Coronavirus spreads. But don't panic! (topical thread)

[Dancefortwo]

So I had to go to the post office to mail an overseas envelope to our bank in Germany.  Not my favorite outing.
At first, I was literally the only person I saw wearing a mask at all.  Not one of the USPS employees was wearing one.

 Eventually, customers coming in wearing masks started to outnumber those without, so I guess it's clumps and clusters.  And to be fair, most appeared to be wearing them correctly.  But a few were not.  Eventually, one employee wandered out of the back to ask if there were any drop offs only, and he had a mask down around his chin.  He fiddled with it, pulled it up, immediately put it back down around his chin, got no replies to his call for customers, and wandered back into the back.  What's the point of even having a mask using it that way??

My local farmers market was the best, though Costco is also good.  Everyone masked, customers and employees.  Almost everyone wearing it right, though again I spotted one clerk at CostCo with it below her nose, constantly fiddling with it.  

Albertsons was the worst though.  I guess most people are behaving, but it doesn't take many to make it miserable.  25% of people being assholes in a store is quite a lot, making the other 75% miserable.  People deliberately ignoring the one way aisle signs, rolling their eyes, no masks, pushing past people who are following the rules.  And it's not like anyone ever says anything, because you never know if they are going to be one of the fly off the handle and shoot you types, or even just cough on you on purpose.  

ALL of the employees were wearing masks, and ALL of them were doing it incorrectly. Taking them off to talk to each other, wearing it below chin or nose, moving it up and down every 30 seconds.  It just makes me wonder, are we an adult ADHD nation or what?

Anyway, even though I'm sort of starting to get used to these horrible supply trips, they are like visiting some minor circle of hell.  Probably there's not as much danger as I perceive, but it's the behavior that's the most galling.

I understand people chafing at the masks. They are going to get worse as the weather warms up. In cold weather a tight mask actually is more comfortable than wrapping a scarf around your face to stay warm. Although I'm quite near-sighted, I can just get by removing my glasses and being careful not to walk into trees, as it's moderately better than trying to see through fogged up glasses.

Some people feel claustrophobic or like they can't breathe. I have feelings like this at times too but as a CPAP user I've learned to sublimate and disassociate from those feelings and bear with it. And a mask isn't as suffocating and intrusive as a CPAP.

One must be careful not to assume too much when you see someone without a mask, too. I read the other day that deaf-mutes have problems with them because they can't read lips and wearing a mask can cause painful feedback in their cochlear implants.

All of this is to say that masks are not fun and wearing one all day working some shit job for shit pay would easily put anyone in an evil mood. Still, it's something we need to do for the good of all. Sadly I think over the past couple of generations Americans have become much more entitled around some imagined "right" to personal comfort and elevating that above the safety of others.

I met with an interior designer out in front of our house yesterday to hand over some stuff I'd sewn for her and she had no mask on.  She's in her 60's.  I don't get it.   I had a mask on and we had to wrestle with some bolts of fabric to get them out of her minivan that she wanted to give me.   When it was over I went in and washed my hands and the plastic cover that come with the bolts of fabric reeeeeeal goooood.