How are y’all holding up in the beginning of Week 4 (in Texas) of the quarantine? My family and I, we’re hanging in there. Hope you all are, too.
Have you all heard about the spike in cases? I imagine you have. As a result, the CDC is now recommending masks be worn in public.
These recommendations come as a result of two events. The first is the slow but increasing availability of masks to health care workers. Local organizations such as our own Travis County Medical Society, have taken a leadership role in crowd sourcing masks. The other event is the continuing spread of the virus despite our current efforts.
Nothing in science has significantly changed about the spread of the virus. We’ve known that it can stay aerosolized for perhaps 3 hours, that it can be found on surfaces for even longer. We still don’t know how long those particles are infectious even if they can be detected. We know the bigger inoculum of virus you inhale, the more likely you are to be infected, and maybe even more severe. Is there enough virus in the air of the grocery store that your mask is going to be the make or break protective gear that keeps you from being infected? We don’t know. But do you care? Not really, just wear the mask.
An advantage to all of us buying in to this is that the asymptomatic person who is infected but doesn’t know it also is wearing a mask. Thereby limiting the glitter rainbow arc of viral spread.
I would liken the mask to a shoulder harness on a seat belt in your car. When are you glad if you have one? If you get rear ended. Let’s admit we individually do not get rear ended all that often, but when we do we’re glad we have the shoulder harness.
If you go into the demolition derby of the hospital setting, caring for a loved one with COVID, or performing medical procedures, then by all rights you’d better have a shoulder harness.
You know what is the best way not to need the shoulder harness? Don’t go into the demolition derby (if you can avoid it), don’t even get into the car (both literally and figuratively). Just stay home. Where it’s safe………and wash your hands……a lot.
