My DH does some physical work at his job and said that the mask causes him to get winded a lot faster. At one point after lifting a heavy object he had to step out of the building to catch his breath. He does not have any health issues and had no problem before masks were implemented.
My friend with asthma went to the gym all the time before this. There is no way she would be able to wear one there. She says she puts a mask on in the stores so she doesn’t get the evil eye from people, but she can’t stay very long as she starts to have trouble breathing.
I don’t see how masks at the gym is going to work well.
I think I would use the weasel word “multifactorial” with some justification, this time. Much of the staff in nursing homes have very minimal training- there’s usually one RN or BSN on each shift, a few LPNs, but the majority are nurse’s aides who have very little nursing training at all- generally a short series of courses over a few weeks. They’re poorly paid and often not English-speaking, especially in the bigger cities. The opposite end of the spectrum from say, a CCU nurse.
AS a result of the low pay and hard work, nursing homes are also often short-staffed. I would guess there is a lack of PPE but I don’t think that’s the main problem- few would know how to use it properly.
ANd then there is the environment. It’s like a dorm or cruise ship. I’m not sure how much can be done once the virus gets into the facility, especially given how infectious this is and how many people are asymptomatic.
So the main goal is to keep the virus out. But how is that going to happen when the staff generally go home to fairly crowded living situations, on public transportation? It’s a lot like the issue with meatpacking plants. Not just the facility, but the living conditions of the workers contribute.
Even without COVID19, long-term-care management in general is a very, very tough thing to do well given the financial constraints all but the nicest private facilities have.
My sis’s MIL is 95 and in a very nice private assisted living facility in Nevada. I’m very uncomfortable with her being there, and I’ve told them so. But she really likes it and has her own apartment. Meals are brought to her and she stays in her rooms, 24/7. I don’t know how she can stand it but she prefers to stay.
She’s 95 and entitled to do what she wants, I guess.
The scary thing is, at an individual level, she very well may still be safer there than moving in with family unless they are able to complete lock down.
I don’t see why not. To me, we are very rapidly approaching “normal conditions”.
I guess I’m of the opinion that our social distancing measures have done what they are going to do. If you look at the curves for a wide variety of states with different shutdown measures, there’s no pattern. For the most part states with shutdowns are doing about as well as states without. them.
I think there’s a homeostasis that’s going on here. We’re finding our way to an acceptable level of infections, whatever that is. On the one extreme you have NYC, and on the other, MT. Everyone else is going to end up in the middle one way or the other, and the virus will slowly spread, because there’s no alternative. We have no cure, we have no vaccine, and people have got to make a living. We’ve got to learn to live with this thing.
This is us! We pay $27 a month for 5 people and definitely get our money’s worth. We are also missing the slow season. I just hope they open this year at all!
Along with @H17 and @ehsanchez I’m another hyper-about-touching-my-face person. I’m stubborn to a fault anyway, prone to any seasonal crap that comes along, travels moderately for personal reasons and tactically sensitive. Add all that up, and yeah, when I have gloves on, I KNOW where my hands are. In the store I have this imaginary camera on my shoulder, “has she touched her face yet, huh? huh?”
I have no doubt the gen pop would not be as strict about gloves. Very few in my family are strict enough about attention to detail. Those that weren’t saying what face? would be saying, what hands?
Which is all a long winded way to say, you’re right - for 99.999% of the people. I’m right about me.
We’ve mentioned before how we’re a little bit outside the norm on this board.
I do not mean this callously - but as long as her wits are about her, I think we all need to respect our elders and their choices. At 95 years young, she may fully well understand the risks, but prefer staying in a comfortable setting, even if it means risks. She may feel like her life has been wonderful and long.
I agree. I’m not being in the slightest bit facetious. She’s mentally sharp and has earned the right to call the shots regarding her own life, even if the family doesn’t like it.
It’s certainly true that at her age, her perspective is different.
I remember when my grandmother (who died on her 100th birthday - class act in my book) was in her early 90s she said she was surprised to wake up every day. She was overweight, but no hypertension, no aches other than one joint on her little finger, nearly deaf as a post and had cataracts that had returned (was what I had heard) but otherwise healthy.
I took that - surprised to wake up every day - as a good definition of old. Given that everything else is working pretty well. Which come to think of it, kinda takes me out of that equation. My list of comorbities is uncomfortably long.
And as a rather healthy RN, I gotta tell you - I wear gloves all the time at work and there is something about having those puppies on that scream “DON’T TOUCH YOUR FACE.” Even after 25+ years of wearing them. I’ve just been doing a home remodel project that has me wearing gloves. Their very presence on the ends of my arms scream, “DON’T TOUCH ANYTHING.”
Meanwhile, when I wear my mask to Walmart, I am constantly touching my face and messing with it. I wouldn’t ever, ever claim that COVID isn’t real, or isn’t deadly, or any such thing, but I am not particularly concerned about contracting it. I honestly have been monitoring myself since I cared for a C19 + patient on Saturday. Today is day 4 and it seems like my gear did it’s job.
Honestly - I am far more creeped out about getting C-Diff than C19.
There have actually been car wrecks from people passing out while wearing them while driving, and I’ve seen warnings now in various places that one should not wear a mask in the car!
TBH, I still do it. because mine is an n95 and it’s a pain to get it on right, so I’m not taking it off until I’m done with whatever running around I have to do. I guess if I was going to pass out with it, I would have by now.
Yep. You learn to do that right away in surgeon school because if you screw up, it’s back to the sink for 15 minutes with you, lassie! We could have just switched out the gloves but they wanted us to learn our lesson. And we did.
I’m an inveterate face toucher*. I try not to do so, but mostly unsuccessful. I try to avoid not only for colds, flus, other bugs, but also because it’s bad for your skin. I still cannot stop.
last night I was on a zoom meeting for a book club. I watched myself and how many times I touched my face. And how much or little the others on that meeting touched their face.
I know when I’ve worn the n95 that I’m not wearing it correctly. I can still smell stuff, which is an indication it isn’t properly fitted. But I have them around and it’s been just a default to having a face covering while at the grocery store or whatever. My usage is not fit for medical usage!
Yes, because my nephew is a social butterfly and there is a chance he’d bring it home. This is apparently one reason why it hit the elderly so hard in Italy- grandparents living in the home, and young people coming & going as young people will do.
The assisted facility may actually be the best of two not-great choices.
This! And MRSAs and all the other crap I fear in hospitals.
I have a cousin who, IMO, really abuses antibiotics. and she does so with her kids as well (anything to get them back to school). ugh.
And how much or little the others on that meeting touched their face.