- sit at home 24/7
- wear a mask
These 2 things seem rather different in magnitude.
- wear a mask
These 2 things seem rather different in magnitude.
Don’t forget that masks are to protect others at least as much as yourself.
That seems to depend on the mask itself, some masks explicitly state that they offer no protection to the wearer and only serve to provide protection to others _from_ the wearer.
This article, for me, highlights one of the major problems of this entire response. Various establishments keep trying to present a rather black-and-white binary view on these subjects.
They're doing a particularly poor job of explaining the spectrum of risks and protections that are available and how to apply that knowledge to your own individual circumstances.
I had a different underestanding: I thought masks are to protect others, overwhelmingly, and there might also be some protecting power for yourself, in a much lesser amount.
The concept is consistent with "since you can, limit dispersing the droplets".
I unfortunately do not have bookmarked articles about this though. Do you have any good source (e.g. to state that masks have a protecting power for the wearer comparable to that for the others)?
Amongst all of our social responsibilities as human being, wearing a mask is probably the easiest, most bare-minimum thing imaginable, right up there with "don't litter". And just like I don't respect people who litter, I don't at all respect people who don't wear masks in crowded places.
edit: wowfunhappy deleted their comment, but previously it said that the reason they don't wear a mask is because "it fogs up my glasses and is hot and sweaty", and went on to say that such hardships "affect [them] psychologically". This is exactly what I'm referring to in the first sentence of my comment. Absurdity.
And while this part pertains more to other people wearing masks—I honestly feel like universal masking affects me psychologically. I have a huge amount of trouble recognizing people's faces when their masks are on—I didn't even recognize my sister when I ran into her on the subway—and I'm not able to read anyone's expressions.
I'm not an anti-masker, and I wore one diligently throughout 2020 and early 2021, but I'm just not willing to do it forever! Wearing a mask is by no means torturous, but I really do think it is life-altering. Similar to social distancing, masks change every single interaction I have with others.
I'm aware that masks protect others in addition to myself, but where does my responsibility end? I wear a mask on public transit, and I'll wear a mask any time someone asks me to put one on. But I'm not going to wear one otherwise, and I'm significantly less likely to go into a store if there's a sign on the front that masks are required. I think I should be able to make that choice, and other people can make the opposite choice.
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Edit: Re your edit, sorry about that, I actually deleted the above comment from downthread in order to post it here instead, and our actions seem to have crossed.
Check the nose clip of your mask. Fogging your glasses might mean it's not sealing correctly around the nose, so that the hot humid air from your breath is being directed upwards towards the interior of your glasses, and also allowing unfiltered outside air inside the mask when you inhale.
Last winter, I even bought a mask from https://zerofogmask.com/?v=7516fd43adaa, which you heat up with a hair drier before wearing for the first time so it molds to the shape of your face. It admittedly worked better than a normal mask, but only partially and only for a few uses, which wasn't economical at $20 each. Plus, it was particularly uncomfortable.
I'd suggest using paper tape for this because the skin around the eyes is very delicate and regular medical tape is a bitch to get off. They used medical tape, and I felt like it was ripping my lower eyelids off when I removed it!