this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
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Mask. N95 or better. My wife and I never stopped, and she never gets sick despite being immunocompromised. I work in a place where illness is common due to the environment and I’ve been sick once in the last year, meanwhile all of my coworkers come in sick like twice a month. Apparently they’d rather be sick and miserable all the time than wear a mildly uncomfortable thing on their face.
Ok, but i have a question.
You want us to wear it all the time? Beacause i also use a mask when i use the metro or any other means of travel in which i share a communal space.
But being a social animal as we all r, wearing a mask all the time is a fast way to get ostracized.
I would like everyone to wear them until the pandemic is over, at least. After that we can reassess the situation, and preferably during flu season. To me it seems cruel to not mask for that seeing as it would greatly reduce the number of preventable flu deaths.
I think if all, or more realistically enough, of us were masking, that would eliminate the social stigma surrounding it. Personally, I don’t receive much pushback about my mask aside from the occasional staring anyways. What’s far more ostracizing to her, I, and several other people I know, is the fact that all of the social gatherings and hobbies we used to participate in are no longer accessible to us because not a single one is taking any acceptable precautions. In fact, I can think of exactly two social events I wanted to participate in this year that still “required” masks, and neither actually enforced the rule. This is sadly not a new problem for disabled people either. Many, if not most, are alienated from society and forced away from any participation in social activities due to a blatant disregard towards making those activities actually accessible to them. I cannot stress enough how painful this is for those people on the receiving end of this ableism. So, frankly, I have little sympathy for those who fear ostracism from choosing to wear a mask. If they really care about people being ostracized, they should do what they can to make their social circles safe for everyone, not just those without disabilities.
At the hospital I worked at there were no transmissions of COVID from known infected patients to providers wearing N95 masks (at least in the first 2 years, I didn't keep up with it after that). So if you are wearing N95s you should feel quite confident that you are protecting yourselves without requiring behavior modifications from anyone else.
It’s always reassuring to hear more evidence, anecdotal or otherwise, that the N95s work. There’s definitely still at least some risk though, my roommate is currently recovering from Covid themselves despite not going out often and always masking when they do. I believe it’s the only time they’ve been infected, so the masks have made a difference for sure, but still. We’ve thankfully been able to isolate and avoid giving it to each other at least.
Our behavior is still pretty limited by others behavior though, too. For instance, I can’t go drinking or out to eat with friends because I won’t take my mask off. At work it can be very difficult for me to even eat lunch safely because of this. Swimming is another thing, or concerts, I used to like going to punk and metal shows, but with how rowdy they are and how much close contact and heavy breathing there is, it’s just far too risky even with my mask on. Lots of things like these add up. I also feel it’s really unfair to those who are unable to mask, like for instance there’s a lot of homeless people in my city who definitely cannot remain masked all the time or even close, shouldn’t we be taking precautions to protect them, or people like them who can’t protect themselves?