Some folks can stir shit with a glance. It’s a rare and special talent.
You know who never gets blamed?
The lump of lard that just silently goes along with any stupid, irrational, dangerous, illegal thing.
You’re a meddler, and the world needs more meddlers.
You should be blamed roundly for caring.
This thread prompts me to share:
Two years ago, during “the height of COVID”, a relative (“Joe” age 67) was undergoing chemo for advanced, aggressive cancer requiring a BRUTAL chemo regimen which included six, four-day stays in the hospital. (Against terrible odds, he survived with flying colors and his future looks bright!)
This was a large prestigious hospital in Washington State. The In-patient chemo ward was “sealed” from the rest of the building because these patients had severely compromised immune systems. Masks were mandatory at all times for anyone entering the ward. (As opposed to America in general where they were merely “strongly recommended” outside one’s home. IIRC.) The COVID wards were just down the hall and presumably had similar restrictions.
Early in his ordeal, Joe was lying in his bed hooked up to the chemo drip, when a Doctor (one Joe hadn’t encountered before) walks into the ward, right up to Joe’s bed and starts talking. Wearing a surgeon’s type mask with the top pulled down and tucked up under his nose. An M.D. in a supposed-to-be-sterile ward, with his nose completely uncovered by the mask.
Joe interrupted him, justifiably alarmed, and told the idiot to “Cover your nose!” I can’t recall what the doctor’s reaction was except for being mildly dismissive with an “if you say so” air about it. Joe later filed a complaint with the hospital, and that’s all I remember.
Go Joe!!
I wouldn’t. Ignorant and belligerent are not qualities any sane medical-related employer wants in a staff member (can’t do much about patients and their family members). She needed either a reality check or a change of career field.
There are plenty of medical contexts where masks were required, even before covid. They’re still required in those contexts, and rightly so.
I wasn’t worried, but this thread has convinced me to be more masked in public.
That’s me allover.
Magnet for trouble.
I had an MRI tech try to tell me that “it turns out masks don’t really prevent COVID transmission.” I gestured to my properly fitted N95 mask and he mumbled, “Well, yeah, those ones.”
They don’t perfectly prevent transmission of covid, nor of any other disease. But they drive the numbers way down. There’s a reason why, even before the vaccines, every red state had higher covid rates than every blue state.
During my recent hospital stay, a few of the people wore masks, but not everyone. Once I started to improve from the pneumonia, I was encouraged to exercise by walking in the hallway, which I did as often as I could. I did not wear a mask. During one of the walks, a lady approached me and rather stridently told me I had to wear a mask. I looked around me at all of the nurses and other personnel in the same hallway without a mask and decided I didn’t need to listen to her. She started to chase me down the hall so I walked up to my nurse and asked him if I needed to wear a mask and he said no. I left the two of them arguing about the issue as I continued my walk.
I knew I wasn’t contagious and given all the other unmasked folks, it made no sense for me to wear one.
But I would wear one if it was required.
I would never ever tell an individual what to do in the wild. A person doesn’t wanna wear pants, fine. Go for it.
I expect the same courtesy.
But a medical person getting huffy because we didn’t believe or applaud her enlightened opinion, is beyond the pale. And apparently her employer thought so as well.
I’m leaving dialysis this very moment. I’m alive. The woman was fired. The tech I had today gossiped and ragged her like you wouldn’t believe. Now this is unprofessional too. She was nice to me tho’.
As I’m kinda in need of this service and prefer nice treatment I just let her go on. Ivy was disturbed by it. I told her let it go. It’s not important.
Given what you said about how she behaved to you, I suspect she was the kind of fellow employee most of the folks at that place were thrilled to see gone.
there is a huge difference between “you don’t need to …” and “you are not allowed to”
… and wearing a mask is compatible with “you don’t need to wear a mask”
… and that’s what I’d likely communicate …
Despite Dean Wormer’s admonishment, I’ve actually done not too bad. 
Not in this place, but I’ve been told it before.
Somewhere between “It’s ok if you wanna remove your mask” to “Aw, go ahead take your mask off”
I just ignore them and carry on. This lady got quite rude about it with Ivy, who takes no shit from no body.
The tech should’ve just dropped it and went on with her job.
It’s so weird being the middle of this whole thing but also a spectator. Similar to an out of body sensation.
If one of my disorders doesn’t kill me I may likely lose my mind. Just sayin’
Teh Crazy. You catch it from your kids.
Agreed.
True. The eye clinic I go to has signs that say, “Masks still required in exam rooms,” so I wear one, and so do the docs. The techs and most patients don’t.
But at the infusion center (where I get injections semi-monthly), there are signs up that say “MASKS ARE STILL REQUIRED FOR EVERYONE,” and they mean it. If someone enters unmasked, they’re told to mask up by one of the receptionists. So many people are weak and sick from cancer and chemo.
I should start masking up on buses. Today I had a prolonged close encounter with a poor, sick homeless person who was running a temp. Live and learn, I hope.
Beck, I hope you did get that woman fired. I have zero patience for medical personnel who spread misinformation. If you don’t believe in science, get another job, maybe in an equine supply store.
I too get the occasional infusion. The chairs are well spaced, but I have to sit there for 2-3 hours.
When masks were required, I took it very seriously. I even took my over the counter pre-meds in the car before I put my mask on, so I could leave it on the entire time I was there.
I sure did lose a lot of respect for the nurses who worn chin diapers instead of masks. Bad enough they just had surgical masks, not actual respirators, but many of them would have their nose out the whole time. I never said anything, but after reading this, I probably should have.
The hospital system dropped masking requirements in I think March, 2023, so since then I don’t wear a mask for infusions. None of the nurses do, and I’d guess about \frac{1}{3} of the patients do.