@roycroftmom — I guess I am just not as willing as you are to assume that getting a majority of teens to wear masks is a lost cause. It might very well be, and you may be right. But a major difference between states that are currently having increasing rates of infection and those that are not seems to be related to the percentage of the population that wears masks. Neither of us has a crystal ball on this, so we’ll just have to agree to disagree. I guess one of the differences between us is that as I’m in the medical profession, I have seen a lot of people suffering terribly from this disease, and so it’s hard for me to dismiss it as just a mild illness for most people.
I have been going to in person church service for the last 3 weeks. Hand sanitizer provided. Social distancing seating. Masks worn. What are you afraid of?
Was this aimed at me?
If so, I doubt we’re attending the same church for one and for two, you do you and we’ll do us.
I never once said our church should disappear. Anyone who wants to stay there can. I said we wanted to find people more similar to us to worship with (beliefs-wise).
Our school district has announced a fluid system for the fall, meaning teachers must organize their lessons to assume an as-needed rotation between all students present in-person, a hybrid/rotation of some students attending in-person some days and e-learning other days (switching off with the other half of the class), and a move to all e-learning if necessary. Understandably, they’re still working out the details to execute this complex plan. If it minimizes e-learning, I expect there will be wide enough support for whatever they come up with.
Masks are required indoors here, but not any particular type of mask. If students must wear these for seven hours or so, I can see the vented type becoming very popular. So, yes, even with full teen compliance on mask-wearing, teachers need the best mask they can comfortably wear. The best, most comfortable mask for you isn’t the best, most comfortable mask for me. So the question becomes, should they add on to each teacher’s budget and let them select and purchase their own, or will schools try to set a standard mask for liability purposes (that no one will be able to breathe through)?
I don’t know what can economically done about ventilation in our high school either: three stories, many interior rooms, and a climate incompatible with open windows much of the year (some of those 3rd floor windows probably don’t even open for safety reasons), maybe thousands of rooms across the whole district.
@Groundwork2022 as you may have mentioned, N95 and other vented masks are banned in some places. I do not think they should be allowed in schools. I suppose if every teacher, student and staff member had enough of a supply (to avoid reuse over too long a time) it might be okay, but that scenario is very unlikely and we should be saving them for health care workers. In the meantime, as you wrote, N95’s and other vented masks don’t help others, only the wearer, and in most places the masks are geared to protecting others.
Regardless, we could have certainly done much better than we have if we had been led by scientists the way Washington State did. The countries that had decisions made by pandemic experts did much better overall.
My husband also has a very hard time with masks and we are thinking of getting him another thinner mask that could go over a vented mask. We are still searching for something for him. He may have to wear a face shield when his asthma is flaring. I don’t know. He does better with surgical masks (we have a small number). They have some on Amazon that are not official surgical masks that based on comments sound like they might be surgical masks that are just not put through the certification process. But who knows. I’m going to do the 3 part test–try to set it on fire (carefully) and see what happens. Real N95 and surgical masks are supposed to melt but not catch fire. Try to see if they let water go through - they should not. See how much they block the smell of things. If you find something good, let me know.
We could always do better. In anything.
It seems like Germany did a lot better statistically. I don’t have the latest numbers but it doesn’t seem like many other “major” western European countries did “better” -not sure anything with this virus is better.
These are the statistics that I can recall.
Japan seems to have fared better but I am certain they do not have the same level of Chinese travel and immigration as the US due to the long standing issues between those nations. However that’s simply a guess.
It seems Italy and the USA were hit hard by the flow of travel from China and citizens who were there following the outbreak.
As we are a republic, states have incredible power when it comes to things such as police, health care and municipal governance. I think all followed health care and science recommendations. I can’t recall who didn’t and citizens were pretty good to react. We shut the country down basically for a few months. Unprecedented.
