I came up with the subject for this week's blog when I was out shopping for a new desk setup (during the Covid-19 pandemic). Long story short, when I went to my local office supplies store, every single employee was wearing a mask, but absolutely none of the customers had any facial covering what so ever! Granted, I live in Georgia (which is considered completely re-opened as of now), but the number of confirmed Covid cases are still hitting all time highs. This is absolutely crazy considering that Corona is an air borne pathogen! I desperately want to believe that everyone wants this whole virus to die out already, but it seems like no one cares at all. I can only assume that the cause of all this recklessness is because of misinformation in the media, so here are a few reasons to wear masks in public (with sources of course)!
Why Should I Wear a Mask?
Starting off with an easy one, the reason you should wear a mask in public is because Covid-19 is an AIRBORNE PATHOGEN (click the link to learn more). This means that each time we exhale, meaning every cough, sneeze, yawn, or comment that drops out of our mouths is a potential Trojan horse for this contagion to enter someone else. So, yeah this is bad, but how can we stop it from spreading? By covering your mouth AND nose! I'm not talking about just when you sneeze or yawn either, literally just breathing will spread this Bubonic nightmare relived! This plague isn't a joke either, this complete monster of a virus will stick to surfaces for hours to LITERAL DAYS! So Be smart and be safe, wear a mask (correctly) at all times in public, if we all do it the virus will die out a lot faster.
How Will It Protect Me?
How will wearing a mask protect you? Its an important question that everyone needs to know the answer to. The short answer is not very much, at least they won't for the way that you'll be wearing one. Masks can protect against Covid only when paired with other protective measures (such as hand washing, social distancing, Ect.) This virus is so bad that even the healthcare workers treating the ill are absolutely terrified (linked is a small article for what I'm discussing)! This is concerning because hospitals try to implement top notch protection for everyone in their facilities, so if the nurses are scared you should be too! "So, if masks don't do all that much for me, then why should I wear them?" I guarantee that's what you've been thinking if this is the first time you've been introduced to this discussion. Wearing a mask isn't about keeping yourself safe, its about keeping everyone around you safe! Remember earlier when I said that Covid is an airborne contagion? (Theoretically) The only way for it to spread is if it gets far enough away from your body to infect another person, therefor we cut off it's exit (the mouth and nose) by wearing a mask (or other facial coverings)! So the next time you go out, remember that the virus might not be able to hurt you, but you absolutely can and will spread it to someone who could die from it if you don't wear a mask.
What are the Downsides of Wearing a Mask?
In terms of approved surgical masks, there are no serious detrimental effects to wearing one! Of course talk to your doctor if you have serious breathing difficulties, but if you are a healthy human being of no disability you will be completely fine, masks are just annoying to deal with. I absolutely hate wearing one because of my beard/long hair and I rip mine off immediately when I reach my car (after I use sanitizer of course). But they're a whole lot better than catching and spreading corona, which with the recent rapid increase in cases, is a very real danger (especially because symptoms take weeks to manifest).
Anyway, to close off, I hope I've convinced some of you to wear a mask from here on out. All things considered its insanely selfish to endanger the lives of others because of your own personal comfort. I live in a completely open state and because of businesses taking safety precautions there's nothing to do other than to grocery shop or go through a drive thru to get food, so you wont be wearing one for more than an hour top. so please just suffer through that hour like the rest of us, it will literally save lives.
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