I know that my coworker cares about her family. I’m less sure that she and many other people have thought through matters such as this. If they make it through these types of situations without contracting the disease, yay. If they don’t, I’ll be sympathetic and won’t say “I told you so.”
Well THAT seems to be a national (and CC) past time - one where many partake. Maybe with the SIP we all have too much time on our hands. So, once we open up there will be an uptick in smartness 
I’ve refused to wear uncomfortable garments most of my life. With the exception of 4.5 years of hell during my first job in the early 80’s, downtown in a big city. Even then - never a bra and to heck with heels. One factor which pushed me to leave that job for one in the up and coming Silicon Valley was the dress code. So, no - I simply will not wear uncomfortable things on my body. The beautiful mother of bride dress I wore to D’s wedding was modified in ways that Spanx bra or heels were not needed.
So - when it comes to mask comfort matters. This weekend was the first time we ventured out to do back to back errands. I was wearing an N95 with vent for approximately 90 minutes. I had to walk out of the last store because I could feel panic setting in. I agree with the poster who said if everyone wears an N95 with vent then everyone would be top level protected. If you don’t care about yourself of those around you - as exemplified by not wearing a mask - then my wearing a vented one doesn’t change your condition one bit.
The longest I had to wear one was 3 hours, when I had to take an unexpected trip to the ER last month. I didn’t have a problem breathing but the elastic loops around my ears were slightly irritating.
My 21 y/o daughter has been working in a bakery since February. By the end of March, she was required to wear a mask during her shift, which is 8 hours. She recently had switched to a disposable mask once they were readily available but it irritated her skin so she is back to wearing a cloth mask. She takes it off when she has a break.
@emilybee, the data just doesn’t support your vision of the apocalypse. Every day I check Statista for the corona per capita death rates. And this morning’s data shows Texas at 8 deaths per 100k and Florida at 15, compared to 50 in places like Maryland or Delaware, and up to 160 in the Northeast.
MODERATOR’S NOTE: Please state facts without adding unnecessary negative commentary about other users’ opinions. Thank you.
(Ask yourself - does this sound snarky? If so, resist the temptation to post it.)
What an interesting analogy!! I bet you’re exactly right. Maybe that’s why women have been faster to agree to masks?
so your answer is no, @alh, you have not worn a mask for 8 hours, correct? Just making sure I understand the experience level.
I’ve had a couple days of wearing a cloth mask for half days (4.5 hours) outside and carrying stuff in and out of my classroom. That, plus gloves, was a pretty sweaty experience. I’m concerned about lecturing all day in a mask. My throat and skin get so dry, oddly.
Beyond the comfort side of things which is not insignificant, are you also concerned your students might not be able to understand you as well as is necessary when you are lecturing with a mask on?
The experience level of wearing a mask only for specific higher risk or close contact situations (like indoor public spaces or crowded situations) would be the experience of mask wearing for many people. Wearing a mask for 8 hours or so would be the experience of those who work in such higher risk or close contact situations.
DH wears a KN95 mask at work-12 hour shifts in retail pharmacy.
He hates it but he does it. His ears are irritated.
I struggle to wear a cloth mask for more than a little while to shop but I do it and I don’t feel like it’s very reasonable of me to complain.
Popping in to this thread only to share this released today report from Ohio:
“Research shows virus undetectable on five highly circulated library materials after three days”
This will help guide libraries and museums evaluate how to protect staff and patrons and open doors - eventually.
https://www.oclc.org/en/news/releases/2020/20200622-coronavirus-undetectable-after-3-days.html
I thought it might be of interest to CC library and museum going folks. 
We took the pandemic forbearance option with the bank & our plan was to stash the 3 months of mortgage payments in the savings account due to all the economic uncertainty.
The credit union (not our mortgage holder) has been sending emails about refinancing, so we have been weighing our options.
The loan officer at the credit union pulled our credit report, and told us they will not refinance any mortgage with a forbearance.
That was news to us! Grrrrr…
So, we will be scratching the plan to put the money into savings, and will bring our mortgage account current.
I’m a little irritated, but that’s life. Better to find out now versus when it’s too late to fix.
Sobering indeed.
‘‘Florida tops 100,000 cases as coronavirus surge continues’
“Florida hit a sobering milestone on Monday, reaching 100,000 cases of the new coronavirus on the 20th day of a surge of new infections.
The Department of Public Health added 2,926 cases on Monday morning, bringing the state’s total to 100,217.”
“The June infections show Florida’s cases growing at an increasingly rapid pace.”
“ Consider:
Just four weeks and one day ago, on May 24, the state hit the 50,000 threshold. Before that, it took nine weeks to go from zero to the first 50,000.
The latest number of new cases is the fifth highest daily total since the beginning of the pandemic. The state reported 3,494 new cases on Sunday, 4,049 on Saturday, 3,822 cases on Friday and 3,207 on Thursday. It might be premature see the lower numbers on Sunday and Monday, compared to Friday and Saturday, as a trend. Statistics expert Nate Silver, founder of FiveThirtyEight.com has reported that states’ counting often slows on weekends.”
“During the first 72 days — from the beginning of the pandemic through June 2 — the state reported test results, the number of new cases topped 1,000 just 16 times. In the 20 days starting June 3, there has been only one day with fewer than 1,000 new cases.”
“Florida has all the makings of the next epicenter,” said an update last week from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia Research Center. “The risk there is the worst it has ever been in our projections. Miami and Florida’s southeastern counties now join the Tampa/Fort Myers area and Orlando for a fairly widespread transmission event that we forecast will continue throughout the state.”
Yes - I’m very concerned about this. When we (teachers) were doing some book sorting together, it wasn’t trivial to recognize one another, let alone understand talking. I’m worried about being able to get to know my kids’ faces and have the important socially nuanced interactions (including talking and being understood in both directions).
With some offices and perhaps schools reopening, the experience of wearing a mask for 8 hours is about to become much more common in the next few weeks. Short term compliance is easy for most everyone, but short term exposure in shopping situations doesn’t affect infection rates much anyway. Compliance for many hours in schools and offices can be far more problematic, say my contacts. Let us make sure we understand exactly what it is we may be asking teachers or children or others to do soon.
Only my opinion, but with the way things are looking now in the US, it’s highly unlikely schools will be able to reopen in the fall. And I mean K-12 and universities.
Schools districts should be concentrating on making the online experience more workable then when they were rushed into it in March. They have 2-3 months depending on where they are to get this right.
Well, Dr. Fauci says to look at per capita hospitalization and death rates, so I will focus on those rather than number of corona cases in any state.
Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has issued guidelines for the state’s public schools: https://www.tmj4.com/news/local-news/wisconsin-department-of-public-instruction-releases-guidelines-for-reopening-schools-in-the-fall
There are quite a few creative solutions on the internet for keeping the elastic off the ears for more comfortable wearing.