Yesterday was our day to shop for some supplies. We do this about every two weeks and we are really careful to avoid situations that are risky in terms of catching covid-19. In the weeks since we were out last, our State of Washington has been emphasizing the use of cloth face masks when we are out of our homes in public places. We are being asked to wear our face coverings whenever we are not able to maintain the six foot social distancing separation that is recommended. The use of masks is not mandatory, but it is strongly encouraged.
While we were out yesterday, we encountered lots of people wearing their masks and we encountered lots of people who were not. Some of the unmasked were store employees and some were customers and some had a mask on that was pulled down below their chin. I found myself getting pretty upset by the unmasked. I felt they were demonstrating disrespect for me and for my life. It was like they were shouting that my life was not important to them. I forgot to mention that my wife and I are in our mid-seventies so we are more likely to have a more serious problem if we catch the coronavirus.
The mask is not a total barrier against the spread of the virus. No, the mask will only stop part of the cloud of tiny little droplets that we exhale with each breath we take. We can see the little droplets on a cold winter day when we are outside and we can see that the vapor travels farther when we are breathing harder due to some physical exercise like shoveling the snow off the walk. If we pull a scarf over our face we can see that the vapor we exhale is diminished somewhat. My wife and I were wearing masks so we had some protection, but we could have been better protected if the unmasked people we encountered had been wearing a mask. When both parties are wearing masks the protection of the two masks are multiplied and the person who is inhaling gets the benefit of both.
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