My wife had a medical appointment where the doctor was wearing both a mask and a face shield. Shortly after the appointment started, the mask slipped down off her nose. Since she was also wearing a face shield, my wife didn’t say anything. Midway through the appointment she said, “ok, now look at my nose…or where my nose would be if you could see it”. She didn’t know her nose was uncovered.
So if you feel the desire to shout angrily at people with uncovered noses, consider a more non-judgmental “hey, your mask slipped off your nose” giving them the option of just fixing it and pretending it was an accident (which it may have been). Win-win for everybody.
One of the sons was an usher at a wedding over the weekend.
The mothers of bride and groom both announced that no one should wear a mask.
He knew it was a bad idea, but can be conflict-averse so complied. He said he felt particularly bad because a lot of people showed up wearing their masks, but when they saw him greeting them without one, they took them off.
His wife was apparently one of two or three folks with masks on, and they are both self-quarantining now (and fortunately have jobs where they can do that).
And are using this as a “what not to do” for their own wedding which (Odin willing and the creek don’t rise) is in early October.
On Tuesday, as Florida set a daily record for covid-19 deaths, Marion County Sheriff Billy Woods prohibited his deputies from wearing masks at work. His order, which also applies to visitors to the sheriff’s office, carves out an exception for officers in some locations, including hospitals, and when dealing with people who are high-risk or suspected of having the novel coronavirus.
In an email to the sheriff’s department shared with The Washington Post, Woods disputed the idea that masks are a consensus approach to battling the pandemic.
“We can debate and argue all day of why and why not. The fact is, the amount of professionals that give the reason why we should, I can find the exact same amount of professionals that say why we shouldn’t,” Woods wrote in the email, which was first reported by the Ocala Star-Banner.
Yeah, I don’t understand that at all. At a bare minimum, just say “if you want to wear a mask, knock yourself out” Why explicitly ban them? Just doesn’t make any sense.
I keep seeing, “because people won’t wear them right, touch them, not sealed correctly, feel safer in groups, etc. and do more harm than good.” I don’t find it a convincing argument, but it’s out there.
It’s exactly what every medical official was saying 5 months ago and still the general advice in a bunch of countries. Denmark for instance. So yeah, it’s “out there”.
Yeah, no. I was being sloppy. I don’t think I’ve seen anybody calling for explicit bans per se, but if you buy the (unconvincing, imho) argument that they can actually make things worse (through touching, overconfidence, etc.) than a sheriff banning his force from wearing them makes sense, since I imagine dealing with a mask all day could make an officer less effective at his job.
If it wasn’t, 'splain why wearing a mask all day would make an officer less effective than, say, a doctor, lawyer, teacher, Speaker of the House of Representatives, clerk at Wal-Mart? Because the officer is armed? What’s your thinking on this?
Does it really need 'splaining? I don’t find it hard to imagine how wearing a mask all day might make any of those people less effective than they would be without a mask. The mask makes it at least a little bit harder for people to hear and understand them when they talk. It makes it at least a little bit harder for people to interact with them because they can’t see their facial expressions. It’s at least a little bit uncomfortable and distracting, at least on hot days.
All of these things are worth putting up with. We’re not saying they mean that any of these people shouldn’t wear masks. But it’s certainly understandable why someone would want not to wear a mask, would wish it wasn’t necessary.
Plus, a “doctor, lawyer, teacher, Speaker of the House of Representatives, clerk at Wal-Mart” is communicating in a controlled environment where the negative effects can generally be mitigated.
Also, if the clerk says, “Aisle Three” and I hear “Carlisle Tree” I say, “what?” and we work it out. If the cop says, “Get on the Ground” and I hear “Got any Gowns?” I could end up dead.
Also, police work requires teamwork so they don’t shoot each other. If some wear a mask and some don’t, a sheriff could see that as an unnecessary division within his team.
I don’t think it would be that hard to justify, once you have convinced yourself “masks aren’t necessary” (which, a reminder, I think is wrong).
Hopefully it doesn’t turn out like this wedding in India last month, which they’re now calling a superspreader event:
