Last week, the CDC began to recommend that everybody wear a mask when they are going out of their house. According to their website, the “CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies), especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.”
They recommend these masks to fit snugly but comfortably on your face, be secured with some kind of ear loops, have multiple layers, not restrict breathing and be able to be put through the laundry without being damaged or changing shape.
This is something that I’ve seen coming for a little while now, but I still think it’ll be surreal when the moment comes where I actually go out and see crowds of people wearing these masks. It’s almost like something out of a movie or TV show and it goes to show how serious this has really become. If somebody had told us two months ago that it would come to this point, most of us probably would have laughed.
Overall, I do think having people wear masks in places like grocery stores is a very smart idea. I feel this way because, throughout the pandemic, grocery stores have been my biggest fear of exposure with my parents having to go there at least once a week and be around many people who could potentially be infected.
It also doesn’t help that when you’re out, there’s no way of knowing what is just a harmless cough and what is a sign of an infected person. I’m especially concerned by this because all three of my younger siblings have asthma, and while I don’t, I still want as minimal of a risk in the house for them. Because of this, I definitely approve of everybody being as safe as possible by wearing masks.
I also think it shows how little we actually know because a few weeks ago it was being said that masks aren’t necessary and now people are backtracking and saying that they are in fact needed. This proves to me that there is still so much to learn about this virus and that we should take very few things that are being said as the absolute truth. We should take everything we hear with a grain of salt and listen to multiple sources so that we can try to be as knowledgeable as we can be during this process.
On another note, I believe that anybody who has the professional-grade masks and doesn’t need them should absolutely donate them. If the rest of us are using homemade masks to get around then they should too and donate those masks to the people that actually need them. If there is an issue of not knowing where to get these cloth masks, you can either sew your own or go to one of the many businesses putting them up for sale right now. You can also improvise by using bandanas, ski masks, etc.
For more information on where to get masks: https://gearpatrol.com/2020/04/09/cloth-face-masks-for-sale-where-to-buy/
Cristian Valentin can be contacted at:
cvalentin@kscequinox.com
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