April 2: Wearing face masks

It looks like even our "authorities" are coming around on the issue of wearing face masks. I feel proud of the fact that I questioned the original pronouncements from the very start. A post from March 15 (it already feels like months ago!) describes an interaction I had had with the chief medical officer at NASA Ames. You can go check it out. The upshot, was the following for me: The N-95 masks should go to medical workers and only to medical workers until we are sure that they have what they need. The reason is that these masks, if worn properly, are viewed as capable of preventing inhalation of the virus, so, for front line health workers, they can mean life and death... I don't know how supply chains work, and how my ordering one (even aside from the issue of reusability) from Amazon can interfere with a health worker getting one. I really don't know, and I'd love help in understanding this. All I can say is that I am personally uneasy wearing one until I know for sure. I ordered one some time back. It came from Asia, and I sent it to a nurse friend of mine. W/r regard to surgical masks or other non-N-95 masks, or even home-made stuff or bandanas (I wear a bandana at his point), I don't see how they would not be helpful, for the same reason that social distancing is helpful. Any cloth in front of your face will (probably) not stop the virus from coming into your system (there is definitely medical consensus on this), but it will stop or reduce your droplets from getting out - not just by coughing - but talking or breathing. The point is that if I protect YOU, and you protect ME, we are both protected! A no-brainer if ever there was one. Note that the World Health Organization form the very start had this statement in their Q&A section: "The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales." As far as I know "exhales" is part of "breathing"... and certainly talking. Now everybody acts like that's a big revelation! I'll have more to say about how "science" is often communicated to people ... for good and ... not so good...

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