Have your Covid Precautions changed since March?

[Bruce Wrenn]

Have eaten out ( dine in) twice since March. Eaten take out in the parking lot several times. ALWAYS wear a mask in stores. Have one friend whose house we go into, plus one customer's house. One couple we avoid like the plague, as they are social buttery flies. Three AT&T tech have been in our house, all wearing masks. Clean hands on way out of stores, so as to not contaminate surfaces in car. By nature, I'm a hugger, but it's hard not to hug any of our friends, most of which are widows. One of our widows is not exactly the hugging type, but one day said "Please hug me, i need to feel another humans touch," so I did (both wearing masks.) Physical isolation can be just as hard as mental isolation.

[Andrew Joiner]

We figure on doing everything we can to stay safe and healthy, and then if one of us gets it, them's the breaks. I'm celebrating my 36th year anniversary in AA and I have learned the hard way to not worry about what I can't control. All I can do is the right things, and everything else goes in the F-it Bucket.

Good for you Bill! 45 years clean and sober for me. I'm practicing " one day at a time" and " this too shall pass" a lot lately. I didn't want to try Zoom AA meetings but when everything closed up here I got into Zoom. Zoom works good for me and the coffee is better. My wife got a 32 year chip at our Zoom birthday meeting last night. It was better than in-person because our kids from Singapore got to attend for the first time!

Thanks everyone for sharing your experiences! I'm taking covid more serious than most of my family.
It's comforting to know I'm not not alone.

[Steve Demuth]

I'm going out to the store a little more easily now than in the Spring, since there are now local mask ordinances, and the couple of places I buy from have gotten their act together. But overall, I still have only been off the farm a dozen times since March 8th. My wife, who is a Buddhist priest has moved heaven and earth to create safe opportunities for her small "congregation." She gets out more. We both mask whenever we're in public, distance, and sanitize. Cases are rising rapidly locally, so we may lock down again for a bit. It doesn't cost me much, since we're mostly self-sufficient except for the need to get some food every other week or so, and my wife's religious observance.

I am expecting things to get pretty intense once we are closed in for winter. So is the hospital/clinic (about 4000 doctors that see roughly 1 million patients / year). They've been laying plans for increased pressure on the medical staff and facilities.

[John K Jordan]

I think I read that the N95 mask has a valve that allows the air from an exhale to exit without any filtering. As long as you don't have Covid that's not a problem.

I think I saw that you can't use an N95 mask on an airplane because of the valve.

Most of the N95 masks I have do not have exhalation valves but some do, right in the middle of the mask. In general, the simple multi-layer N95 masks don't have exhalation ports but the respirators with replaceable filters do, whether the filter is N95 or something else. N95 masks I've bought labeled as respirators do have the ports, whether N95 or other filter. You can put a piece of tape on the inside to disable any exhaust port. I recently gave a Honeywell North N95 respirator with an exhaust port to a friend to travel by airline and she covered the port inside and the airline said that was fine.

All of the industrial respirators I have do have exhaust ports, actually one-way exhaust valves so by inhaling you can't pull in particles through the port.

None of my KN95 masks have exhaust ports. I understand KN95 is the Chinese specification but not all KN95 masks are made in China.

I wear a mask every time I am around people who don't live in my house. Inside or outside, whether on the farm, at the hardware or feed store, or even pumping gas at the gas station. In this part of the country more people are wearing masks now than in March and April - it's rare to see someone in a store without one.

JKJ

[Bill Dufour]

I no longer exhale in stores as I walk past others. I did that at first even with a mask.
Makes me respect the oldsters who went through sacrifices for world war 2 with no idea how long things would be bad until life could return to normal.
Bill

[Andrew Joiner]

Fauci and several experts were interviewed July 3rd:
https://www.adn.com/nation-world/202...veryday-lives/

Reading how they run their homes helped me. None of them sterilize packaging and surfaces but some were doing it when Covid first hit us.

I wear KN95 masks without valves.
The N95 is approved for medical use in the USA. They're fairly rigid and must be properly fitted to ones face size. They harder to buy, more costly and less comfortable than KN95 masks for me.
The KN95 has the same filtering ability, costs about $2. You can buy them online. They are approved for medical use all over the world but not in the USA. Similar to surgical masts in comfort but tests show the KN95 to beat surgical masks in protecting the wearer.

[Stan Calow]

I suspect that if everyone were 100% mask and hand washing compliant and avoided indoor gatherings we could be rid of this thing in 8-10 weeks and get our economy back on the road. Sadly, folks haven't, and apparently won't, do it.

This is pretty much what Dr Redfield of CDC said when he testified to Congress a couple of weeks ago.

I've changed barbers (after 20+ years), grocery stores, and plan ahead for trips to hardware store or other shops to reduce the number of visits and go in less busy hours. We've been to the movies once (only two people in the theater), and to several of our favorite restaurants. Less worried about contact with objects. I think most businesses have been pretty good about taking pre-cautions. The restaurants have usually seemed as busy as before (some obviously skirting the occupancy restrictions), but we dont go to bars or any place we suspect has a high level of non-compliance.

So yes, we've loosened up, but are smarter about it, and more conscientious about not spreading anything to others. People blame the mayors and county health departments for shutting things down, but I think most people are choosing not to go out w/o having to be told. Our governor and his wife both have it after being the most unwilling to suggest any restrictions. So there is at least some justice.

[Mark Bolton]

I dont see how everyone masking and washing hands would make it "go away". It would most definitely cut transmission but it would still be there waiting for when the de-masking starts. The virus doesnt just give up because it cant get through the masks and gets washed down the drain via hand washing.

