If you see a mask - wear a mask. Better yet - wear a mask all the time and show us you understand that we're still IN a pandemic. We are depending on you to keep us safe - please don't betray that.
Wearing N95 now haha! I think of myself as a vector of infections for my patients and my parents. Also this idea of “only vulnerable people” blah blah, we are all going to become vulnerable one day!!
Thank you for masking! There's a song from a musical I love that ends with a refrain of 'blah blah blah' over and over again and I hear it in my head a lot when people push back on this very simple and EASY issue. Masking in healthcare shouldn't be hard. It shouldn't be controversial. It's TIME.
It feels wrong to click the heart after reading this.
After my heart transplant, my doctors insisted that I wear a mask in public places for the first year while I was the most immunocompromised - in 2018, before anyone dreamed of Covid. I have caught RSV and that put me in the hospital with RSV pneumonia. I mask not just for Covid, but for all upper respiratory viruses - flu, RSV, rhinovirus, and Covid. It's common sense to me.
I know the feeling - I always feel strange “liking” posts like this. I wish we had a “I support this message!” Button lol.
Thank you for sharing your experience. The fact that there isn’t mandatory masking on transplant wards boggles my mind. Especially considering Covid increases your odds of developing clots which is already a risk post surgery.
I know someone who was having an aortic dissection repair and spent over a month in the hospital - and the vast majority of staff wouldn’t mask for her. I have a friend who received a kidney transplant and upon discharge posed for a photo with the doctors and nurses - none of whom were masking.
An organ is such a gift - it makes me furious that healthcare workers are willing to put that gift in jeopardy. Yet here we are. People will act as though it was unheard of to mask before Covid and that’s simply not true (as you’ve just pointed out).
Thank you for such a comprehensive explanation of the need for masking for vulnerable people. Any healthcare professional who refuses to accommodate this very simple and reasonable request should consider another career path. 😷
You’re so welcome - thank you for reading! I agree and yet sadly I feel like that would leave us with almost no healthcare workers. It seems the majority are refusing.
It’s terribly disappointing a mandate is required to do such a simple thing - but it seems to be where we’re at.
I look back at how long it took for doctors to adopt hand washing - and I weep. They’re not quick to change!
That's what amazes me! Midwives were washing their hands and saving lives! Yet the push back against it by mainly male doctors, not many female ones back then, was ridiculous. Didn't they become doctors to save lives? Why push back and refuse to do something so simple? I'll also mention that misogyny, bigotry, and racism are still rife in the medical community 😕
Right?!?! I swear it’s just because someone else is telling them to do it. Therefore they have to be contrarian about it. It costs lives - and it’s so unnecessary.
We can’t afford to wait 50 years for masks in healthcare. People need to adapt faster.
Exactly! Even if you’ve gone WAY down the rabbit hole and believe masks don’t work at all - you’re still causing emotional harm to your patient when you refuse to accommodate their request. It won’t hurt these HCWs to mask up - so there’s no rational reason to say no.
Thank you for saying all of this. I just had to log out of Tinu's very touching and beautiful homecoming service because I ran out spoons after the first hour. She was an exceptional person and will be dearly missed. She also made a point to say that one-way masking isn't enough. She got infected WHILE WEARING A MASK because she was vulnerable and the people around her weren't masking.
It's unbelievable how even medical professionals won't mask. Such a simple way to protect their vulnerable patients, and the vulnerable people who live with their patients, and the people who don't know they're vulnerable, and... Literally everyone. We wouldn't still be in a pandemic if we'd kept masking. We drove a major family of flu strains into extinction because we were masking for one winter. Imagine what we could do if we kept that up. Even flu kills.
What's almost worse than a hospital with a "mask friendly" policy is my local hospital that still has signs posted asking people to mask, which everyone ignores, and then a box of SURGICAL MASKS in the lobby, despite clear science showing that they do not work because too much unfiltered air leaks out the sides for it to be at all effective.
I’m so sad to have missed her service - my rural internet is so lousy it can’t handle any streaming. I figured this was the best way I could pay tribute to her (and hopefully help with the fundraising as well).
thank you for pointed out she was wearing a mask! When you’re immune compromised AND people are right in your face (as they often need to be in healthcare) … you really need two way masking. Not to mention it’s cruel to expect a sick patient to go without any food or water - but that’s what they’re doing to us. You can’t risk breaking the seal because the new variants infect in seconds. If everyone around you would mask - you could at least have a sip of water.
