One thing we decided in the meeting: the stock of gloves from the labs, and any unused PPE (I think they have some for the anatomy class) are going to go to one of the local hospitals, seeing as we won't have a use for them right now. (Summer classes are almost certainly going to be online, and my chair warned us to be prepared for maybe at least starting fall semester online.Though there's been some news today about testing a potential vaccine that gives me hope maybe we'll have one faster than the original 18 month timeline)
I also made this:
Because now, yeah, they're coming around to, "yeeeeeeeaaaaaah, wearing a mask in public MIGHT help protect you" after like a month of "No, you idiot! You will wear the mask wrong and be really overconfident and get sick" and of course now the 'real' masks all need to go to doctors and nurses anyway, because they are at much higher risk of infection.
My friend Lynn posted on Twitter one she had made, and shared the instructions she found with me: sew your own surgical-style mask. It's a little big on me and I may have to play with the ties a little to get it to fit ideally. I also did the optional step of putting a couple of chenille stems wound together (thank goodness I had some) in the nose part so I can snug it around my sort-of-pointy nose.
Hopefully this plus strictly staying 6' (or more, if I can manage it) from other humans will help protect me and allow me to go to the grocery in person and leave the wal-mart pickup slots (there are not many) for the truly immune-compromised.
It might help? At least it will keep me from touching my face. And yes, I know: untie it from the ties, don't touch the mask, put it immediately in hot soapy water. If I go out and about MUCH I want to make a second one (at least) so I can have one clean and one in the wash. But I really don't plan on going out and about much, probably just weekly grocery runs.
I have to go pick up my tax forms from the CPA tomorrow and I am considering stopping at the Green Spray on the way home if they seem not too busy (then again: it is a payday weekend) and seeing if I can get my hands on either some hamburger meat or maybe another package of chicken, because I think I need to keep up with eating good nutritious meals; the world seems less bleak when you're getting enough protein.)
Hence the mask. I'm going to wear it even though it's not the convention here (then again - I saw one or two people with the white N95s on in the wal-mart parking lot, but they both looked older (white hair). I will be fast to explain that I'm perfectly healthy, the mask is just to help me stay that way.
And it will keep me from touching my face.
But yeah, what a world we live in. I hope that maybe someday I will be able to donate this to a museum for a future on exhibit on 2020....
1 comment:
Here in MA people are starting to wear masks so the strangeness has worn off. Grocery store workers are definitely wearing them. I will probably make one this weekend. I don’t go out either except to food shop every other week or so. (Or for walks in my semi-rural neighborhood.) I was so nervous the night before my last grocery outing I had a hard time falling asleep. People are definitely not adhering to social distancing rules in supermarkets and it is freaking me out.
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