[marygalexa]

Originally Posted by donassaid

You certainly can go into Walmart without a mask. I guess there are lots of people not buying into this mass hysteria.

Yep there are ... and more that a few of them have been cremated or buried.

[bmit16]

You know what opinions are like!

[bagboy]

Originally Posted by Jhnidy

Which Walmart is that?

Across the hwy from Colony Center.

[merrymini]

Snowflake? Really, like all the bad parking are snowbirds or snowflakes too? You show yourself for what you really are with that comment.

[OhioBuckeye]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

I had to go to store today (hadn’t been for couple weeks) and was shocked seeing people shopping in the store with no masks on? IMO inside building where lots of people are in prefect environment to catch the virus. Especially when they are polluting the air I’m walking through.

What I heard wearing mask protects other’s and not you (IMO mask does offer some protection) why Publix allowed people in store without masks. I can’t go into Walmart without mask?

The people who don’t wear mask don’t care about others & the people who wear mask do care who gets the virus! Be safe & don’t take chances,wear a mask, even if others think they’re a waste of time!

[RockyMountainMan]

Originally Posted by Topspinmo

I had to go to store today (hadn’t been for couple weeks) and was shocked seeing people shopping in the store with no masks on? IMO inside building where lots of people are in prefect environment to catch the virus. Especially when they are polluting the air I’m walking through.

What I heard wearing mask protects other’s and not you (IMO mask does offer some protection) why Publix allowed people in store without masks. I can’t go into Walmart without mask?

What you heard is not correct. Regular surgical masks DO NOT PROTECT you or any other person from catching a virus. Viruses are 1000 times smaller than the smallest bacteria. The holes in a mask DO NOT stop a virus from going out from your mouth OR coming into you mouth or nose from someone else. The statement that a mask protects others from you but not you from others is ludicrous and defies all logic if you know anything about viruses. How can a mask stop a virus from going out of your mouth but not stop a virus from entering through the same mask???? C'mon folks use some common sense here. Either a mask stops viruses or it doesn't...and it doesn't. If you feel a mask works, then by all means wear one...but you can't have it both ways. If it works, than you are protected from getting a virus AND you are preventing others from getting it from you. We can't have the heard mentality that you are somewhat inhuman if we don't wear a mask...they don't work!

[queasy27]

Confession! I went to pick up a prescription at Publix but needed one grocery item that's shelved at the very end of an aisle. There were no other shoppers nearby and I nipped three feet in the wrong way to pluck my item and dash.

But I had a mask and gloves on, so maybe that evened out my misdeed. ;-)

The pharmacy clerk asked me to sign the credit card machine using my finger instead of picking up the stylus. Either option seems to carry about the same amount of risk, if you ask me. Ideally both the touch screen and pen are being sanitized throughout the day.

[kendi]

Originally Posted by Swoop

US Surgeon General Jerome Adams said Monday, March 2 that wearing face masks could actually increase a person's risk of contracting COVID-19, echoing remarks he made on Saturday that called for people to "stop buying masks."

I've thought and heard the same. Nor do they protect others as much as people think. Those germs are inside and outside of the mask and are on their hands. Sneezing or coughing won't stop the germs on the outside of the mask from flying. There is a reason that hospitals put on new masks and gloves before entering each room. In the stores, given that social distancing is respected, if someone has the virus with no symptoms the bigger issue would be touching the same areas the infected person did. Even with the mask on, the person had touched the mask and has the germs all over them self. Social distancing and washing hands is the best approach.

What is saddest to me is that people have chosen to be so verbally nasty to their neighbors over this virus. I used to expect more from the seniors, but learned long ago that some never learn how to choose the higher road.

[kendi]

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby

No, he didn't say that. He said wearing a mask IMPROPERLY could increase your chance of getting it, because people tend to touch their masks with unclean hands, and then breathe in the germs placed there by their own fingers. That's what he said in February.

On March 2, he tweeted (and rightly so at the time) that people buying up cases of masks meant fewer medical professionals having access to them, and THAT could also spread the virus faster, and that wearing masks wouldn't help anyone from catching it anyway.

He later retracted his statement about it not helping, because new information had come in about people with no symptoms spreading the virus. He then stated that wearing a mask provided at least SOME risk-reduction, but that it had to be done correctly.

That's the problem right there and why they can be more dangerous, few know the guidelines as to how to wear them. The germs are all over the mask inside and out, on their hands, etc. There's a reason why medical staff puts on new masks prior to seeing each patient, wash their hands before doing so, and never touch it while its on and wash their hands. Distancing and washing hands are the key.