We could have done that earlier. But there was a lot of fits and starts by all involved. China. WHO. Federal government. Republicans. Democrats. We know the stories. The president said this and did that. Deblasio and Pelosi are telling people to come out to Chinatown in late feb. nys needed 48k vents. We can test a million a week back in March. Fauci we don’t need masks. We need masks. Fauci there’s not much to worry about in USA in late January and it’s a huge problem a month later. Imhe models say 2m fatalities in USA. Imhe model unreliable now after scientist is descredited. Pandemic office shuttered. No it was only moved to the nsc. Budgets cut. No just no increase this year.
I’m only thinking of these inconsistencies off the top of my head. I’m sure there’s many more.
No one does anything perfectly, especially in a storm. To expect that from human beings is to be consistently disappointed.
We’ve tested 26mm Americans for a new disease in a matter of months. That’s amazing to me.
I think it was bad. Really bad. However it could have been much worse. And it’s not over anywhere in the world unfortunately.
Also, if the problem were easy to solve, it likely would have been solved by now. So much still is unknown.
“I was worried about the elderly and then I realized I AM one of the elderly.”
I think that was me! Now, apparently, the CDC does not again, which I think is a little suspect. (A lot of places of work are using CDC guidelines for who gets to work remotely, and this puts a lot of workers back in the public workforce.)
I just got notification that my cycle gym is reopening in less than 2 weeks. Website talks about social distancing, cleaning, but nothing about masks, which would be very uncomfortable.
Ever take a spin class at one of these places?
I can’t imagine who would think this is in any way a good idea - I put it up there with as foolish as going to a packed bar.
Right! And BP issues used to be a risk factor; no longer so.
My local gym, 24 hour fitness, opens tomorrow and I will go. They will limit the amount of members inside, will space people out, they have high ceiling with fans and will be religiously wiping down equipment. I bring my own towel and primarily use the stair master and bike. Will try to workout with my cloth mask on and see how it goes.
We have a cloud of Saharan dust drifting our way next week. Oh great, another reason to wear a mask!
Makes for incredible sunsets!
Can’t say I’ve read every supportive non-peer reviewed piece that’s been discussed here about mask effectiveness, but I’ve seen most of it. The various filtration ability of different materials, etc. And, I’ve read no end of admonishments from the medical profession about mask use: that it’s not a shield, most people can’t take a properly fitted one off and on without contaminating themselves, and that if they’re loaded up with moisture you stand the chance of areosoling exactly what you didn’t want in your sinuses.
(And I’ve been treated to the spectacle of a Hollywood airhead showing off her hand crocheted mask. She felt better with it on, though, which is about all that matters.
No, I won’t wear mine in an empty store, or an empty checkout line when the clerks on the other side of a plexi window. Won’t wear it in a parking lot, or on a street, or a beach. Simply put, I won’t wear it anymore anywhere I can be far enough away from someone that I won’t be inhaling their exhalations.)
Yeah, I’m not trusting CDC on that one right now. It conflicts with much I’ve read coming out of other countries the past few months. I guess we’ll find out more with time.
Most people do, Fang, including me.
There’s always a price for doing so though, and the shut-down’s are going to eventually prove to have exacted a tremendous one.
Maybe when the US full year mortality for 2020 is figured, we can decide whether or not it made an appreciable difference. Suspect there’s going to be fewer deaths forward of those that were slated to pass anyway, and a few months of lengthening might not look like much of a deal compared to the pain it’s surely going to cost every other one of us.
I think our kids will be paying this bill the rest of their lives.
I agree, Doschicos. I will wait on the BP thing. I have read way too much from other countries saying that it is about the top risk factor other than age so I’d like to know in more detail why the CDC made that change.
@catahoula, the shutdowns may prove to have exacted a huge price, but I was responding to this comment:
I bolded the relevant part. If my putting a mask on my face delays someone’s death, I will do it. I do not think wearing a cloth mask is a tremendous, big, or even medium price to pay to give someone six months, or a year, or forty years of more life. I think it’s an itsy-bitsy price, and clearly well worth it if it has a good chance of working. I don’t need iron-clad proof when the benefit (if it works) is so enormous and the risk (if it doesn’t work) is so tiny.