Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

Jeez, took them long enough. It's weird that they are so behind the other major cities here.

Still pretty convinced the main positive (and not necessarily inconsequential) of wearing non-medical-grade masks out and about is psychological, with the actual impact on prevention of disease a distant second, so orders with the force of law to wear them don't make me happy

i sorta agree in my perception of actual effectiveness, maybe slightly less distant. both aspects are actually important for many persons, so idgaf so much.

i disagree. if you're wearing a mask and COVID-19 carrier is wearing a mask, even if neither are non-medical grade, there should still be a substantial reduction in transmission

i mean, i don't think the psych effect causes people to be more reckless about other distancing practices. at least i've not seen that way out here in the sticks.

The stores here are 100% mask wearing and social distancing, and I'm convinced it's a good thing that should continue well after other restrictions are relaxed.

i feel like i have a ton of near factoids in my head about transmissibility and filtration and droplet size and possible actual aerosol transmissibility, but the only takeaway i feel safe with is between “epidemiologists don’t really know for sure on covid” and “masks at least help a bit and maybe more.”

Halloween is going to suck, that's for sure

Aw man. That thought had not occurred to me yet and we're a big Halloween family.

Halloween...everyone wears double masks!

oh man, if we're in motion by then i will forgive every asshole wearing a coronavirus costume
i think that falls under the header of a "dumb shit you're actually looking forward to seeing when this is over" thread but maybe enough with the COVID threads just now

Xps if you have tracking then you probably have insurance. Except that USPS makes it almost impossible to collect on that insurance. I’d suggest politely letting the seller know the situation - they honestly can’t do more than you at this point, but they may offer to replace the item.*

*i manage the webstore for my employer and USPS has fucked me over a number of times. When customers send me irate emails about it, demanding this and that, I’m inclined to remind them of our policies, clearly stated on our website. But if they’re nice and not presumptuous I’ll immediately offer to replace missing items.

“i disagree. if you're wearing a mask and COVID-19 carrier is wearing a mask, even if neither are non-medical grade, there should still be a substantial reduction in transmission“

I don’t understand why ppl think this isn’t the case? I saw an animation of mask vs no mask and it clearly restricts the radius of your breath transmission.

Duct tape would be even better

when I'm wearing the mask I have access to can feel my breath go up out of the top of mask past my glasses, maybe it's not going as far in space from there but I have a physical sensation of uselessness. I am not convinced that my exhalation is passing through the fabric of the mask with less moisture in it.

It's not an answer I actually want, but I keep wondering how vulnerable eyes are. Should I be wearing glasses to keep droplets out of my eyes?

silby, there is presumably no one standing above your head. If your breath is going up rather than out, how can that not be helpful?

I think we can also all agree that there's a range of quality for masks, some provide a better seal than others

why do we still need any animations or really any conversation at all about how this works?

here's a crazy experiment: 1) exhale into your palm, then 2) do it again with ANY FUCKING OBJECT between your palm and your mouth

otm

I sent a nice phono cartridge in for retipping. Paid for insurance and postal service lost it. They totally screwed me over, I was furious for a week. Never send anything precious through USPS.

the only mask I have at my disposal is a n95 (was given it at work because I still attend the office once in a while) and I will feel like a real dick if I walk around with one of them on while not immunocompromised or sick during this pandemic with the shortages situation

I think there's an element of public health speak that clouds this issue because officials are reluctant to put things in terms of expected risk level or probability. Everything is either effective or not. So if they are unable to say that wearing a mask will absolutely save you or someone else from COVID-19, then they are not effective.

The only mask I had was an N95, that's what I wear because that's what I have.

xxp Jim — Why? It's not selfish to wear a mask. If anything it's generous. You don't know if you are a carrier.

