Last week I reiterated the need for continued masking, but I focused on "why" instead of "how", which I think can use some attention. I have changed how I am doing things.
The first change is that I have given up cloth masks in favor of KN95 masks.
I am very lucky in working from home, so when I need to wear a mask that is usually for shopping or leisure activities, and then church. Previously I had felt comfortable with a cloth mask in those situations.
Based on the apparently higher transmissability of some of the more recent variants, I feel the need for the greater security of the KN95 masks. I still own the cloth masks; but right now they feel insufficient.
Part of that is there was a time when it could be reasonable to hope that you would not actually encounter anyone infected. That seems more and more unlikely, especially with so many people having given up.
That is not going to me.
It has also affected the type of leisure I am willing to seek. A few months ago we spent a few days in Los Angeles, and flew to get there. I wore cloth masks on the trip, and they were mainly outside activities, but for the plane and airport, I wore KN95. We also attended a concert as part of that, masked, but did spend time around people unmasked outdoors.
Even with a KN95 mask, I would not get on a plane right now, and I would not attend an indoor concert. In fact, we canceled a trip. Part of that was that air travel is starting to have an awful lot of delays and cancellations, but those are related to the increase infection rate, and the amounts of those infections that are happening on planes where many choose not to mask. We did not want to risk getting stranded, but we also did not want to risk getting sick.
I am reusing KN95 masks, within reason. Fortunately, the signs of needing replacement are fairly noticeable. If it is becoming harder to breathe, that indicates more air particles are being trapped, meaning that the electrostatic charge is weakening. That means it is time to dispose of it.
In addition, if the seal is no longer tight -- which can mean the straps are getting looser or that the nose bridge is broken or there is a tear -- then it is time to replace it.
If it is dirty, that is also a reason.
I am still doing outdoor activities, though being more mindful of crowd size.
I fully admit that it sucks, but there are good reasons for taking care of each others' health, and our own, as gone over last week.
And our problems have extended beyond COVID.
If you had gotten in the habit of extra hand sanitizing for COVID, even when being told it is only transmitted via respiration, that hand sanitizing may pay off now, because Monkeypox can survive on surfaces.
A new thing that I will not do? Trying on clothes in stores, or wearing new clothes without washing them.
It is important to pay attention here, because the media on the resurgence has focused on sexual transmission between gay men. Well, that sort of body contact can transmit it, but it is not the only way, and it spreads much like the chicken pox that was so contagious among children before the vaccine. Expect rapid spreading among children once school starts.
Also -- and this should be fought rather than merely expected -- expect conservatives who are trying to frame any admission that gay people exist as "grooming" to try and inflame homophobia and fears of child molestation. Speak out against that.
Also, now polio is coming back, and given the local measles outbreak of 2019, whooping cough cases, the environmental havoc of global warming and the pandemic(s?)... well, there are just a lot of reasons to exercise caution.
Are you caught up on shots?
Do you practice good hygiene?
Do you do medically foolish things to prove your superiority to everyone else and your loyalty to absolutely terrible people? (Yes, I phrased that in a way that may irritate some, but they irritated me first.)
And are you masking appropriately?
If you haven't started you still can.
https://www.verywellhealth.com/how-many-times-rewear-mask-5217510
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