MASK SAFETY ADVICE? IT STARTED BEFORE COVID AROUND HERE

Mask safety feels a little redundant after a year, as if slow learners are leading the way, and it’s going astray.

To clear things up, point to a mask and what it means. Give it a good look.

It’s a blue mask, a white mask, a cloth mask, or an N95 mask.

That mask, worn over the nose with snug fitting sides, filters air breathed in and air breathed out.

It’s worn to filter out Covid-19, The Virus, The Illness. Cancer patients in treatment wear masks because their immune systems are compromised by the harsh reality of chemo therapy.

The same mask works for COVID. But we know this, right, so what’s wrong with governors in in Texas and Mississippi giving the all-clear?

Is it all clear, and I’m just a fraidy-pants? I’ll ask around.

Dear Governor McMaster of South Carolina,

What the heck is wrong with you? If the corona virus is a killer, and wearing masks slow the pace, then giving people in your state the choice of mask, or no mask, puts them at risk. Heads up on voting: dead people are less likely to vote for you.

Here’s a look behind the curtain. From Google:

What are reopening guidelines in South Carolina?

These guidelines are intended to assist both businesses and customers as places previously closed or who reduced their workforce during the pandemic begin to reopen. They are not laws, so they cannot be enforced. They are recommended practices to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

A guideline for reopening is not a requirement to reopen, nor a requirement for customers to visit open establishments. Some businesses may decide to remain closed, just as some customers may decide to continue to stay home.

The general guidelines of social distancing, frequent hand washing, covering coughs or sneezes, cleaning and disinfecting commonly used surfaces, and not touching faces with unwashed hands, remains good health practices in addition to other specific guidelines that may be in place.

Mask Safety Breakdown

We needed a reminder that a ‘guideline’ is not a law, customers are not required to visit newly reopened businesses, and businesses are not required to open?

The whole idea of requirement sounds like orders, but a guideline is not an order or a law, unless you get pulled over by the wrong policeman with the wrong attitude about skin tone and you’re not their favorite shade.

Public announcements are written to communicate with the broadest audience, which is more than my three consistent readers. Hey Jane-Ann.

Good Health For Good Readers

Have you seen public announcements on mask safety effectiveness against the virus?

According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Kansas, following Gov. Laura Kelly’s July mask mandate on a county-by-county basis, the 24 counties with mandatory mask mandates saw an overall decrease in COVID-19 cases, while the 81 counties that opted out of the mask mandate continued to see increases in cases.

Similarly, research conducted by Vanderbilt University’s Department of Health Policy in October found that COVID-19 death tolls were twice as high in Tennessee counties without mask mandates as compared to counties with directives in place. Gov. Bill Lee has not initiated a mask mandate in the state, deferring to local leaders.

When local leaders screw the pooch, then what?

Time to place a call to Senator Lindsey Graham? This strong minded national leader is sure to help out local leaders with his consistent messaging.

Check the senator’s record for more encouraging words.

Look At The Top Pic Again

The jump in the graph on the right looks like the jump in corona deaths last year.

In the top shot, the jump is in worldwide searches with, “This is how the worlds searches for the Covid-19 pandemic.

It’s about to be an easier search in states dropping the mask mandate.

Five states — Texas, Mississippi, Iowa, Montana and North Dakota — have ended, or soon will end, statewide mask mandates, despite the looming threat of COVID-19 and highly transmissible variants.

They’re joining 11 other states — Alaska, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Tennessee — that never required face coverings statewide.

Local Leaders?

Or local losers, because the last year has shown an ugly truth: People die from the virus, people are still dying. Infected people are recovering to the reality of the Long Haul.

Let’s agree that this corona virus is nasty as hell, a killer, a disabler, and preventable. To top it off, there’s a vaccine or three.

I haven’t caught the virus, it hasn’t caught me, but I’ve had some virus experience: the HPV virus. Like many with covid that experience mild symptoms, but lingering issues, the HPV virus is a champion at lingering.

As a dedicated married man with decades of experience, I was showboating around as usual for a sixty year old show off. I know, it sounds sad and needy, but whatever.

Who’s a good boy?

I was living my primetime life when the virus decided to jump up and lump up in my neck. Not a bad lump as far as these things go, at least not at first.

Lump? No big deal, until it tested out as cancer, or as I like to say, “CANCER!”

Since it was viral cancer, things went smoothly in an agonizing fashion that included chemo and radiation. It doesn’ts always go smoothly though, just like covid.

The waiting was the hardest part, waiting to die, waiting to get well, waiting for a new normal instead of the firestorm of scorched tissue in my neck.

It was a dreadful experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone, even a sissy-sounding senator from South Carolina who downplayed the virus and mask, but jumped ahead to get the covid vaccine when it was available.

Wear the mask, wash well, social distance, and ignore jackassed mask deniers in local leadership. Check the mask mandate state list. Those are states with elected officials who lined up behind the worst president in U.S. history.

They carried their favorite lipstick in hand for a more disciplined kiss-up. Senator Graham must have a suitcase full.

You can be better than that. It starts with Mask Safety.