We are remaining pretty much as vigilant as we were in the spring and perhaps even more so given the fact that a massive percentage of the population is just "over it" and they are doing whatever they want because they are sick of being cut back. Its really sad how impatient and selfish society has become. Not that I have any real sacrifice to recount in my 53 years on the planet but I have always greatly respected the times of the depression, war, and so on. I about blew a gasket a few weeks back when a young local guy I know pretty well who his making a foray into the political world (its in his family trajectory) unleashed a FB post to his fellow youngsters (early 30's and 20's) saying "this is going to be our generations World War II"... The top of my head almost blew off. People sitting around on $1500 cell phones, $250/mo TV packages, ordering gourmet takeout 5 nights a week (and complaining about it) and they have ZERO clue what years of real sacrifice is whether it was troops abroad or state side doing without, rationing, swapping over plant production completely to support the war, on and on.

As miserable as this thing has been for my business its honestly been a joke. Some substantial disruptions mainly in supply, some inconvenience, we miss going out for a sandwich and a drink. But its been a joke.

Sadly right now, with so many people just being over it, we are personally staying the course or hunkering down a little harder because I feel with the holidays coming and the callous behavior I see daily, if its going to re-pop its going to. Im in a state that has had a motto for years and years whether its economy or anything... we are the last one in, and the last one out. And its proving to be the case with this. We had pretty much nothing for a long time and it rolled in late, and we are just getting counties out of the states "red" column. But this late in the game I am also hearing about the very first positive cases in very close, young, friends, since the start. Everyone letting their guard down may bite a lot of people in the butt. I dont wish it to bite anyone at all but I wish it would bite the careless fools and leave those who have been responsible alone. Ive said it since the start that we have been super vigilant and it wouldnt surprise me in the least if some dingaling who thinks its all a sham takes one of us down.

We've had two close direct exposures where we self quarantined but so far so good.

[Alan Rutherford]

I forgot to mention earlier than in addition to the mask (homemade to insure it seals around my beard) I usually wear gloves and a face shield in the grocery store. Face shields periodically get some publicity and there's a recent study about eyeglass wearers having lower infection rates, which I think is relevant. I forgot the gloves the last time I bought groceries and was reminded that a big advantage to wearing them is that it's much easier opening those flimsy produce bags. Licking your fingers to slide the layers of plastic apart was never a good idea anyway.

And I needed a haircut back in February when I decided that wasn't a good idea. Now I REALLY need a haircut. My wife likes it this way anyway.

[Steve Demuth]

I dont see how everyone masking and washing hands would make it "go away". It would most definitely cut transmission but it would still be there waiting for when the de-masking starts. The virus doesn't just give up because it cant get through the masks and gets washed down the drain via hand washing.

Absolutely. SARS-CoV-2 is with us (the world) for the long haul. Even countries that get their infection rate to 0 - almost certainly impossible in the United States until we have widespread vaccination - have had challenges keeping the virus out of their country, or out of regions that are cleared of the virus. What solid application of masking, distancing and hygiene could do is keep it at low-impact levels until a vaccine is available and widely enough applied in the population to make imported outbreaks easily containable. I suspect it will have dynamics similar to polio - another virus which is generally a rather benign infection and easily transmitted, but can sometimes be devastating. The difference is of course that the SARS-CoV-2 virus is most devastating in older people, whereas symptomatic polio is largely a disease of children.

(I'm assuming a workable vaccine will be found. The odds seem good, but it's not yet a sure thing).

[Stan Calow]

I dont see how everyone masking and washing hands would make it "go away". It would most definitely cut transmission but it would still be there waiting for when the de-masking starts. The virus doesnt just give up because it cant get through the masks and gets washed down the drain via hand washing. . . .

The virus doesn't survive for very long outside a human host. Everyone who gets sick, got it from another person. The fewer human hosts, the fewer exposures and illnesses. Some people may continue to get sick, like the measles, but the widespread outbreaks would go away.

[Peter Mich]

We continue to adhere to all of the recommended safety precautions. We’re being ever more vigilant now because the 7-day average rate of confirmed cases here in Wisconsin is skyrocketing through the roof. We’re fortunate that we are in a rural part of the state so hunkering down and remaining isolated is not a challenge.

[Frank Pratt]

I have worn a mask in public indoor spaces since the beginning & continue to do so.

I don't wear gloves though, because what's the point? I can get the same level of protection with a good squirt of sanitizer. I might go through a dozen (or dozens) of pairs of gloves in a day to get the same benefit that a bit of hand sanitizer or soap & water gives.

[Mark Bolton]

The virus doesn't survive for very long outside a human host. Everyone who gets sick, got it from another person. The fewer human hosts, the fewer exposures and illnesses. Some people may continue to get sick, like the measles, but the widespread outbreaks would go away.

That was my point. As Steve stated better above... the masks just slow the spread in the hopes of some future solution.. either it peters out, a vaccine, or herd immunity. Again, my point was that masks just buy us time and reduce deaths and exposure, it doesnt make anything "go away".

[Doug Garson]

I dont see how everyone masking and washing hands would make it "go away". It would most definitely cut transmission but it would still be there waiting for when the de-masking starts. The virus doesnt just give up because it cant get through the masks and gets washed down the drain via hand washing..

Agree with the rest of your post but I'm with the experts on this, as others have said, the virus can only survive a few hours outside a human host. If it doesn't spread from that host it either kills the host and then dies or the host kills it. Either way, just a matter of time before it dies out. Where do you think it would be waiting for 3 to 4 weeks if everyone took masks seriously?