• ravulous@lemdro.id
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    10 months ago

    I think one of the better cultural shifts, at least in the US, to come from the pandemic is the number of people wearing masks if they feel even slightly ill and have to go out in public. Better yet, a number of businesses seem to actually mean it when they tell employees to stay home if they’re sick, rather than perversly commending those who come into the workplace when they are quite obviously suffering and contagious.

    Get vaccinated, wear a mask if you feel ill, you just want to, or you’ll be visiting someone at high risk indoors. That said, and I know I will lose most of you here, it doesn’t seem necessary for the general populace, when they’re not ill, to follow masking guidelines when in public. I’m not a medical professional, so I simply follow CDC guidelines. To my knowledge, there isn’t a mask recommendatiom for the general populace at this time.

    Purplely anecdotal, but since our hospital system is no longer critically overburdened, and folks are mostly vaccinated, it has been my observation that the negative impact on people’s mental health, that the isolation of masking and social distancing induces, is a greater risk to the health of the general public than Covid and its variants. If you choose to take additional precautions, that is absolutely your perogative and you should feel empowered to do so. It’d be great if we could have it all, but people have to do what’s right for them to make it through another day.

    • pearsaltchocolatebar
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      10 months ago

      I got banned from Lemmy.world for saying that the main purpose of the masks were to protect others from you instead of protecting you from others.

      It’s like everyone forgot that masks were part of the “stop the spread” campaign.

      • marshadow@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Partially correct – cloth masks protect others, but an N95 actually protects the wearer.

      • Bamboodpanda@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        Yup. A n95 with a proper fit is really the only mask that is going to actively protect you. Every other mask acts to mitigate spread from you.

        • pearsaltchocolatebar
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          10 months ago

          And many people don’t wear their masks properly, so it still really only protects others from them.

          • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
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            10 months ago

            Is there studies that determined how the effectiveness of masks degraded when improperly worn?

            That’d be interesting to read. My gut feeling is to say if you wear it over your nose and mouth, even incorrectly, it is still better than nothing. But sometimes, intuition is wrong.

            • pearsaltchocolatebar
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              10 months ago

              I mean, it’s like condoms. Pretty effective when worn correctly.

              A mask needs a seal to work properly. It doesn’t matter what filtration you have if air is getting in other ways.

              • Croquette@sh.itjust.works
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                10 months ago

                Considering how air work vs fluids, I’d say there is a difference.

                I agree with you that for a complete protection, a sealed n95 is the way to go.

                If you wear your mask improperly, will the viral charge that spread be the same? Some should stay strapped in the mask.

                But anyways, it was a small bubble

      • Duamerthrax@lemmy.world
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        10 months ago

        And someone got angry with me when I said that only masks was a half measure and if you’re thinking you might be around contagious people, you should also wear a face shield to protect against accidental spits or other moister getting in your eyes.

        • pearsaltchocolatebar
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          10 months ago

          It was for “misinformation”. Only a 3 day ban, but server performance had already been shit so I changed instances.