Since the 1918 pandemic everyone should have been aware that a devastating pandemic could happen again, and now it did. The small quantity of N95 masks I have are ones that I have been storing since the last pandemic scare in 2009. I have not purchased or taken away any masks from the current supply that our health care workers so desperately need to do their job.
Are my outdated masks safe? I don’t know. Does the filter paper still ward off viruses and bacteria? Hopefully. The elastic bands barely stretch. After one use and they might not continue to create a tight seal. But it is all I have to protective myself from presymptomatic and asymptomatic people (link) that could infect me.
As a citizen, I believe my best actions for myself and for my fellow citizens is to keep myself from becoming infected so I will not become an additional burden on the already stretched health system. Wearing an N95 mask is my personal effort to flattened the epidemic curve.
Citizens all over Asia are wearing masks of all kinds to minimize the risk of infection. Yet in the United States, wearing masks is discouraged. We only see masks on people in waiting rooms at doctor’s offices. I think there is a subliminal theme among Americans, that wearing a mask is a sign of weakness and frailty, and probable sickness. When you walk down the street you are viewed with fear and suspicion. The number of cases in my local community is quickly starting to grow and I now wear an N95 mask in public. Last week, on a necessary errand to a store, a clerk carefully eyed my mask and asked me “Are you sick?” I responded “No, are you?” I received a negative reply and then I asked in all seriousness “Are you sure?”
We all need to do the best job we can to protective ourselves from being infected and becoming another coronavirus statistic. I don’t apologize for being prepared and having an emergency supply of N95 masks. This is an emergency.
Are my outdated masks safe? I don’t know. Does the filter paper still ward off viruses and bacteria? Hopefully. The elastic bands barely stretch. After one use and they might not continue to create a tight seal. But it is all I have to protective myself from presymptomatic and asymptomatic people (link) that could infect me.
As a citizen, I believe my best actions for myself and for my fellow citizens is to keep myself from becoming infected so I will not become an additional burden on the already stretched health system. Wearing an N95 mask is my personal effort to flattened the epidemic curve.
Citizens all over Asia are wearing masks of all kinds to minimize the risk of infection. Yet in the United States, wearing masks is discouraged. We only see masks on people in waiting rooms at doctor’s offices. I think there is a subliminal theme among Americans, that wearing a mask is a sign of weakness and frailty, and probable sickness. When you walk down the street you are viewed with fear and suspicion. The number of cases in my local community is quickly starting to grow and I now wear an N95 mask in public. Last week, on a necessary errand to a store, a clerk carefully eyed my mask and asked me “Are you sick?” I responded “No, are you?” I received a negative reply and then I asked in all seriousness “Are you sure?”
We all need to do the best job we can to protective ourselves from being infected and becoming another coronavirus statistic. I don’t apologize for being prepared and having an emergency supply of N95 masks. This is an emergency.
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