#Covid19 and wearing masks, a thread:

I work at a large public attraction in south. The facility I work for requires staff to wear masks at all times but does not require visitors to do so, despite staff’s repeated pleas, and all the research showing how dangerous this is.

I was asked to do a four hour shift as a “social distance monitor” (aka sitting in a life guard chair and giving directions to lost visitors) yesterday, and during that time I decided to do a little experiment.

For the four hours I was at my station I kept a tally of how many groups of people I saw wearing masks, how many were not wearing masks, and how many had masks but were wearing them under their chin or holding them in their hand etc.

(I just counted groups of people rather than every individual person because it would be impossible for me to keep track of those numbers while also doing my job)

In four hours I saw the following:
Wearing masks correctly-57
Had masks but wearing them under their chin- 23
Not wearing any masks at all- 216

(Again remember these are groups of people, not individuals. The actual number of individual people I saw was easily over 700)

So that’s 296 groups total. 239 of whom were either not wearing any masks or wearing them under their chin/holding them in their hands etc.

So if we break that down into percentages that means that:
19.25% were wearing masks correctly
7.77% had masks but weren’t wearing them over their face
72.97% were not wearing a mask

Now if we go ahead and combine the people who had masks but weren’t wearing them over their face (so basically not actually wearing a mask) and the people without any mask at all we get 80.74%

80.74% NOT WEARING MASKS. IN A LARGE PUBLIC VENUE. DURING A PANDEMIC.

Remember, wearing a mask does not keep YOU safer from catching covid from other people, it keeps OTHER PEOPLE safer from catching covid from YOU.

Take a look at this handy dandy graphic explaining how it works:

So if I’m wearing a mask and I have covid, the people around me are safer from catching covid from me. But if I’m wearing a mask and a person with covid around me isn’t, I am not protected from being infected by them even though I’m wearing a mask.

Please. Look past your own immediate self gratification and comfort and consider the people around you. Consider the elderly family members they live with, the immunocompromised people they care for.

Refusing to wear a mask because it inconveniences you, or claiming it “infringes on your rights” is both willfully ignorant and horrendously selfish.

And for anyone claiming you “can’t breath with a mask on”, that is bullshit and science can prove it. See this article: https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.today.com/today/amp/tdna185344

Wearing a mask is a mild inconvenience and is guaranteed to safe lives. No one is completely safe from this illness. Anyone can get it and anyone can die no matter how invincible you think you are (Yes, even healthy young folks)

Asymptomatic carriers are EVERYWHERE. You could be one and have no idea. You might never even notice you are ill. But the at risk people around you can and will catch it from you if you refuse to take basic fucking precautions and wear a mask.

If you care about a single other human life then please I am begging you. WEAR THE DAMN MASK. IT ISN’T HARD AND IT WILL SAVE LIVES.

Also businesses please mandate masks at your locations if you can. Forcing your employees to wear masks to protect your customers, but not the other way around puts your staff at risk and is super shitty.

I am so fucking tired. Wear a mask, wash your hands and please stop being so goddamn selfish. #wearthedamnmask #covid19 #scienceisfuckingreal