Covid19: Face masks, really?
2020-07-14 Comments
Warning - Rant alert!
Something that has really annoyed me in recent months but has actually grown into full on wind up, is people misusing face masks. OK, so we’ve never had the need for them, before all this Covid business. But before donning them, why don’t people find out how to use them first? Mis-using a face mask is giving false sense of protection. The government hasn’t helped with its umming and ahing over whether it was scientifically effective or not. But once they had made up their minds why didn’t they spend a bit of time and effort into making public service announcements on how to use them properly? Or are they relying on people’s common sense?
I have to get this rant off my chest so that I can move past my annoyance, so here we go.
In the first few months into the lockdown where certain products were scarce due to panic buying and personal protective equipment not on sale to the general public, I saw several people who had masks and disposable gloves walking around. Since the supplies of these were scarce I wondered how they got hold of them. The people who did have them, were clearly not shown how to use them. In just one morning, there was a gentleman on the other side of the high street, sporting the under-the-nose trend, as I spotted a few more people after him also wear their masks that way. They were so oblivious that they were taking in more germs than they were exhaling, which defeats the purpose. Then there was another guy who modelled the mask-under-the-chin look, indoors. Following him, was a woman pulling her shopping trolley, showing off the hanging-on-one-ear option. Apart from that, I’ve also seen fiddlers. These are people that appear to have their masks well fitted but just can't stop fiddling with the mask the whole time. The most common being, touching the front or sides, moving the wire strip, scratching their nose through the mask...you get the idea.
One time, I was in the local shop when a woman - fully kitted - who was walking towards me, suddenly pulled down her mask to answer a call on her mobile. I had to quickly step away from her. Then in the queue she walked up close behind me. Luckily, I moved off to a self-serve till to get some distance between us. She was still talking away whilst she scanned her shopping, ignorant to the fact that she was touching her shopping, then her face and chatting away the whole time not paying attention to what she was doing. The PPE was wasted!
Another time, my husband and I (who both wear glasses) were in a supermarket and some guy came up to us, to ask us how to use the mask as his glasses kept steaming up. He promptly pulled the mask off leaving us no choice but to tell him to have the white side on the inside and have the metal strip over his nose - he’d been wearing it upside down - so he could shape it to the bridge of his nose. He said he and his wife got a load of the masks but they didn’t know how to use them. He walked away mumbling that his glasses were still steaming up “but was a bit better than it was”. Since then, it has come to my attention on the radio and internet, tips and tricks for stopping the outgoing breath from steaming up your specs. From things like sticking surgical tape over the top of the mask to seal the cheeks and bridge of the nose gap, to dipping the glasses into soapy water and letting it dry naturally leaving a fine film on the lens so they don’t fog, the next time you wear a surgical mask.
For reliable information on how to wear a face mask and remove it safely, please refer to the World Health Organisation website . Don’t forget that wearing a face mask is only part of the solution to keeping safe. You must also ensure you have clean hands, either by the use of hand gel or washing well with soap and water.
OK, vent over, stay safe people and stop licking your fingers in public!