Today I was surprised that a young woman, whose male companion wore a mask but she herself did not as she got in the line at a bakery in San Francisco. Everyone I saw, 99.9 percent had on a mask – and she was the 0.1% apparently. She also needlessly stepped into the 6 feet distance I tried so hard to keep away from her. She was a public health menace and she didn’t care. It’s not as though she did not have the resource or the money to purchase a mask – she simply defied what we should do for the health of all – she had the means as while on the line, she was calling one store after another looking for certain brand name shoes talking loudly into her cell phone – no mask – no, she was not calling around to locate a mask but fashion shoes. The privileged; the entitled “Karen” … Cringe. EyeRoll. What if she’s a superspreader ?
She was in defiance of this. It says specifically:
“Face coverings are required when you are:
- Waiting to be seated at an outdoor dining area
- Seated at an outdoor dining area and whenever you leave your table, including when staff approach you (you don’t need to wear it while eating)
- Waiting in line to go inside a store
- Shopping at a store
- Seeking healthcare
- Going into buildings allowed to stay open, like laundromats, banks, and government buildings”
She apparently didn’t care that over 160,000 Americans have died from Corona Virus. Maybe she thought those are all some senior citizens and had no relevance TO HER as she was young and outwardly healthy …
I don’t look at the number of infections as much in drawing a comparison because the rate of testing is not equal BUT use number of deaths to compare.
So again,
USA 162,425 reported deaths
California 10,307 deaths
over 727,000 deaths world wide and 19 million cases …and we are just in the first wave; a second wave is expected in Fall/Winter flu season. What are the numbers going to look like then, I shudder to guess.
For comparison’s sake, thus far, 1042 deaths in Japan… that’s right, 1042
1042 vs. 162,425
granted, as far as land-mass goes, US is 26 times bigger than Japan so multiply 26 to 1042 – even then, even in relative terms – 162,425 far surpasses any death count of any country around the world. It’s as though we are numb to that number and just accept it just like we accept the school shootings and staggering numbers of children shot by guns we could choose to regulate but we don’t – to protect the rights of the few to possess arms at the cost of innocent lives of the vulnerable and unarmed. It’s very sad that we just normalize anything.
It’s sad people don’t take this a bit more seriously … why insist on normalcy – normalcy is for normal times and reality check – now is NOT the time – it’s not normal times, it’s not normal numbers – okay, we don’t want to be inconvenienced and live in fears, we don’t want to get stressed; we don’t want to feel anxieties but C’mom – we are designed to fear and let’s accept and even appreciate our fears for that feelings of dead is supposed to PROTECT us in harms way and keep us alive. It’s a survival skill and we need that ! We are in harms way and we need to fear those people who do not wear masks, those people who don’t follow the health expert’s guidelines. They are a walking manace we need to protect our vulnerable population and healchcare workers from them. I am going to do my part; really hope others do too. It’s for our shared hopeful brighter future – just like in wartimes, a little sacrifice by the citizens was expected to achieve our common objective of victory or peace… So do you feel over 160,000 sacrificed is somehow not enough? Do you want over 200, 000 even 300,000 Americans dead? OR do you want to stop addding any more body count to that tally. Please. Then, do the right thing. Be caring and responsible. Let’s each do our part.
Sorry for lecturing but … saw so many people this week, living in delusional world of “normal” or whatever in the past- That’s an illusion based on denial of medical and scientific data and advice by the intellegent folks. (I say this with sarcasm tinged with anger) Thanks for keeping our healthcare workers at continual risks of exposure; Thanks for keeping the schools closed for our kids, our future; thanks for keeping the gyms and yoga studio closed, and indoor dining closed by being so self-centered for not wanting to be inconvenienced.
For the common complaints:
1. It’s hard to breathe wearing them.
Well, it’s time to increase your lung capacity. How about some Yoga and Yoga’s various breathing techniques to strengthen your respiratory system?
Are you getting enough Cardio exercise to keep your heart and lungs healthy?
2. It’s hot and humid – it’s unpleasant wearing them.
It’s very unpleasant being on a vetilator. Try not going out in heat and humid weather and seek help from those who are young and vibrant to do your shopping, etc. If you cannot find any help, and you must go out, seek out certain quality masks – hemp, cotton, something with tighter thread count but with some room over nose/mouth with more spacious cone shape.
3. It causes me anxieties and panic attacks just seeing people wearing them.
Talk to a mental health professional for coping skills OR start out taking some mindfulness focused yoga classes to learn of techniques to better balance your nervous system.
4. Masks don’t really help and besides, they should be saved for frontline health care workers and other essential workers.
Masks DO help a lot. The initial public messaging in this country was misleading. N95 level masks are being referred to when there was a mask shortage for them but for the common public use, cloth and anti-allergy paper masks still serves to benefit us greatly.