[NoMoSno]

Originally Posted by kendi

That's the problem right there and why they can be more dangerous, few know the guidelines as to how to wear them. The germs are all over the mask inside and out, on their hands, etc. There's a reason why medical staff puts on new masks prior to seeing each patient, wash their hands before doing so, and never touch it while its on and wash their hands. Distancing and washing hands are the key.

Medical staff does not put on a new mask prior to seeing each patient.

[Love2Swim]

Originally Posted by RockyMountainMan

What you heard is not correct. Regular surgical masks DO NOT PROTECT you or any other person from catching a virus. Viruses are 1000 times smaller than the smallest bacteria. The holes in a mask DO NOT stop a virus from going out from your mouth OR coming into you mouth or nose from someone else. The statement that a mask protects others from you but not you from others is ludicrous and defies all logic if you know anything about viruses. How can a mask stop a virus from going out of your mouth but not stop a virus from entering through the same mask???? C'mon folks use some common sense here. Either a mask stops viruses or it doesn't...and it doesn't. If you feel a mask works, then by all means wear one...but you can't have it both ways. If it works, than you are protected from getting a virus AND you are preventing others from getting it from you. We can't have the heard mentality that you are somewhat inhuman if we don't wear a mask...they don't work!

I believe the scientists and health professionals who recommend wearing a mask. According to the Mayo Clinic, highly respected in the medical community, a mask, protects the wearer's nose and mouth from contact with droplets, splashes and sprays that may contain germs. A surgical mask also filters out large particles in the air. Surgical masks may protect others by reducing exposure to the saliva and respiratory secretions of the mask wearer. To put it more simply, yes the virus is small, but it is encased in droplets or saliva, and the mask protects against those droplets should a person who is asymptomatic releases those droplets somehow. That said, one must be careful not to contaminate their mask.

[SouthJerseyGirl]

Not only are they not wearing masks, but they come too close and are breathing down your neck as you lean in to check the available meat cuts. I’ve had to yell ‘six feet!”at several people - and they look at me like I’m crazy.

[Topspinmo]

Originally Posted by RockyMountainMan

What you heard is not correct. Regular surgical masks DO NOT PROTECT you or any other person from catching a virus. Viruses are 1000 times smaller than the smallest bacteria. The holes in a mask DO NOT stop a virus from going out from your mouth OR coming into you mouth or nose from someone else. The statement that a mask protects others from you but not you from others is ludicrous and defies all logic if you know anything about viruses. How can a mask stop a virus from going out of your mouth but not stop a virus from entering through the same mask???? C'mon folks use some common sense here. Either a mask stops viruses or it doesn't...and it doesn't. If you feel a mask works, then by all means wear one...but you can't have it both ways. If it works, than you are protected from getting a virus AND you are preventing others from getting it from you. We can't have the heard mentality that you are somewhat inhuman if we don't wear a mask...they don't work!

So, what the point! I don’t give —— one way or the other. IMO it’s not going make different, just delays it. I like following rules most of times, they been babbling on News, and everywhere else to wear mask when you’re in close public places.

Another thing there no proof masks don’t work in normal circumstances no proof you catch it playing sport off ball being hit back and forth. The only rule or suggestion IMO that good advice, STAY clear of people you don’t know.

[Two Bills]

When a head of state walks around without a mask, why should the general population do any different?

[chet2020]

Originally Posted by Love2Swim

I believe the scientists and health professionals who recommend wearing a mask. According to the Mayo Clinic, highly respected in the medical community, a mask, protects the wearer's nose and mouth from contact with droplets, splashes and sprays that may contain germs. A surgical mask also filters out large particles in the air. Surgical masks may protect others by reducing exposure to the saliva and respiratory secretions of the mask wearer. To put it more simply, yes the virus is small, but it is encased in droplets or saliva, and the mask protects against those droplets should a person who is asymptomatic releases those droplets somehow. That said, one must be careful not to contaminate their mask.

Agreed. Quantitative evidence is showing something that makes sense when you think about it. Prolonged exposure to someone with the virus = larger initial virus dose = higher chance of getting infected. A 40 minute train ride sitting next to someone infected is worse than passing someone in the aisle of a grocery store.

Yes, a single aerosoled virus will pass through a mask. But that's a low dose. A droplet of saliva loaded with virus from an infected person who sneezes is a high dose. That will be captured by the mask. Your chances of catching the virus if you wear a mask are lower, but not non-existent. Simple.

This links to a post by Muge Cevik MD, summarizing a scientific paper on the subject.

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