I meant to comment about this earlier, but forgot. I nipped to the shop this afternoon, and while in there noticed a woman using one hand to hold the neck/collar of her top over her mouth and nose. She wasn't alone - her (I assume) other half wasn't doing anything similar. 1/?

So, really, what was the point of her doing it? For self protection it served little purpose if her other half wasn't protected in a similar way - he could get infected then pass it to her. And that's ignoring whether it offered any real protection anyway... 2/?

She'd effectively crippled herself in her ability to interact with her environment: she could only use one hand. If she used the other hand - the one holding it - her protection goes. And if she then *returns* to doing it, what if she'd touched something carrying the virus? 3/?

And depending how long she was doing it, it's possible that hand would become tired and/or uncomfortable, and she might want to rest it - but she wouldn't be able to switch hands because of the risk of what she may have touched with the other one. 4/?

So for protecting herself, it was flawed.

The other possibility is that she may think she has the infection, and is doing it to prevent spreading it.

In which case, why the hell was she shopping? She (and he) should have been at home, getting someone else to shop for them. 5/?

If that *is* the reason she was doing it, all the problems I mentioned before are a big factor; using one hand is awkward, & tiredness/discomfort for that hand. Any change would be spreading the virus to anything she touched - and the other half could be spreading it anyway. 6/?

All in all, then, there are two obvious conclusions to draw from this.

1) Some people need to have their brain jump-started.

2) If she has Covid-19, that trip to the shop was extra risky for me. Which is nice.

(Usual precautions taken, though, so hopefully not an issue!) 7/7

Having been reminded that my personal blog hasn't been touched since the time of the druids, I've rewritten this thread as a blog post.

http://misc.vinceh.com/2020/04/pandumbic-tales-part-1/

I'll do the same with the short thread about depositing cheques soon - and I have a further one to add, too.