Is wearing vented masks courteous, as they don’t protect others? I ask in all seriousness. It seems there are a few places that don’t permit those masks, but very few. If it isn’t going to be a two way street and vented masks don’t protect others, they should be more widely discouraged in favor of other types of masks.
I have a hard time wearing a mask for more than a half hour due to allergies and asthma, but a half hour is long enough to get me in and out of a store or two.
I have thought of using vented masks instead, if that’s easier to breathe through. Lots of ramifications for this question, since kids go back to school in just 7 weeks in my area. If they are compelled to wear masks all day, as seems reasonable, they are going to pick the easiest masks to breathe through. That may or may not be a mask that also protects others.
@roycroftmom — new cases in the Northeast are occurring at 1/10th the rate that was occurring at the peak, not even accounting for the fact that probably only 10% of cases were tested at the peak. They continue to decrease, even after reopening. So I think it’s a cop-out to say we can’t do anything about it. But I agree that nothing will be done.
Well, the peak was so high that I would expect that level of decrease, wouldn’t you? Some tri-state areas were at 150 deaths per 100k, so of course the number is going to go down. The death rate likely will stay down as new cases rise, since it is a different, younger population getting infected. At some point, NY will have thousands of teens on the beach, or at parties, like California, Florida and Texas do, and then their numbers will rise again.
I would not expect cases to continue to decrease after the state reopened unless the measures being taken here are effective. Not enough of the population in my state was infected to significantly slow transmission if everyone starts hanging out in bars and throwing huge indoor parties.
Also — teens on the beach are not likely to be a problem. It’s outdoors and there’s a constant breeze.
That’s the point. Your state is not yet experiencing the large scale youthful events that will cause cases to spike in other states. Do you expect you will not have any such events in the foreseeable future? That youth will not gather indoors in large numbers again until there is a vaccine? You can postpone that for years if necessary?
It’ll be very interesting when/if/how my S21 goes back to HS. When he went back to drop off his books, he was the only kid in his time slot that wore a mask. There are a ton of parents in our community who think that mask wearing infringes on their rights and they don’t want their kids wearing one. If the school makes masks mandatory, I see a lot of people homeschooling here.
They will - but Internet coverage here in our suburban community isn’t great, and our teachers are older, and are probably not thrilled with teaching unmasked kids. I’m. I’m not sure what will happen.
I’m very worried about the lack of care for teachers in our [liberal, relatively well-to-do, relatively benevolent] district. Even meaning well, there isn’t enough social distancing, and I don’t have a lot of faith that teacher health will be a priority. The district is fighting back right now on certain accommodations for teachers.
Can you give some examples of the accommodations the district doesn’t want to make? Parents are starting to really howl about schools not being fulltime, and now my district is looking at a 5-day option. I don’t see how they can make it work. The current option most likely is the hybrid option.
I noticed that the high-risk age was changed sometime back to 65 and over instead of 60 and over. Also, high bp is no longer a risk. These are noted on the CDC website. Obesity has to be morbid (40 or more BMI).
"The city has hired 3,000 disease detectives and case monitors, who are supposed to identify anyone who has come into contact with the hundreds of people who are still testing positive in the city every day. But the first statistics from the program, which began June 1, indicate that tracers are often unable to locate infected people or gather the information.
Only 35% of the 5,347 city residents who tested positive or were presumed positive in the first two weeks of the program gave information about close contacts, the city said in releasing the first statistics."
I’d be fine wearing a vented n95/n99 in areas where mask compliance is low. You might as well protect yourself since others have decided not to work together to lower overall communal risk.
The vent helps with comfort on the exhale, but doesn’t help the inhale. I use the word “comfort” because mostly it allows moisture and heat to be vented more efficiently so you have lower levels of heat and moisture inside the mask. Slow, deep, steady breathing helps a lot with an n95/n99.
The examples I know of so far (accommodations resisted or denied) are:
requests for doing professional development with teacher teams remotely instead of in person
requiring masks for all secondary students (issues around who will get a waiver and how much effort it will take for parents to get a waiver for their students)
obtaining higher-quality masks, or any gloves, for staff
@fretfulmother those are interesting accommodations for the district to push back on. Why on earth can’t professional development with teacher teams be done remotely?
The staff should have high-quality masks!
Of course the ventilation systems should be modified. Is it the cost? I’m also guessing nothing’s been done yet about this, and now they won’t have enough time before school starts.
Now about the student mask issue…that will be difficult to determine who gets to go mask-free. If you are in area with low compliance for mask-wearing, parents will make a fuss about kids having to wear masks.
I have not heard the results of surveys determining how many staff members in my district want to continue working remotely. That information should be presented to the School Board later this week. One district in another part of the state apparently had a majority of the staff expressing concern for their safety and wellbeing if school were to go back to face to face.
The church we had been worshiping at resumed in-person worship this morning. We watched online. Now we will be hunting down another church to see if there’s one where we fit in better.
We were seriously debating finding a different church anyway as the pastor we loved is retiring and we’re not as fond of his replacement. Today just sealed our thoughts. Meanwhile I hope they aren’t responsible for spreading things locally as our numbers have been going up and the R number is at or just over 1.
“Why on earth can’t professional development with teacher teams be done remotely?” That is a fantastic question. The answer given is, “We feel it’s important to be present in person”.
I’m sure it is the cost, and now as you say the time, regarding ventilation. There are some rooms that have no windows at all, in addition.
Allegedly states are coming out with more K-12 guidelines for the fall, but it’s been a slow time coming, for obvious reasons.
I think our school is giving us insight into poll results (of staff) some time this week. I’m very curious how others think. For myself, I’m still leaning heavily toward not returning.
I can’t imagine any country or person getting everything right when faced with something new where quick decisions are necessary.
However, some places definitely did more right than others.
It would be wise for all countries to assess the results as we have them regarding what worked better (or not). Learn from past mistakes. Don’t repeat them hoping for a different outcome.
One of the things learned is masks definitely help both physically (against illness) and economically (allowing places to safely open), but only if people actually wear them. Too many seem to have difficulty grasping that fact (not meaning on this thread).