It’s all so depressing and unnecessary. As you said we could practically eliminate covid if everyone put in the effort. Clearly the vast majority aren’t willing to DO that - but healthcare should be a non negotiable. Hospital acquired covid has a much higher fatality rate - and too many patients are being harmed. It needs to stop.
Oh thank you! I didn’t know that. It’ll be much easier to watch that way - I can’t even do a 5 min zoom on this crappy internet but a YouTube video is usually ok. It’s the “live” that seems to cause the problems.
Yeah, they made a point of recording it, for those who couldn't make it, those who want to see it again, and posterity in general. I don't know when or where it'll be made available, but I'll let you know when I hear anything, in case you miss it elsewhere. I suspect the issue is transcoding. When you watch live, you basically have to watch at full resolution. Some streaming sites like Twitch can make different resolutions possible on a live stream, but it's expensive. Twitch won't do it unless you're a partnered streamer, and there's still a few seconds of delay. But when you upload a video to YouTube they process it into multiple versions so that it can be watched at lower resolutions, saving bandwidth.
Ah that makes so much sense! Thank you! I get so annoyed that streaming often doesn’t work but things like YouTube or Netflix do (though I do have the lowest quality Netflix lol)
Seems so simple to put on a mask - I simply do not get the rationale for refusing to do so - mandates should not be necessary but there seems no alternative - Bob
I agree - it’s a simple and easy thing to do and especially in healthcare settings - necessary.
Healthcare workers MUST be able to mask. They’re fit tested and trained how to don and doff properly. They’re refusing out of selfish wants and/or because they’ve fallen for the line that masks make you a sheep. Which it’s wrong and has done so much damage.
I'm still surprised that anyone who works with the public in general doesn't mask, FFS! I talked to a friend this weekend and since he had COVID three times last year after getting boosted, he probably won't get this year's vax. His husband is a social worker. People don't get the ramifications of their choices. But, at a hospital, or in a doctor's office, why wouldn't you mask?!!? I will say this, though (unpopular as it might come off): I think our medical folks are dealing with huge PTSD from the past four years. Not an excuse, but maybe an underlying reason for rebellion. Think back to those first two years, the moron we had running the place (I'm in the US) and all the craziness with citizens refusing to get vaccinated or wear a mask, then go into the hospital demanding unproven treatments, expecting to be saved. It was chaos. I followed a doctor on TAFKAT who was in his residency at a NYC hospital in the ER when that wave hit. The things he posted. Then, he moved to Arizona as an ER doc right when that wave hit. It never stopped for him. It never stopped for many. The grief, the stress, dealing with people who made the pandemic political...all day, every day. I started to believe our medical industry would implode because of this. To some degree, I think it has. So many quit. The ones I see all seem so tired. Who would want to be a doctor or nurse now? Still, there's no excuse not to be respectful of people's needs and requests. Wear the damned mask! It's not hard. I've been doing it for 4 years. I have no plans to stop. And, if I have to have my mask off, I will ask for yours to be on (dentist, dermatologist, etc.). Fortunately, they are kindreds and wear theirs without having to be asked. Wonderful post, BBT. I hope this gets through to the stubborn. xo
I don't think it'll be unpopular - they absolutely are dealing with a lot of trauma and I think it's important and compassionate that we recognize it.
Of course my issue is that the patients are ALSO dealing with a lot of trauma - and they're the ones being put at risk against their will.
I fault the hospitals - they could be bringing in counsellors and trying to help staff. They could be adopting clean air. They could be encouraging staff to mask (I've heard from a number of HCWs who said they've been told NOT to). But they aren't doing that - and everyone suffers. It's so frustrating.
I'm sure one day we will all look back and wonder why we all had plenty of tools to keep ourselves from getting sick and just didn't bother to use them. How many more people will die or become sick because the masses would prefer to forget and force back to normal? Sorry about your friend.
I hope you’re right. Sometimes I worry that we’ve done so much damage and gone so far into denial that people won’t be capable of ever looking at it critically and realizing they’ve made a mistake.
I want to believe I’m wrong - and that soon people will get fed up with being sick all the time and demand better of our leaders
I just found out one of my local hospitals will be bringing back mask mandates - so that’s a big win.
This post made me realize that the folks who’ve been most respectful of my covid-cautiousness are veterinary staff. Both the clinics I’ve taken my cat to since mask mandates ended have mask-mirrored as soon as they saw I had one on. It’s even in one of their policies to mask-mirror! Human doctors and nurses, conversely, usually comment or ask why I’m wearing it.
