In the entrance to my apartment, in lifts, in public transport, in supermarkets, people glance when they see me wearing a facemask. Sometimes I feel alone in a strange world and then rarely do I see a fellow facemask wearer.
Not long ago, I was just one face masked person among a multitude. It was obligatory, then just in certain place, then recommended, then just not mentioned. I got used to wearing it. The FFPE is quite comfortable as the duck beak form allows breathing. There is an empty pocket that makes it relatively comfy. So why not wear it? It protects me from viruses and bacteria whether covid-19 or flu or mere colds, and many other airborne viruses.
I wear it in closed areas such as bathrooms in restaurants, lifts, and small shops with no aeration system, I wear it also in crowded public spaces such as airports, supermarkets etc. And surely in doctors' surgeries where people are sneezing and coughing.
I am happy that I did not catch the flu though there were several outbreaks since covid-19 restrictions and rules were dropped. I wish I were familiarized with facemasks when I used to travel on weekly basis and ended up catching up so many diverse flu variants in each country I visited.
In an ideal world, people who have the flu would put on a facemask to protect others.
Sadly, facemasks, same as vaccines, lockdowns etc. became political flags. Does not make sense.
I agree that some covid-19 measures did not make sense. It was a new virus that was not really understood and quite deadly until vaccines were introduced. I did not let it ruin my life. I adhered, but not to the letter. I hugged my son and granddaughters, rarely took covid tests, did not scrubbed my hands to the bone with sanitizers, never put on a mask outdoors and met with friends outdoors. I got my four vaccines and used facemasks in closed areas. I sailed through the pandemic without catching it even once.
I wish people used common sense and stopped being followers of populism at all sides. I was never a conformist. I will keep on using facemasks even if people look at me as if I were crazy. What do I care. I never cared and will not start to.
Below some facts, not a matter of opinion, just facts
Face masks (or other face coverings that cover your mouth and nose) are one of the most effective measures that help reduce the spread of the virus. The face covering helps to avoid spreading of the virus by stopping the respiratory droplets which contain viral particles.
A surgical mask is primarily used to protect patients and healthcare workers from people who may have a respiratory infection or to protect sterilized or disinfected medical devices and supplies.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and public health officials recommend that people wear masks in public settings as a way to slow transmission of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. While mask-wearing may be new to most of us, doctors have been wearing medical-grade N95 or surgical masks (which offer more protection than do cloth masks) during surgeries or patient interactions as part of their daily routines, for many decades.
We recently spoke to several Yale Medicine doctors about the medical reasons why they wear masks. They are protective on several levels, explains Manisha Juthani, MD, an infectious disease specialist. “It is really important for me to wear a mask when I'm taking care of patients who have a respiratory virus that I could be at risk of getting and then potentially giving to somebody else.” In fact, the only way she can treat patients with different infectious diseases is by wearing a medical-grade mask so she does not spread any disease or get sick herself.
David Mulligan, MD, chief of transplant surgery and immunology, knows the importance of masks even beyond the operating room. “When we make rounds, for example, on significantly immuno-compromised patients, we will have a mask on to try to help protect those patients from the spread of disease and to try to protect other patients from bringing potential pathogens like bacteria and viruses from one room to the next,” he says
No comments:
Post a Comment