I am wearing a mask. Here’s why
I am a little offended at the notion that only the sick should be wearing masks, simply for the fact that many of the sick have no idea they are. I did make my first attempt yesterday at wearing the mask out as the liquor store tends to be a place where the air is pretty stagnant and things I’ve read suggest smaller spaces with little air flow are the places to avoid in large crowds. I felt the liquor store would be an obvious place for the sick to run to at points, given it’s been a facet of human nature to drown our sorrows in times of stress for hundreds of years now. What happened was I was not welcomed really anywhere, people eyed me suspiciously, and I felt like I might not want to go out at all to avoid that again. For me it is obvious. I am one of the compromised with heart problems etc. But then I see something else, and I see I have an even better reason to protect myself.
Once again the Chinese are trying to kill us all–Losaartan, a drug I sung the praises of some years ago, could make you at a higher risk for coronavirus severe symptoms. I think this is because the shape of the cells makes the virus somehow easier to adhere to–this is a theory, but certainly it has some sense to it, so that’s it…
On top of the fact that the people of Asia, who have dealt with this and worse issues, have been using masks for decades.
I especially love the reason
“Japanese wear masks when feeling sick as a courtesy to stop any sneezes from landing on other people.” I think that’s as practical a reason as any, but goes to show you how much more polite and considerate other cultures can be. The point is, some of us need to wear masks, because it’s not something we can just tempt with everyone telling us it’s just a little cold and no worse than the flu. 30 times more contagious and 10 times more lethal. If that’s not worse, I don’t know what is.
I do know I can take steps to protect myself, and I guess everyone else if I caught it already and have started spreading it, my mask stops that. Why people don’t see this benefit is somewhat suspect, but clearly needs repeating. People are spreading it before they know they are sick which means a mask will protect you. Prove to me that’s not a true notion and I might pull my assertion back, but clearly there is meat to my argument since the range is supposedly going to be about 480,000+ deaths out of 96 million infections and I want to make sure I am not going to be one of them. That takes real extreme effort in the face of public scorn and shame, but go ahead, shame me. At least I won’t be infected.
