- It doesn’t exist anymore
- It does exist, but it’s just another flu-like virus
- It’s much worse than the flu, but it only affected other people so far, so it won’t affect me
ample evidence exists to prove all 3 wrong
oh yea, the exotic chud response which they’ve conveniently memoryholed:
4) covid is fake and never existed
As an aside, I have a genuine concern to be made about proper mask hygiene and maybe environmental concerns from all the used masks.
What is the best way to mask properly over a long period of time?
Wash hands, don mask. (Don’t touch it). Doff mask. Wash hands. Some masks are meant to only touched at the tabs, i.e. 3M Aura 1870+.
Hygiene:
If disposable: I generally rotate a disposable after each long use, let it air out for a couple days and use a different one. Honestly, the headstraps tend to break just from repeated donning and doffing and that prevents overuse. But if the straps don’t break, eventually a disposable respirator may get beat up or kind of visibly gross and then I toss it and use a new one.
If elastomeric: Disassemble and wipe down with a bit of water every few uses or after a long use. It depends. Wash it occasionally. The biggest problem I ran into with my elastomeric was that it traps a lot of water and I forgot to disassemble and dry it after use, let it sit for a few days, and came back to find it was really musty. Disassembled it and washed it but the mildew was growing in the filters so I had to just toss the filters and get a new one.
Other than that there isn’t really a concern. How quickly a respirator will get gross will vary based on your activities while wearing it and how long you wear it. If you’re working a physical job in a respirator all day, you may want a fresh one every day just because you don’t want to be pushing old sweat and body grime onto your face at the seals.
Environmental: I mean, we are just individuals trying not to get fucked up by the plague. Our impact is minimal compared to the environmental devastation that Capitalism and its related imperialist wars drive. I don’t worry about it, except for one thing: When I’m done with a mask I always rip the straps on one end so that if some animal encounters it in a landfill or the wind picks it up, they don’t get tangled in the straps. A thing I read about back in 2020.
Been thinking about this too because I use disposables and been meaning to look into a reusable option that is effective without looking like I’m a plague doctor.
We need to start a cult of some sort that incorporates these.
https://microclimate.com/
Like Earth Astronauts or something.
People at work would just think I road my bike, until I never took it off and they realized I don’t own a bike.
Well that’s all well and good, but what about the bike owners?
I wish I could bike to work… 50 miles one way is a bit much lol.
Lol well obviously you have to camp at work and charge them for transit time.
Not an expert, but work in a hospital: I’ve always been told to ditch the disposals after a shift as the moist environment is a concern for bacteria. Definitely don’t reuse them.
Cloth masks are less effective, so probably don’t use them in a high-risk environment. If you do, probably wash them after each use for the same reason as above.
As far as environmental concerns: I promise you that a single hospital visit generates an order of magnitude more waste than any amount of masking will. It’s fine.