I’ve been told that you get a surprisingly similar body of knowledge, training to become a vet vs. a human doctor. Maybe that ties into your point about trauma. Both groups would have learned the epidemiology and pathophysiology to understand the risks of covid. But human doctors & HCWs also associate masks with some of the most traumatic years of their careers— of course it would skew any efforts to be rational.
I’ve actually heard that from a lot of people! Pets can get covid as well - and it seems vets do a much better job protecting the pets and their humans.
OMG. The MD interaction. 🤬🤬🤬 Flip flop. Schools know, too, as they disable students with Blood Clotting Covid SARS2 disease. I shared a video of our conversation with our child’s IEP case worker on twitter. MY child advocated for himself to be separated from violent outbursts from classmates. He is the only Human in his middle school to wear a Respirator. He is THRIVING. His peers are not. 😭
Thanks so much for this article! You've put in writing so many things I've mused angrily over in my head. It's so affirming to see them in print and endorsed also by others here. Btw, I think we should normalize saying "I'm immune compromised" if we've had covid, though I wonder if disability rights activists would agree. Sadly, ain't is the truth?
I can’t imagine many disability rights activists would have an issue with that? It’s a fair statement given what we know at present.
We KNOW Covid damages your immune system - the main question right now is for how long? Can the immune system recover if given long enough without reinfection?
Ideally we should have mandatory masks and clean air benchmarks in all hospitals so patients don’t have to choose between care and Covid. It would also have the added benefit of drastically reducing nosocomial infections.
What a wonderful article! I am immunocompromised, but I have a strong advocate by my side always! I’m lucky to be married to the environmental health and safety officer for a large group of hospitals and health care facilities. We talk N95s and employee fit testing over the dinner table. Don’t forget your shots, kids! As the pandemic eased, my husband did see some push back, but now that the threat of long covid has been more clearly analyzed, he’s seeing much better compliance.
I’m so glad you’ve got a strong advocate by your side! It can make such a difference! Your dinner table sounds like a fun one to me 😂. I’ve learned so much about masks and respirators over the last few years - I wish I had known how effective they were before. I would have always worn them in the hospital. Who wants to be sick if you can avoid it?
I’m an ER doc who has also masked during flu season for years and I’ve received a lot of comments and frustration from a large number of patients who see my masking as an insult (which was a response I noticed during flu season frequently in the past) as if my not wanting to get a serious illness or have to come to work sick is a slight against them, or as a political statement. Masks have become politicized and polarizing. A sign less of public health and risk mitigation and something else entirely. Telling people my husband was dying of cancer and COVID would kill him since he could barely breathe seemed to stop the conversation but it shouldn’t matter what the reason is. Socially, the pandemic is “over” without adequate mitigation strategies like better air filtration, etc. It’s truly wild. We need to consider the vulnerable among us because we are all going to be the vulnerable among us at some point. I’ll be masking for my safety and my patients safety basically forever.
Clarification: I’ll be using an n95 at work or in situations I feel call for it. Random cloth masking doesn’t really do anything and I think the difference is important to keep things scientific and avoid safety theater
Thank you so much for reading and commenting - and of course for masking! I would assume given the nature of your husband’s cancer that he was unable to wear one himself? And therefore would have to rely on others to wear them?
It’s terrible that you would have to tell people that just to get them to care - and yet not at all surprising. As you said masks have become political and now people seem to get irrationally angry when they see them.
Nowhere does this upset me more than healthcare settings - where I want to believe people should be able to risk above their personal politics and do what’s right for the MOST vulnerable who have no choice but to be there.
Thank you for clarifying it’s an N95 as well - I wear a fitted N99 and it’s been a great way to reduce colds and flus as well. Hospitals have lots of bugs!
Agree with everything you’ve written and my experience is very similar. I see very little interest in COVID safety and general public safety in general, and suspect we will see a tremendous cost to that indifference for decades to come.
I think so too. I believe we’re already seeing the start of it in excess mortality, rising rates of disability, supply chain issues, increase in accidents etc.
People are still (for whatever reason) ignoring the very obvious signs - but I don’t think they will be able to ignore them for much longer.
Pestilence, one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Many Evangelicals see this as the "End of Times". Fine for them. but not masking insists that we have their beliefs.
Wearing N95 now haha! I think of myself as a vector of infections for my patients and my parents. Also this idea of “only vulnerable people” blah blah, we are all going to become vulnerable one day!!
