruption.

A common surgical mask costs P17 for a pack of eight while the more suitable and recommended commercially-available dust masks cost P50 for a pack of 10.

"Has the ash fall reached Baguio City?" exclaimed a startled hardware storekeeper early Monday morning when asked if they still have dust masks in stock. She said they have a few more in stock.

An industrial type of dust mask at another hardware store along Marcos Highway here sold for P430 apiece.