I'll look like a privileged panic-buying dickhead? if I take to covering my mouth I may just go out with a scarf on.

yes—I mean better an N95 than no mask at all

Or you could save the N95 for the more dire times to come, and wear a bandanna in the meantime?

yeah Hadrian otm

here's a crazy experiment: 1) exhale into your palm, then 2) do it again with ANY FUCKING OBJECT between your palm and your mouth

or yeah you could obsess about whether the seal is correctly fitted to your facial shape, then say fuck it and say the whole effort is futile

i mean, you do you, silby

sheesh

I don't think it's futile, I just am cranky about it and inevitably doing all the things people will scold you for doing, like constantly touching the mask.

it's not a burden I think it's not something that needs to be added to the list of things the cops are empowered to hassle people about by ordering it.

we are wearing a surgical mask on the rare occasions when we're going to situations where we know we're gonna be in an enclosed area with other people.... basically grocery stores.

Otherwise, we're doing a bandana anytime we're on the streets.

i'm wearing it around my neck while jogging and trying to stay WAY the fuck away from people as best i can. the jogging is new and it's saving me from going completely crazy. i better go now actually.

like I'm doing the mask thing despite not being at all convinced that it has a marginal impact on anything, don't worry about me

I'm worried that the precipitate reopening thing in the USA is going to be like Hoover doubling down on private enterprise except the result will be even worse and more difficult to come back from

I went out in the car and to a store for the first time since March 14th and it was weird. A major factor in this was that we are getting low on beer and wine and can't seem to get those delivered to us via anyone.

I was going to go to the local independent beer and wine shop but called them to see what they had going on and they were alarmingly lax - like "just come in, wear a mask, or don't, whatever, it's cool". I ended up going to whole foods because I'd heard that they were at least trying. Only two people there weren't wearing masks, people seemed to stay far away from each other, they had sanitizer and wipes at the entry way and barriers in front of workers and such but it still felt harrowing and stressful and I spent as much time cleaning and wiping shit at home as I did shopping.

we spent way less money these last six weeks because we haven't been going out and buying beer and cheese and salads and such and of course I ended up spending six weeks worth of beer and cheese and salad money in one shot this morning.

Yeah I've been... overcompensating a little with the purchasing lately.

One thing is that the kids need new summer clothes. We never really needed them so urgently before because they always wore their uniforms.

I went out in the car earlier too, for the fourth time in about a month. It was a sunny clear afternoon; the countryside here is absolutely stunning. Driving alone through it, it felt like it was there just for me. Then I felt bad because I never come out and see it any more.

Surreal going over the M5 on a sunny day and seeing it nearly empty. God I was tempted to make a detour via the seafront.

We have a local booze shop with a terrible name, but it delivers and also will bring groceries, apparently. I have a bit of gin left and only loads of tiny cans of this cucumber tonic water which I ordered by mistake. It's ok. And a fridge full of cider, obviously. Plus a couple of Budweiser bottles the local Indian restaurant gives away free with every order, for some reason, if things get really bad.

So if they are unable to say that wearing a mask will absolutely save you or someone else from COVID-19, then they are not effective.

the untruth of this is all we need to know. about _everything_.

Sure, but it might be more helpful to stop framing these things as binary options and instead talk about risk gradients. Going shopping with no mask and no distancing is maybe a moderate risk. Shopping with mask and distancing is low risk. Etc.

the problem with that is "low risk" for who?

If you are going out w/o a mask you are jeaopardizing the curve-flattening effort. People need to stop w/ this risk calculus that hinges on *how* risky a certain behavior is...your comfort with one set of odds is not going to be the same as another person's that you run the risk of infecting—either directly or as part of a system that perpetuates this fucking this for another year.

This is maddening.

this fucking *thing*

people trying to hedge/fine-tune/freestyle the advvised practices according to how personally at-risk they think they are—it's the same logic these jackass protesters are using

Ok, but that gets us into a situation where we are told masks are not effective

today felt like three days. i'm emotionally exhausted. it's not dad. mom is having meltdowns over the stress. trying to keep her sane.

on the plus side I did manage to watch both seasons of Atlanta

the weirdest part was early on when everyone was like "surgical masks have no effect" and I was thinking "then why do they wear them during surgery?"

god I really hope there isn't a Heaven/Hell, because I sure as shit don't want to spend the afterlife with 99% of the people out there right now.

i want to spend it with worms

Well, you know what Sartre would say...

I don't 😣

Sad!

regardless of uncertainty about how effective masks are, wearing some kind of face covering in public is important, as respect for other people and for their legitimate concerns.