Same here, up until this past weekend I thought I could handle it being that I wear a mask for work 8 hours a day (inside). But after hiking over the weekend and putting a mask on when we approached other hikers I felt very uncomfortable, it was about 80 and sunny, low humidity, not nearly as hot as Florida. It’s definitely not the Disney experience I’m looking for. I understand why it’s required but I won’t be visiting until the mask requirement is lifted.
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Or at the very least, just indoors. I might consider that, but still probably not for me as well.
This fits right in with my thoughts. Though it’s no Officer Big Mac
What are the phases like in Florida? How long will the masks, social distancing, and limited capacity be likely to remain in place before they are phased out?
I’m not sure about Florida specifically. The federal phase program recommends that cases and deaths are declining for 14 days after entering phase 3 before moving on to phase 4, which is “back to normal.” You basically need 6 weeks of improving conditions to reach that point. That simply depends on all the reopening somehow not resulting in more cases. That seems doubtful, and more likely masks will be required until a vaccine or treatment is found, we reach herd immunity, or the disease mutates to a less potent form (which is a fairly good possibility actually since less potent diseases spread faster). So count on it for about another year, less if we’re lucky.
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Your handy dandy every state opening guide. Overview with links to details!
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In Washington State getting “back to normal” is not included in the Phases. Even in Phase 4, physical distancing is advised and masks may still be advised in public spaces, although that hasn’t been spelled out yet. However, the Governor indicated yesterday in his news conference that guidance on masks would be forthcoming. I think the assumption is “back to normal” meaning no masks and no physical distancing could take a long time - maybe not until we have either a vaccine, herd immunity, or effective treatment.
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How can people do the right thing when the authorities can’t even agree?
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I’d say this more falls to giving ammunion to those refusing and/or trying to claim inherent rights to not wear.
Yeah, but why would WHO say this? Aren’t they supposed to have the same data as everyone else?
I guess it goes back to to their target. audience, which is the world. They don’t really advise individuals, especially individuals in the developed world. This probably has something to do with worldwide mask shortages. Their concern is global health.
My concern is the health of people in my family and community. Big difference.
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I think this has been their stance since the beginning.
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As soon as I read this this morning I thought of you. I think it’s 85% theater.
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Very much so. I guess I’m not hearing much about other countries too much right now, other than Brazil and Mexico. I hate putting this into these sorts of terms, but Africa doesn’t seem too be doing “too bad”. The middle east is far worse. I only heard the other day about India’s current death toll.
In any case, I guess many of these regions, the majority of the population cannot get their hands on masks?
And the WHO has never advocated for face “coverings”? I think? Which is how most people would need to do this in 2nd and 3rd world areas. It’s the way most 1st world people have had to do it!
The US just threw out WHO and started with the face coverings of any sort to get people doing this and saving on actual masks.
Surgical type disposable seem to be coming into stock. Sam’s Club has had boxes for sale the last few times I’ve been there.
I don’t know, through all this the WHO in my mind has become like the International Olympic Committee. It seems to be easily swayed and “bribed” (for lack of a better term. I’ve not had my coffee).
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I hate to break it to everyone but non contact temperature screenings are mostly a deterrent.
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You are probably right- I kind of stopped paying attention to WHO, truth be told. Somehow, though, I thought they’d all be on the same page with something as fundamental as this.
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I’m pretty sure this is due to a lack of testing and being in a place where people die from unidentifiable causes on a regular basis, sadly. I think we’ll only know the final outcome in large parts oof the world after a couple of years go by and rough death estimates & population data are available.
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My Czech cousins have talked about them all using masks early on - and it looks like they did relatively well as a country: 3 deaths per 100K population vs 31 per in the US.
Regardless of the actual effectiveness of the masks themselves, I think over there it turned into a symbol of everyone fighting together which I suspect may be more important to conquering problems than the incredible divisiveness flowing in many places.
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Meanwhile…
https://www.mass.gov/doc/use-face-coverings-effectively/download
(Better link) since it is going out to all employees (one of many)
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That is a great infographic.
I hate to say it, but in my big town, mask wearing is pretty much gone except in some certain stores. Which is really silly, because although I know there is almost no COVID19 in that town, do they want it to come back? We’re in phase two but that doesn’t mean everything is A-OK.
Meanwhile, in my little town they’re wearing masks because it’s a tourist town and they know the risk.
I wish our governor would say more about it. The time is now, before something happens. I think people are just twitterpated with it being spring finally, they’ve all lost their marbles!
That article spins a bit. The statements in the article are what WHO says about medical grade masks. The points they are stressing are to reserve medical grade masks for those situations they list as needing them, and that nonmedical masks are not sufficient in those situations.
Just because we’ve mostly gotten our medical grade mask supply sorted in the US doesn’t mean that’s the case globally. I’d imagine they’d really like to see us sending surplus overseas instead of Americans wearing them as a measure against asymptomatic spread.
Below are links to the actual WHO information. This quote from the first one sums up their position.
“Type of Mask
WHO stresses that it is critical that medical masks and respirators be prioritized for health care workers.
The use of masks made of other materials (e.g., cotton fabric), also known as nonmedical masks, in the community setting has not been well evaluated. There is no current evidence to make a recommendation for or against their use in this setting.”