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brin_bellway[cw: illness]
Actually, no, I'm pretty sure that a me with one of these hastily-churned-out, summer-2020, warning-not-actually-medical-grade surgical masks is *not* safer. I'd rather have cloth: at least cloth fucking *does* something.
I walked into work yesterday and was assaulted by the scents of the restaurant, scents I haven't smelled this strongly since early March. Not just a whiff here and there like usual, but *everything*: the ambient food scents as soon as I walked in, the ingredient containers I refilled, the food I prepared. The scent particles all cut right through, and presumably they weren't the *only* particles cutting right through.
(and of course, it *had* to be one of the busiest dinner rushes in ages in which I discover these masks suck)
Once again, my years of mask-wearing experience are coming in handy. I shudder to think how many people are out there wearing these shitty masks and not even *realising* they're shit, because those people don't already have ingrained right down to their subconscious exactly how much their sense of smell should be dulled by a surgical-style mask. They'd walk into that restaurant and think 'ooh, delicious, glad I decided to get food here', rather than 'ohSHIT nonoNO badbadBAD' as their pre-existing associations of "being able to smell things outdoors means you're being poisoned" crash into their awareness of how dangerous the current mix of airborne poisons is and fold into mountains of fear.
---
The good news is, rumour has it that mandatory masking is going province-wide. No details yet, but every bit counts. I expect even one of those shitty masks would be better than nothing if it came down to it.
(even if those people would unknowingly be still better off just doing what I did: have a crafty loved one make you a surgical-style mask out of leftover cloth from previous craft projects and salvaged nose- and ear-pieces from used disposable masks)
(...hey, how much trouble do you think I'd get in if I put a note on the box of shitty masks welcoming maskless people to take one, then left it by the front door at work?)
Actually, no, I'm pretty sure that a me with one of these hastily-churned-out, summer-2020, warning-not-actually-medical-grade surgical masks is *not* safer. I'd rather have cloth: at least cloth fucking *does* something.
I walked into work yesterday and was assaulted by the scents of the restaurant, scents I haven't smelled this strongly since early March. Not just a whiff here and there like usual, but *everything*: the ambient food scents as soon as I walked in, the ingredient containers I refilled, the food I prepared. The scent particles all cut right through, and presumably they weren't the *only* particles cutting right through.
(and of course, it *had* to be one of the busiest dinner rushes in ages in which I discover these masks suck)
Once again, my years of mask-wearing experience are coming in handy. I shudder to think how many people are out there wearing these shitty masks and not even *realising* they're shit, because those people don't already have ingrained right down to their subconscious exactly how much their sense of smell should be dulled by a surgical-style mask. They'd walk into that restaurant and think 'ooh, delicious, glad I decided to get food here', rather than 'ohSHIT nonoNO badbadBAD' as their pre-existing associations of "being able to smell things outdoors means you're being poisoned" crash into their awareness of how dangerous the current mix of airborne poisons is and fold into mountains of fear.
---
The good news is, rumour has it that mandatory masking is going province-wide. No details yet, but every bit counts. I expect even one of those shitty masks would be better than nothing if it came down to it.
(even if those people would unknowingly be still better off just doing what I did: have a crafty loved one make you a surgical-style mask out of leftover cloth from previous craft projects and salvaged nose- and ear-pieces from used disposable masks)
(...hey, how much trouble do you think I'd get in if I put a note on the box of shitty masks welcoming maskless people to take one, then left it by the front door at work?)
