FACE THE FACTS ON HANKIES

Celeb fad useless vs. virus

They’re as hot as they are useless. The celebrity face covering of choice during the COVID-19 pandemic is an artful and elegantly tied bandanna — perfect for when you have to face the paparazzi at 10 but have to rob the stagecoach by 11.

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have been sporting the bandit look to court in London, with the actress selecting a red polka-dot silky scarf and the actor opting for a black bandanna.

Sarah Jessica Parker wore one as she greeted shoppers at her Midtown shoe store last week, and Kristen Stewart (inset) rocked a white one with a white tee and baseball cap in Los Angeles. But while bandannas can protect you from dust blowing in desert winds, they’re less effective against the coronavirus.

A study published in the journal Physics of Fluids has found that bandannas do not offer as much protection as masks.

For the study, the researchers tested different types of face coverings by how far droplets from a cough could travel.

Face uncovered, a cough could send droplets eight feet. With the most effective face mask — made of “tightly woven cotton,” as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends — the droplets traveled just 2½ inches.

The bandanna came in as the least effective, with droplets traveling three feet.

One design historian said the bandanna’s stylish appeal “makes sense,” even if wearing one doesn’t.

“A square of cloth once used to protect from the harsh, dusty environment of the plains is now being used as a token of defense to protect against an invisible and very real threat: COVID-19,” Nicola Ashmore, a lecturer at the University of Brighton’s Centre for Design History, told The Independent.

So, as usual, don’t do what celebrities do — and get a proper mask.