Thank you for masking! There's a song from a musical I love that ends with a refrain of 'blah blah blah' over and over again and I hear it in my head a lot when people push back on this very simple and EASY issue. Masking in healthcare shouldn't be hard. It shouldn't be controversial. It's TIME.
Are you saying that all humans around the world should be wearing a mask in public?
If you read the article, it will answer your question 🥰
It feels wrong to click the heart after reading this.
After my heart transplant, my doctors insisted that I wear a mask in public places for the first year while I was the most immunocompromised - in 2018, before anyone dreamed of Covid. I have caught RSV and that put me in the hospital with RSV pneumonia. I mask not just for Covid, but for all upper respiratory viruses - flu, RSV, rhinovirus, and Covid. It's common sense to me.
I know the feeling - I always feel strange “liking” posts like this. I wish we had a “I support this message!” Button lol.
Thank you for sharing your experience. The fact that there isn’t mandatory masking on transplant wards boggles my mind. Especially considering Covid increases your odds of developing clots which is already a risk post surgery.
I know someone who was having an aortic dissection repair and spent over a month in the hospital - and the vast majority of staff wouldn’t mask for her. I have a friend who received a kidney transplant and upon discharge posed for a photo with the doctors and nurses - none of whom were masking.
An organ is such a gift - it makes me furious that healthcare workers are willing to put that gift in jeopardy. Yet here we are. People will act as though it was unheard of to mask before Covid and that’s simply not true (as you’ve just pointed out).
Thank you for such a comprehensive explanation of the need for masking for vulnerable people. Any healthcare professional who refuses to accommodate this very simple and reasonable request should consider another career path. 😷
You’re so welcome - thank you for reading! I agree and yet sadly I feel like that would leave us with almost no healthcare workers. It seems the majority are refusing.
It’s terribly disappointing a mandate is required to do such a simple thing - but it seems to be where we’re at.
I look back at how long it took for doctors to adopt hand washing - and I weep. They’re not quick to change!
That's what amazes me! Midwives were washing their hands and saving lives! Yet the push back against it by mainly male doctors, not many female ones back then, was ridiculous. Didn't they become doctors to save lives? Why push back and refuse to do something so simple? I'll also mention that misogyny, bigotry, and racism are still rife in the medical community 😕
Right?!?! I swear it’s just because someone else is telling them to do it. Therefore they have to be contrarian about it. It costs lives - and it’s so unnecessary.
We can’t afford to wait 50 years for masks in healthcare. People need to adapt faster.
Absolutely
First, do no harm. This oath means nothing to these anti maskers.
Exactly! Even if you’ve gone WAY down the rabbit hole and believe masks don’t work at all - you’re still causing emotional harm to your patient when you refuse to accommodate their request. It won’t hurt these HCWs to mask up - so there’s no rational reason to say no.
Thank you for saying all of this. I just had to log out of Tinu's very touching and beautiful homecoming service because I ran out spoons after the first hour. She was an exceptional person and will be dearly missed. She also made a point to say that one-way masking isn't enough. She got infected WHILE WEARING A MASK because she was vulnerable and the people around her weren't masking.
It's unbelievable how even medical professionals won't mask. Such a simple way to protect their vulnerable patients, and the vulnerable people who live with their patients, and the people who don't know they're vulnerable, and... Literally everyone. We wouldn't still be in a pandemic if we'd kept masking. We drove a major family of flu strains into extinction because we were masking for one winter. Imagine what we could do if we kept that up. Even flu kills.
What's almost worse than a hospital with a "mask friendly" policy is my local hospital that still has signs posted asking people to mask, which everyone ignores, and then a box of SURGICAL MASKS in the lobby, despite clear science showing that they do not work because too much unfiltered air leaks out the sides for it to be at all effective.
I’m so sad to have missed her service - my rural internet is so lousy it can’t handle any streaming. I figured this was the best way I could pay tribute to her (and hopefully help with the fundraising as well).
thank you for pointed out she was wearing a mask! When you’re immune compromised AND people are right in your face (as they often need to be in healthcare) … you really need two way masking. Not to mention it’s cruel to expect a sick patient to go without any food or water - but that’s what they’re doing to us. You can’t risk breaking the seal because the new variants infect in seconds. If everyone around you would mask - you could at least have a sip of water.
It’s all so depressing and unnecessary. As you said we could practically eliminate covid if everyone put in the effort. Clearly the vast majority aren’t willing to DO that - but healthcare should be a non negotiable. Hospital acquired covid has a much higher fatality rate - and too many patients are being harmed. It needs to stop.
