Coronavirus Invincibility Masks?

What a difference a week makes.

A week ago, the CDC said the general public should not wear masks unless they were sick or caring for someone who had the coronavirus. Wearing a mask didn't prevent you from catching the coronavirus, but if you had it, wearing a mask would help you from spreading it to others. The danger of always wearing a mask  was that taking a mask on and off meant that you were touching your face, thereby increasing your chance of becoming infected.

Fast forward one week, now the CDC says people should wear a mask because it is helpful to prevent community transmission of covid-19. The CDC Director Robert Redfield said up to one in four people infected with the virus could be asymptomatic. In other words, you can have no symptoms but still be spreading the disease. Even a cut up t-shirt would be better than nothing. 

During my grocery store run a week ago, few people wore mask. No plastic shields separated checkers  from the customers and while they wore gloves, they did not wear masks. Everyone was very good about giving each other space. The store had fewer customers and they seemed calmer than the previous week when the stay-at-home order was instituted. It seemed that the initial panic had subsided.

Fast forward to yesterday. The majority of people at Ralphs wore masks. Plastic barriers were in place for the masked checkers. There were a lot more people in the grocery store and a I saw the fear creeping back into some people's eyes. But my biggest concern was the social/physical distance gap between people had
decreased. 

In the milk aisle I suddenly found myself ambushed by masked bandits. Four shopping carts driven by six people in masks surrounded me. I said an expletive, left my cart where it was, and waited a safe distance away until the group of strangers broke up. The ambush repeated itself in the bread aisle. 

Even our modern day superheroes, the grocery checker, she leaned forward to ask me a question even though I was not behind her plastic barrier because I was bagging my groceries.

Even scarier were the increased number of individuals in their 70s and 80s shopping in the store since the crisis began. They were wearing masks. Perhaps the masks gave them the confidence to go shopping, but remember a non-medical mask only helps you from spreading it, not getting it.

When I mentioned this to my mother as I dropped off her groceries, she said she had heard that that was the CDC's big worry when they recommended that people should wear masks. People might feel safer with masks and would violate the social distancing and stay-at-home rules.

Everyone, please remember these three rules: 1, stay-at-home unless you have to go out; 2, keep practicing social and physical distancing; and 3, a mask does not make you invincible to the coronavirus so remember rules 1 and 2 . Until this week, the CDC was saying that wearing a mask was more dangerous than not wearing one.

Be safe and be healthy.

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