Pro-Maskers, you gonna keep wearing them?

(Joey) #21

@EZB I was going to :heart: your posts above, but that seems like the wrong reaction. Know that my heart goes out to you and your family.

Being the father of a child with such vulnerabilities must be incredibly stressful - demanding constant vigilance to protect him from a world filled with health threats.

I don’t know how we can better balance the wishes of the masses against the genuine health needs of the few, but awareness is certainly a component. Thanks for making me more aware of your son’s issues.

I was waiting in a dentist office yesterday. No one was wearing a mask, so I took mine off. An elderly woman came in wearing one and sat next to me - the only chair left. I asked her if she’d like me to put my mask on if it would make her feel more comfortable?

She said no, thanks, not necessary. If you were there with your son, I imagine your answer would have been different.

Even as most of us go mask free, it would seem that simple exchanges like this might be part of the solution?

#22

Yes, this is quite clear when looking at guidelines from the CDC, which is by almost any measure very cautious about Covid.
When looking at immune difficulty with kids, it’s a brutal position for any parent I guess with the flu or any other virus that’s in circulation :frowning:
It’s probably also a bit of a vicious circle, since immune response is primed in children by exposure to pathogens - it’s literally how we build our immune response - but if you know there could be a problem, you’ll be extra cautious.

#23

Yes, this is really nice. Even when it became clear that outdoor masks just didn’t make any sense, I often would raise mine to cover my nose if I saw someone with one coming toward me on the street. It seemed worth it to support their feeling of safety at that moment even if it didn’t make logical sense. I don’t think we can extend this to all other mitigation strategies, some of which have pretty extreme consequences, but it seems harmless enough for masks.

(Ethan) #24

Mask wearing when spending 24 hours a day in a house is highly unlikely to make much of a difference. Masks are going to be most effective for shorter duration of exposure. We all got the flu in Feb 2020 (verified by tests). It was quite bad, but we made it through. We get vaccinated every year as a precaution. Flu isn’t as big of a concern because it does not seem to cause a large autoimmune response (e.g., MIS-C) as Covid.

(Ethan) #25

Thanks, but I think we wouldn’t have remained in that waiting room. If I went into a dental office and saw nobody wearing a mask, I would immediately turn around and leave. If there is no mandate and no office police, there will not be us in that facility for a visit either. I assume your dentist and jurisdiction have no mask policy.

(Joey) #26

Needless to say, there’s a difference between the waiting room and the treatment area… As has been the case for many years, the dental hygienists and dentists remain masked/shielded. No change since coronavirus.

In your son’s situation, I’d call ahead to ensure they took him directly back into the treatment area - where the dental professionals have been into equipment sterilization and industrial quality PPE for a very long time.

(Laurie) #27

I wouldn’t have remained in the dentist’s waiting room.

In November we had a provincial election. I waited in the cold outdoors for an hour, as the carefully spaced line moved slowly toward the polling building. As I neared the building, I saw the workers walking back and forth, squeezing past the voters in the hallway. I wasn’t going to subject myself to that, so I went home without voting.

The vaccination lineup – in the same building – was not quite as bad. Fortunately(?) I didn’t notice unsafe procedures until after I’d received the shot.

(Ethan) #28

My mother got Covid and died in the December from it because she went to a doctor office that had a large waiting room with too many people. Even though all were masked, I don’t have my mother anymore.

(Ethan) #29

Yes, just read my post above this. I lost my mother because of a doctor waiting room

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #30

I will continue to wear one when I will be in a room full of people who might not be vaccinated. I plan to wear them next winter. The flu and cold numbers plummeted this past winter, besides it keeps my face warmer.

I’m happy to let others do as they please, I will wear one when I feel the need. I have a nice collection going now.

(KCKO, KCFO 🥥) #31

So sorry for your lose, Ethan.

I was lucky two family members caught it but recovered. So many have been lost in the past year, it breaks my heart.

(Ethan) #32

Thanks. The warmer face is a welcome thing. Actually, I kind of like the style aspect as well. Men don’t have many ways to accessorize. I already utilize shoes and watch straps well, but masks kind of are like a pocket square.

(David Cooke) #33

So this morning in Thailand they were talking about making the wearing of TWO masks obligatory. They already dictated that you have to wear one in the car if not alone. (Ie, with family). Heavy fines are in force. Few people are able to follow the latest developments as their English is not at a good level here, arguments are pointless.
I changed my running route so I don’t go past many houses, take the mask down after leaving the village.

(bulkbiker) #34

Kinda crazy that Thailand with very few deaths or cases is going so crazy.
Why do you think it is…?
It was on our list of places to escape to from the UK but this insanity seems to be spreading globally.

#35

Have you noticed the timing with that stuff? It’s whenever things are getting better that they go for another push of getting stupider with stuff!

Here in VA they dropped the mask mandate yesterday which is 1 day after it was dropped federally here, the governor announced all COVID restrictions are going to be pulled on the 28th I believe. Businesses could still require masks, but that’ll be the death of them if they do so it should be fun to watch. May be the only time “cancel” culture works in a positive way!

What I can’t wait to see is with all this “for vaccinated people” talk going around, how that’s gonna end. Here in the US we have a health privacy act (HIPAA) which forbids anybody but a health provider from having, recording, or requiring you to disclose health data which includes vaccination status with very few exceptions (pretty much only schools).

#36

This is the part that bothers me the most. The science is still out on vaccine effects, and we literally have no idea about long-term issues. I think everyone should be able to get the vaccine, but adults have some degree of choice in the matter (in the US, OSHA’s making employers responsible for covering side effects if they mandate the vaccine). However in most places children will have to get the vaccine or leave school.

Historically mandated school vaccines are for diseases that are dangerous to children. Even so, the vaccines were approved, and there’s a long approval process involving animal trials, years of safety studies, etc. I know that we happen to have someone on here who has reason to believe that his child is at severe risk from Covid - and my heart goes out to him; it’s a horrible position to be in - but on the whole Covid is less dangerous to children than the flu, and we’re asking kids to take an unapproved pharmaceutical, to take that risk, for “the good of society.” As if they haven’t borne an enormous burden of the shutdowns etc to date. It’s madness.

#37

I plan to continue wearing them indoors, for as long as I can. I have never worn them outside unless I was in a crowd or there was a dust storm. Now that I have a few, I will continue to wear them especially during flu season. I have always been paranoid about flu season though. Honestly, I was expecting this pandemic to be a flu so I wonder how, or if, this changes the natural cycles of pandemics.

(GINA ) #38

I work at a school in California and I imagine we will be at it for a while longer for appearance’s sake. We have to wait for the CA Dept of Health before we can do anything anyway, and we are still being forced to hang on to some really stupid guidelines.

For example, studnets can be inside a classroom 3 feet apart now. But, we are planning a graduation and the state regulations say it has to be outside, and the kids have to be 6 feet apart on the stage (or wherever you have them). No one has thought it spreads by touch in months, but we can’t hand diplomas or certificates right the graduates, we have to put them on a table so they can pick them up. It is asinine.

#39

I really feel for you guys in CA, you’re literally being screwed from every angle COVID or not! Never too late to join that migration to Idaho!

(Ethan) #40

That actually is not true:

The ONLY individuals and organizations subject to the privacy rule are healthcare providers, health plans, healthcare clearinghouses and business associates of the other three.
That means it is not applicable to questions from a business owner to a patron or from one person to another.