The service was recorded, FWIW. Maybe you'll be able to watch some of it later. But this was a great tribute.
Oh thank you! I didn’t know that. It’ll be much easier to watch that way - I can’t even do a 5 min zoom on this crappy internet but a YouTube video is usually ok. It’s the “live” that seems to cause the problems.
Yeah, they made a point of recording it, for those who couldn't make it, those who want to see it again, and posterity in general. I don't know when or where it'll be made available, but I'll let you know when I hear anything, in case you miss it elsewhere. I suspect the issue is transcoding. When you watch live, you basically have to watch at full resolution. Some streaming sites like Twitch can make different resolutions possible on a live stream, but it's expensive. Twitch won't do it unless you're a partnered streamer, and there's still a few seconds of delay. But when you upload a video to YouTube they process it into multiple versions so that it can be watched at lower resolutions, saving bandwidth.
Ah that makes so much sense! Thank you! I get so annoyed that streaming often doesn’t work but things like YouTube or Netflix do (though I do have the lowest quality Netflix lol)
Seems so simple to put on a mask - I simply do not get the rationale for refusing to do so - mandates should not be necessary but there seems no alternative - Bob
I agree - it’s a simple and easy thing to do and especially in healthcare settings - necessary.
Healthcare workers MUST be able to mask. They’re fit tested and trained how to don and doff properly. They’re refusing out of selfish wants and/or because they’ve fallen for the line that masks make you a sheep. Which it’s wrong and has done so much damage.
I'm still surprised that anyone who works with the public in general doesn't mask, FFS! I talked to a friend this weekend and since he had COVID three times last year after getting boosted, he probably won't get this year's vax. His husband is a social worker. People don't get the ramifications of their choices. But, at a hospital, or in a doctor's office, why wouldn't you mask?!!? I will say this, though (unpopular as it might come off): I think our medical folks are dealing with huge PTSD from the past four years. Not an excuse, but maybe an underlying reason for rebellion. Think back to those first two years, the moron we had running the place (I'm in the US) and all the craziness with citizens refusing to get vaccinated or wear a mask, then go into the hospital demanding unproven treatments, expecting to be saved. It was chaos. I followed a doctor on TAFKAT who was in his residency at a NYC hospital in the ER when that wave hit. The things he posted. Then, he moved to Arizona as an ER doc right when that wave hit. It never stopped for him. It never stopped for many. The grief, the stress, dealing with people who made the pandemic political...all day, every day. I started to believe our medical industry would implode because of this. To some degree, I think it has. So many quit. The ones I see all seem so tired. Who would want to be a doctor or nurse now? Still, there's no excuse not to be respectful of people's needs and requests. Wear the damned mask! It's not hard. I've been doing it for 4 years. I have no plans to stop. And, if I have to have my mask off, I will ask for yours to be on (dentist, dermatologist, etc.). Fortunately, they are kindreds and wear theirs without having to be asked. Wonderful post, BBT. I hope this gets through to the stubborn. xo
I don't think it'll be unpopular - they absolutely are dealing with a lot of trauma and I think it's important and compassionate that we recognize it.
Of course my issue is that the patients are ALSO dealing with a lot of trauma - and they're the ones being put at risk against their will.
I fault the hospitals - they could be bringing in counsellors and trying to help staff. They could be adopting clean air. They could be encouraging staff to mask (I've heard from a number of HCWs who said they've been told NOT to). But they aren't doing that - and everyone suffers. It's so frustrating.
Completely agree. xo
🌹🌻🌸💐💚💛💜❤️🌼😍🥰
I'm sure one day we will all look back and wonder why we all had plenty of tools to keep ourselves from getting sick and just didn't bother to use them. How many more people will die or become sick because the masses would prefer to forget and force back to normal? Sorry about your friend.
I hope you’re right. Sometimes I worry that we’ve done so much damage and gone so far into denial that people won’t be capable of ever looking at it critically and realizing they’ve made a mistake.
I want to believe I’m wrong - and that soon people will get fed up with being sick all the time and demand better of our leaders
I just found out one of my local hospitals will be bringing back mask mandates - so that’s a big win.
Thank You, too, for your work.
Thank you for reading!
💜
This post made me realize that the folks who’ve been most respectful of my covid-cautiousness are veterinary staff. Both the clinics I’ve taken my cat to since mask mandates ended have mask-mirrored as soon as they saw I had one on. It’s even in one of their policies to mask-mirror! Human doctors and nurses, conversely, usually comment or ask why I’m wearing it.
