So When do the Masks Come Off?

[Jurgo]

If I may ...

If I may ...


Boring commentary. Can't you step it up a bit? If you are going to be me, at least put some effort into it. Geez.

Thank you for your feedback, and welcome back. I was worried you had gotten banned or something; glad to see you’re still here.

 

[Bann]

 

[SamSpade]

I am beginning to think more and more that mask wearing probably doesn't do a damned thing.

I cut and pasted an article the other day discussing just that - that the fancy looking N95 masks which look cool are not at all designed to protect from a virus - they're for contaminants. Toxins. It's like wearing a gas mask. The big thing - the outflow isn't filtered at all. Why should it, for the purpose it serves? So if you're worried about getting "the corona" as my daughter terms it, steer clear of anyone wearing these.

And that's the thing - everyone is being told "wear the mask so YOU won't spread it". These are the same as wearing nothing.

Another is the disposables. People aren't disposing them. These are the kind they use in hospitals - and throw away afterward. Because they're used in a sterile environment. If you're using these endlessly, sticking them in your pocket, hanging them on your doorknob, leaving them in your car - they need to be replaced. MOST people are doing no such thing. They're one use items. That's their design. So people using them are again, doing nothing.

Lastly, the makeshift ones - bandannas and homemade cloth ones. They're better than nothing - unless you're of course, not sterilizing them after use. THEN they're worse.

And I don't want to even bring up the people who don't wear them right. It doesn't encourage me to collect my food from a window where the employee is only covering their mouth. Sneeze or not, most of the droplets emerging from them.

Add to this the concept of sterilizing things like knobs and surfaces - there's simply no way the public is shielded from a virus if these things get wiped a few times and everything else remains untouched. Sure the handle of my cart gets wiped - but every single piece of merchandise doesn't, nor are the handles on the doors in the freezer section.

In short - wearing masks MAY hinder the virus. May. The premise we're all operating on is a matter of scale - and chance. If you never get the virus, mask-wearing has no chance of spreading through you. If you do, there's a small chance you will. But mask wearing or not, overall - with the notable exception of New York City - the spread of the virus is following similar patterns throughout the country, when measured in a macro way. We not long ago learned that the largest group of persons in NYC who got sick WERE practicing social distancing.

I am convinced that our best solutions are to quarantine the most vulnerable and protect them seriously - like they do at my in-law's facility - to improve treatment - and find a cure. I really don't think most of what we're doing is helping much. Because as I've said before - if this virus can spread to every island of the Pacific, to the Arctic, to Siberia, to the Sahara and the most remote parts of the world in a couple months AFTER we knew about it (hell, it made it to Thule, GREENLAND) - it's clearly hard to STOP. You might as well stop a train with your hands.

 

[Kyle]

I've been wearing the same mask since day 1.

Every once in a while I take it off and rub it on desktops, doorknobs or handrails to freshen it up.

 

[Scat]

I am convinced that our best solutions are to quarantine the most vulnerable and protect them seriously - like they do at my in-law's facility - to improve treatment - and find a cure. I really don't think most of what we're doing is helping much. Because as I've said before - if this virus can spread to every island of the Pacific, to the Arctic, to Siberia, to the Sahara and the most remote parts of the world in a couple months AFTER we knew about it (hell, it made it to Thule, GREENLAND) - it's clearly hard to STOP. You might as well stop a train with your hands.

Hmmm, all places that the US military (and others) routinely transfer personnel in/out of.

 

[GURPS]

Another is the disposables. People aren't disposing them.

I've been wearing the same one at work for 6 weeks now, before that it was a bandana




..... even IF and that is a BIG If .... masks were some what effective [ and I have serious doubts ]

People Constantly TOUCH AND ADJUST the damn things, negating any benefit because now THEIR HANDS are contaminated and they are TOUCHING everything around them ...... you are SUPPOSED to immediately sanitize your hands if you touch your mask


Think about that in the grocery store

1. adjust mask
2 sort through shelf items

1. adjust mask again
2. sort / look through shelf items

5 Finally Put Item In Cart





you are better off just letting people breath then have them constantly putting their hand to their contaminated mask

We not long ago learned that the largest group of persons in NYC who got sick WERE practicing social distancing.

It was learned most infections were coming from people AT HOME

 

[SamSpade]

Hmmm, all places that the US military (and others) routinely transfer personnel in/out of.

