Rico’s Covid-19 Digest – Tuesday, the Ministry of Health announced the mandatory use of masks in enclosed places, public transit, and more. The reaction on social networks is divided, many taking a stand on not wearing masks during a global pandemic.
I have personally been wearing a mask from day one, making my own when I found it impossible to buy one. I still don’t go out without my bottle of alcohol gel, gloves and my mask.
I can only hope that this “masks are bad” sentiment will not be the cause of infections, illness and deaths. Or moving forward to reopening the country economically and that includes the arrival of tourists.
In the beginning, I was ridiculed, teased, made fun of by my group of knowns. “What are you afraid of?” was one of the first questions. Even at the BAC I was asked to pull down my mask “for the cameras”. I am glad that day I didn’t wear my ‘bandido’ mask. On my later visits, no problem with wearing a mask, somehow, technology had caught with the BAC and their camera could now tell it was me behind the mask.
On Monday, the Banco Nacional has made wearing a mask mandatory in their branches. Yesterday, Tuesday, the Ministry of Health announced the mandatory use of masks in banks as of Saturday, June 27.
At the supermarket, it was a chore at the beginning to wear a mask. It was uncomfortable, a pain in general. Many didn’t wear one then. Now it is much more common, more people wearing masks than not.
I can’t stress the need to wear a mask in these worst of times. For yourself, for me.
The following was posted on social media and I want to share it with you.
A doctor sent this and it makes sense to me. I spent the past 39 years working in the field of surgery. For a significant part of that time, I have worn a mask. I have worked with hundreds (probably thousands) of colleagues during those years, who have also worn masks. Not a single one us of became ill passed out or died from lack of oxygen. Not a single one of us became ill, passed out or died from breathing too much carbon dioxide. Not a single one us of became ill, passed out or died from rebreathing a little of our own exhaled air. Let’s begin here by putting those scare tactics to rest!
(It is true that some people, with advanced lung diseases, may be so fragile that a mask could make their already-tenuous breathing more difficult. If your lungs are that bad, you probably shouldn’t be going out in public at the present time anyway; the consequences, if you are exposed to Covid-19, would likely be devastating.)
“But”, you ask, “can’t viruses go right through the mask, because they are so small?” (“Masks keep viruses out just as well as a chain-link fence keeps mosquitoes out,” some tell us..) It is true that individual virus particles can pass through the pores of a mask; however, viruses don’t move on their own. They do not fly across the room like a mosquito, wiggle through your mask like a worm, or fly up your nose like a gnat.
The virus is essentially nothing more than a tiny blob of genetic material. Covid-19 travels in a CARRIER – the carrier is a fluid droplet- fluid droplets that you expel when you cough, sneeze, sing, laugh, talk or simply exhale. Most of your fluid droplets will be stopped from entering the air in the room if you are wearing a mask.
Wearing a mask is a very efficient way to protect others if you are carrying the virus (even if you don’t know that you are infected). In addition, if someone else’s fluid droplets happen to land on your mask, many of them will not pass through. This gives the wearer some additional protection, too. But, the main reason to wear a mask is to PROTECT OTHERS.
Even if you don’t care about yourself, wear your mask to protect your neighbors, co-workers and friends!
A mask is certainly not 100% protective. However, it appears that the severity of Covid-19 infection is at least partially “dose-dependent.” In other words, the more virus particles that enter your body, the sicker you are likely to become. Why not decrease that volume if you can?
“What have you got to lose?!”
- “But doesn’t a requirement or a request to wear a mask violate my constitutional rights?”
You’re also not allowed to go into the grocery store if you are not wearing pants. You can’t yell “fire” in the Produce Department. You’re not allowed to urinate on the floor in the Frozen Food Section. Do you object to those restrictions?
Rules, established for the common good, are components of a civilized society.
- “But aren’t masks uncomfortable?” Some would say that underwear or shoes can be uncomfortable, but we still wear them. (Actually, being on a ventilator is pretty darned uncomfortable, too!) Are masks really so bad that you can’t tolerate them, even if they will help keep others healthy?
- “But won’t people think I’m a snowflake or a wimp if I wear a mask?” I hope you have enough self-confidence to overcome that.
- “But won’t I look stupid if I wear a mask?” I’ve decided not to dignify that question with an answer!!:)
- “But I never get sick; I’m not worried.” Well, then, wear a mask for the sake of the rest of us who are not so perfect!
There is good evidence that masks make a real difference in diminishing the transmission of Covid-19. Please, for the sake of others (and for the sake of yourself), wear your mask when in public. It won’t kill you!
P.S. – And, by the way, please be sure that BOTH your nose and mouth are covered!
Recommendations around mask usage are confusing. The science isn’t. Evidence shows that masks are extremely effective to slow the coronavirus and may be the best tool available right now to fight it.
