Day Twenty One

Who was that masked man?

Those of us who grew up in the first half of the 20^th century will be familiar with this question,  asked by those who watched The Lone Ranger ride away after doing his good deeds.

Today, the masked personnel doing good deeds are in our healthcare system and today the question is: ‘Who wants a mask, man?’

Or ‘Do I need a mask to prevent the spread of Covid-19?’

No one seems to have the definitive answer.

YES! Say those working with suspected and confirmed C-19 cases.

YES! Say those who deplore the lack of enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) including masks,  available to care workers

YES! Says the public as they face the outside world, or those who come into contact with it.

NO! Says the Ministries of Health in many parts of the world, including New Zealand, the UK and the USA - although as I write, that position, possibly due to massive public outcry, is changing.

So why are masks such a contentious issue?

Corona is a droplet infection;  it’s carried on the breath, so the coughs and especially sneezes, which can travel 25ft (7.62 metres,  far further than our social distancing),

are serious dangers.

Patti Wood, author of Success Signals: Understanding Body Language says a single sneeze can send 100,000 germs into the air.

That’s the air you may breathe in if you are in the vicinity of a C-19 infected person. The air anyone around you is free to breathe in if you cough or sneeze.

This is not intended to alarm you, only to point out that the Ministries of Health have known these truths for decades, so why are they saying ‘no’?

Partly because it’s been shown that the ordinary cloth masks, the disposable ones we once used to buy from the pharmacy, are not 100% effective in controlling the breath cloud and therefore the germs. Bits of breath blow out the sides into the air.

Only close fitting surgical masks have a higher rate of protection and most of us don’t have access to them.

Then there’s the added problem that Covid-19 can be spread by touch.

The germs can stay on surfaces, ready to jump onto hands and wait there until the unsuspecting person rubs an eye or bites a fingernail.  No mask protects against that.

But those who say ‘no’, forget a very important point.  Some of us need the  psychological  protection of a mask.   ‘Better safe than sorry’ even if that safety is not 100% guaranteed, at least we’re doing something  apart from singing Happy Birthday over the wash basin.

So if wearing a mask makes you feel safer, wear one, whatever the Authorities say.

Incidentally, it really doesn’t need to be a mask like this:

A recent BBC radio programme advised if you can’t get a mask, scarves can be used. 

Thin, chiffon scarves with two facial tissues folded into them, the tissues positioned over the nose and mouth, is good.

My friend Suze has utilised wipes, drying them and folding into her favourite summer scarf.   

 Try wearing a scarf like hijab, which allows a fold to be placed across nose and mouth.

A neighbour’s grandson wears a balaclava (it’s getting chilly in the mornings now) with only his eyes exposed. He looks like a bank robber.

None of these are absolute guarantees that we will not get Covid-19 but with the other precautions,  they can make us feel we are helping to fight the virus in whatever way we can.

 Jean Baudrillard, French sociologist and philosopher who died in 2007, once said, ‘All society ends up wearing masks.’ 

However did he know?