Is there really ANY place on the globe - outside of hostile countries (where the virus is spreading anyway) - where that is true? It was in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and the Yukon quickly - it was in the coldest environments. I'd hazard a guess and find it's probably on Pitcairn Island, probably the single most remote place on Earth. It is also spreading to remote places on the Globe where people DON'T move in and out - in appreciable numbers.

It seems to me like glitter - you have a glitter explosion in a room, I don't care how much you clean up - a year later you will find some under the couch cushions and on the ceiling. It's pervasive. You can spot clean it, you can do what you want, but it WILL GET EVERYWHERE. And that is what this thing did, almost before anyone knew it.

 

[GURPS]

Is there really ANY place on the globe -

it was a month or more before the 1st case showed up in Western MD

this was back in May 2020:

Over Half of U.S. Counties Have Had No COVID-19 Deaths

 

[Kyle]

Is there really ANY place on the globe - outside of hostile countries (where the virus is spreading anyway) - where that is true? It was in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut and the Yukon quickly - it was in the coldest environments. I'd hazard a guess and find it's probably on Pitcairn Island, probably the single most remote place on Earth. It is also spreading to remote places on the Globe where people DON'T move in and out - in appreciable numbers.

Or Tristan de Cuhna.

 

[SamSpade]

People Constantly TOUCH AND ADJUST

Another thing I forgot to mention - misuse of mask while it's worn. If YOU are infected - and you touch your face while it's on - your hands are going to spread it. Unless you wear and replace gloves.

I am not advocating stop wearing masks - but I wear them because it is currently the law. I suffer no delusion that it protects me or likely mitigates the SPREAD of the virus. This virus is largely contained because of existing immunity - its slow advance to produce symptoms - its incubation time - and its low survivability in air. But it's not known to be highly CONTAGIOUS or even that deadly - and it hasn't really been contained. Stuff like EBOLA and hemorrhagic fever HAS been, in the past - and it's almost movie-like in its danger.

I think it spreads because it gets everywhere. Easily. Because as we've observed, it isn't terribly contagious, doesn't widely produce symptoms but has somehow only slowly been mitigated.

 

[GURPS]

Originally thought to survive a max 21 days on surfaces, that is now down to minutes or hours

The MORE people tested the less lethal this

The single biggest issue in my opinion is the POLITICS of Masking / Gathering

Church NO
Bar NO
Restaurant NO
Shopping NO [ small businesses ]
Have a Party NO
Go To The Park NO

Protest Police Brutality / Black Lives Matter = YES

 

[SamSpade]

Originally thought to survive a max 21 days on surfaces, that is now down to minutes or hours

Do you have a source for this? Every time I look this up, I get - within the SAME TIME FRAME - widely differing conclusions (which very much undermines my faith in the experts).

The MORE people tested the less lethal this

THAT continues to be observed. It's been conjectured for months that a lot more people have been exposed to it than even guessed, because of course most people don't get symptoms, and people only go to the doctor if they're REALLY sick. Mostly. I do know people who go for anything, but they're usually the ones not paying a co-pay every visit. A very typical human reaction to any resource that comes at no or VERY low cost - it gets overused.

Thus far we've been measuring lethality based on number of deaths over number of known cases - and as that second number continues to rise MUCH faster than the first, we're finding that although its profile and the way it attacks people is different - it doesn't seem to have any more lethality than the flu. DON'T say Sam, it's not the flu. Of course it's not - neither is meningitis. I didn't say that. And while it's billed as a respiratory illness, it certainly doesn't kill that way - it appears to attack the body's ability to get oxygen making lungs less and less effective.

It just doesn't seem to kill people at a significantly greater rate.

 

[Kyle]

Originally thought to survive a max 21 days on surfaces, that is now down to minutes or hours

The MORE people tested the less lethal this

The single biggest issue in my opinion is the POLITICS of Masking / Gathering

Church NO
Bar NO
Restaurant NO
Shopping NO [ small businesses ]
Have a Party NO
Go To The Park NO

Protest Police Brutality / Black Lives Matter = YES

Because the virus knows not to #### with thousands of shoulder to shoulder rioters burning and looting for a noble cause!

 

[TPD]

View attachment 149457

I have this same flag on my front porch!

 

[GURPS]

Do you have a source for this? Every time I look this up, I get - within the SAME TIME FRAME - widely differing conclusions (which very much undermines my faith in the experts).

Not really it was mentioned in a news analysis bit


https://www.webmd.com/lung/how-long-covid-19-lives-on-surfaces

Keep in mind that researchers still have a lot to learn about the new coronavirus. But you’re probably more likely to catch it from being around someone who has it than from touching a contaminated surface.