I’ve been told that you get a surprisingly similar body of knowledge, training to become a vet vs. a human doctor. Maybe that ties into your point about trauma. Both groups would have learned the epidemiology and pathophysiology to understand the risks of covid. But human doctors & HCWs also associate masks with some of the most traumatic years of their careers— of course it would skew any efforts to be rational.
I’ve actually heard that from a lot of people! Pets can get covid as well - and it seems vets do a much better job protecting the pets and their humans.
Thank you for educating the community. I'm so sorry the loss of Tinu.
You’re welcome - and thank you for the kind words.
OMG. The MD interaction. 🤬🤬🤬 Flip flop. Schools know, too, as they disable students with Blood Clotting Covid SARS2 disease. I shared a video of our conversation with our child’s IEP case worker on twitter. MY child advocated for himself to be separated from violent outbursts from classmates. He is the only Human in his middle school to wear a Respirator. He is THRIVING. His peers are not. 😭
That’s great that he’s wearing a respirator and standing up for his right to do so! I’m sure his long term health will appreciate it!
Thanks so much for this article! You've put in writing so many things I've mused angrily over in my head. It's so affirming to see them in print and endorsed also by others here. Btw, I think we should normalize saying "I'm immune compromised" if we've had covid, though I wonder if disability rights activists would agree. Sadly, ain't is the truth?
I can’t imagine many disability rights activists would have an issue with that? It’s a fair statement given what we know at present.
We KNOW Covid damages your immune system - the main question right now is for how long? Can the immune system recover if given long enough without reinfection?
Ideally we should have mandatory masks and clean air benchmarks in all hospitals so patients don’t have to choose between care and Covid. It would also have the added benefit of drastically reducing nosocomial infections.
What a wonderful article! I am immunocompromised, but I have a strong advocate by my side always! I’m lucky to be married to the environmental health and safety officer for a large group of hospitals and health care facilities. We talk N95s and employee fit testing over the dinner table. Don’t forget your shots, kids! As the pandemic eased, my husband did see some push back, but now that the threat of long covid has been more clearly analyzed, he’s seeing much better compliance.
I’m so glad you’ve got a strong advocate by your side! It can make such a difference! Your dinner table sounds like a fun one to me 😂. I’ve learned so much about masks and respirators over the last few years - I wish I had known how effective they were before. I would have always worn them in the hospital. Who wants to be sick if you can avoid it?
I’m an ER doc who has also masked during flu season for years and I’ve received a lot of comments and frustration from a large number of patients who see my masking as an insult (which was a response I noticed during flu season frequently in the past) as if my not wanting to get a serious illness or have to come to work sick is a slight against them, or as a political statement. Masks have become politicized and polarizing. A sign less of public health and risk mitigation and something else entirely. Telling people my husband was dying of cancer and COVID would kill him since he could barely breathe seemed to stop the conversation but it shouldn’t matter what the reason is. Socially, the pandemic is “over” without adequate mitigation strategies like better air filtration, etc. It’s truly wild. We need to consider the vulnerable among us because we are all going to be the vulnerable among us at some point. I’ll be masking for my safety and my patients safety basically forever.
Clarification: I’ll be using an n95 at work or in situations I feel call for it. Random cloth masking doesn’t really do anything and I think the difference is important to keep things scientific and avoid safety theater
Thank you so much for reading and commenting - and of course for masking! I would assume given the nature of your husband’s cancer that he was unable to wear one himself? And therefore would have to rely on others to wear them?
It’s terrible that you would have to tell people that just to get them to care - and yet not at all surprising. As you said masks have become political and now people seem to get irrationally angry when they see them.
Nowhere does this upset me more than healthcare settings - where I want to believe people should be able to risk above their personal politics and do what’s right for the MOST vulnerable who have no choice but to be there.
Thank you for clarifying it’s an N95 as well - I wear a fitted N99 and it’s been a great way to reduce colds and flus as well. Hospitals have lots of bugs!
Agree with everything you’ve written and my experience is very similar. I see very little interest in COVID safety and general public safety in general, and suspect we will see a tremendous cost to that indifference for decades to come.
I think so too. I believe we’re already seeing the start of it in excess mortality, rising rates of disability, supply chain issues, increase in accidents etc.
People are still (for whatever reason) ignoring the very obvious signs - but I don’t think they will be able to ignore them for much longer.
Pestilence, one of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Many Evangelicals see this as the "End of Times". Fine for them. but not masking insists that we have their beliefs.