Different Kinds of Surfaces

Metal - Examples: doorknobs, jewelry, silverware - 5 days

Wood - Examples: furniture, decking - 4 days

Plastics - Examples: milk containers and detergent bottles, subway and bus seats, backpacks, elevator buttons - 2 to 3 days

Stainless steel - Examples: refrigerators, pots and pans, sinks, some water bottles - 2 to 3 days

Cardboard - Examples: shipping boxes - 24 hours

Copper - Examples: pennies, teakettles, cookware - 4 hours

Aluminum - Examples: soda cans, tinfoil, water bottles - 2 to 8 hours

Glass - Examples: drinking glasses, measuring cups, mirrors, windows - Up to 5 days

Ceramics - Examples: dishes, pottery, mugs - 5 days

Paper - Examples: mail, newspaper - The length of time varies. Some strains of coronavirus live for only a few minutes on paper, while others live for up to 5 days.

Food - Examples: takeout, produce - Coronavirus doesn't seem to spread through food.

Water - Coronavirus hasn't been found in drinking water. If it does get into the water supply, your local water treatment plant filters and disinfects the water, which should kill any germs.

Fabrics - Examples: clothes, linens - There’s not much research about how long the virus lives on fabric, but it’s probably not as long as on hard surfaces.

Shoes - One study tested the shoe soles of medical staff in a Chinese hospital intensive care unit (ICU) and found that half were positive for nucleic acids from the virus. But it’s not clear whether these pieces of the virus cause infection. The hospital’s general ward, which had people with milder cases, was less contaminated than the ICU.

Skin and hair - There’s no research yet on exactly how long the virus can live on your skin or hair. Rhinoviruses, which cause colds, survive for hours. That’s why it’s important to wash or disinfect your hands, which are most likely to come into contact with contaminated surfaces.

 

[TPD]

I think I asked elsewhere when would fines be levied for not wearing masks. Well I see in Texas a person can be fined $250 for not wearing a mask in public. Texas!! This after the governor in April told a Texas county they could not impose fines for non-mask wearers.

This whole thing is ridiculous, but I am saving a lot of money. I refuse to wear a mask inside a store and so far have not. If a business gives me a hard time over it, then I just don't go back. I spend my money at businesses that are lax in the enforcement of masks, which are few that I frequent, hence I'm not spending much money.

But here's the thing - why are these retail establishments so up in your face about this? The way I understand the rules, as long as the business has posted the signs and the markings, they have done their job and are not subject to the $5000 fine. But apparently the health department has expressed to them otherwise and has scared them shirtless, so they are relentless in enforcement. I'm looking at you DG & CVS! Haven't they heard of managers beaten senseless over this? I'm not subjecting my employees to a beating over masks. Being late to work - yeah you get a beating, but not telling a customer to wear a mask? No beating.

And can someone clarify the medical exception for me? CDC guidelines have exceptions for people who cannot breathe. I do not see anything in the MD mandate about a medical exception. Also CDC says anyone 2 and under doesn't have to wear a mask but MD says 9. When I pull the medical exception mantra at these business, they look at me like I have a third eye, which should also be an exception for not having to wear a mask.

And one more thing - don't lecture me about not wearing a mask when you can't wear it properly!! I had an employee at DG get on me about not having a mask when she had the damn thing UNDER her nose!

This whole ordeal has my blood pressure sky high. For some reason this has been one of the battles I have chosen and I will probably die fighting it.

 

[TPD]

Do you have a source for this? Every time I look this up, I get - within the SAME TIME FRAME - widely differing conclusions (which very much undermines my faith in the experts).

Not really it was mentioned in a news analysis bit

I saw something a month or so ago mentioning the same thing. I believe it was something the CDC put out but don't have time now to look for it.

 

[Sneakers]

I've used a couple of different masks since this started. I had a can of Lysol in the truck and sprayed my masked and hung it to dry when I got home. But I gave up my Lysol to someone who needed it.

Side note: saw on the news yesterday that Lysol spray has been given high marks and 'seal of approval' for being able to kill the Covid virus within minutes. Now if we could only find some.

 

[RoseRed]

I have this same flag on my front porch!

View attachment 149474

The one I saw was YUUUGGGEEEE!

 

[PeoplesElbow]

FYI medical N95 masks do not have outflow valves, those are the ones for industrial use that have the valves.