Everyone else walking around, eating, drinking, working, like it's 2019.
My lawyer tells me how cautious & risk adverse she is so she can't answer some points on the spot.
She says this with no irony at all, as she & her coworkers are busy rawdogging the inside air, just after the second largest peak in wastewater signal since the pandemic started.
In 4 years of surreal moments, this was right up there towards the peak of Mt. Surreal.
I took careful steps to ensure I understood how to do a complex process. Great.
Go to execute - blam - instructions were wrong. From a bank. 🙄
Had to run to a bank branch on a shot clock to get it done.
This is where risk increases, & mistakes happen. This is exactly what I meant by "sailing to a schedule".
Downtown financial district right where I used to work. Not as busy as pre-pandemic but way more people than I have seen in a looong time. Branch was full.
Zero (0) masks. Not on staff, not on customers. Pandemic is clearly over for the financial district.
I made a mistake of not taking my CO2 meter to assess air quality in the rush.
I have resigned myself to the mental model that my respirator is now no different in society than a wheelchair, cane or other ability assist for those of us who care about managing #COVID#massinfection#risk.
What do people use against condensation in their elastomeric masks? We just got unvented elipse masks and while I like the extra filter space inside for easier breathing, it got condensation really quickly today compared to the vented version. #covid#Elastomeric
Be careful out there. While #COVID19 in US wastewater is at the 2nd-highest level of the pandemic nationally, it's quite variable. Things had been worse in the Northeast and Midwest, but the NWSS dashboard shows the South and West caught up rapidly in just a week or two. But, some areas are even worse. Here in #Wisconsin, the South Shore wastewater plant has the highest average reading of the entire pandemic (and just recorded the 4th worst single reading ever.)
Two days ago, I went to an especially dangerous place, with an #Elastomeric#N95 and special prescription glasses designed to keep surrounding air out of my eyes. I snorted not one but two different kinds of nasal sprays immediately after, and gargled with CPC mouthwash.
There I wound up closer to an unmasked person who had obviously been sick than I’d been since 2020. Sniffles and throat clearing, and standing right next to me.
I used to have a sail boat. One of the most important #safety rules in sailing is "don't sail on a schedule".
What this means is that if you have a destination & a deadline, you will override safety signals (like weather) & travel in unsafe conditions due to deadline pressure. This is how serious accidents happen while sailing.
Planning for sailing puts an emphasis on having a checklist that includes having situational awareness of issues like boat condition, charts, & weather by explicitly checking the marine weather forecasts.
Also you have to be prepared to bail on your destination & schedule if the safety signals change. You have to know where your closest port is to seek shelter if a storm arises.
It occurred to me that the #airbornePrecautions equivalent is "don't be task focused on a deadline".
The need to get a task done by a deadline causes you to lose situational awareness, & accept risk that you would not otherwise accept if you thought your safety plan through ahead of time.
This is exacerbated by the total lack of a danger signal in society right now. No mitigations visible. Out of sight, out of mind.
This bit me yesterday getting a vaccination from an unmasked pharmacist in a small room. I took a risk I should not have, because I lost situational awareness under the drive to get the task done. I never would have accepted that risk in my pre-thought out safety plan. But it just popped up in the middle of the task, & I let it slide because I wasn't situationally aware.
Now, ofc I was wearing #P100#elastomeric so the risk here is relative. My event was ocular exposure during high water mark for community transmission, not being maskless. But it is not a risk I would have taken in a pre-thought through safety plan.
And that's the big deal now. Every little ordinary task needs a safety plan.
It's frustrating. It's exhausting.
When it goes wrong, when the safety signals change, when you get off plan, you have to be prepared to "bail". Halt a task, walk out, cancel, reschedule. Find a safe port in the new storm.
I should have refused entry with a maskless pharmacist. Cancelled, requested accommodation & rescheduled.
This is a kind of risk "velocitization" that happens. I am getting velocitized into one-way masking even during high #community#transmission periods. Everyone else but me unmasked is the new normal.
This is how accidents happen - a bunch of little issues leading to an unwanted, unplanned outcome.
Wow. Now I see what all the fuss is about. Just purchased a case of #n95#3M#aura respirators for the local mask distro, had been hearing folks simply raving about these in various chats, texts, etc., so I finally tried one on. These are really comfortable and seal really well compared with a half dozen other N95 brands I've tried, including my fave Benehal black.
Why for the love of aerosol physics do they not have these in Aura masks in black yet?!!
@RebelGeek99
The auras are awesome #masks. I wore them exclusively before switching to the #Flomask#elastomeric . A black option that I've convinced my friends/family who finds the aura uncomfortable (especially the elastic around your head), to try (and they all love them!) is the LG Airwasher KF94 https://a.co/d/bMTZFbC
This morning was my first time in two weeks of being in the same indoor space as anyone outside my #Covid cautious household. Right behind the unmasked woman with the wet juicy cough at the drug store, where I am forced to go on a regular basis to pick up my meds.
That’s what the #elastomeric#N95 and dry-eye prescription glasses with silicone eye cups are for, I guess. And the Enovid I snorted after getting back in my vehicle, for what good that does.
Subtoot: Hate to break it but proof of vaccination would not make return-to-office even remotely covid safe. Vaccines haven't been reliable for preventing covid infections for a very long time now and even when they do their efficacy plummets after a month or two. To make offices safe you would need both masking (N95 or better) and enough air filtration to get multiple air changes per hour. Those are the facts. That is what the science says
@eniko Well said. I completely agree and have decided not to get a fifth mRNA shot bc I never spend much time around people and always wear an #Elastomeric#N95 whenever I have to be. Novavax, maybe, but doubt it’s that much better.
About a year and a half ago, I wrote a Twitter thread about what I call the cargo cult of the vaccine. All these people standing there, waiting for the cargo that would get unloaded from magic airplanes of immunity and normalcy.
There's one layer of swiss cheese that I would never omit:
Respirators.
This is the only layer that can prevent close-proximity transmission.
As long as you're wearing one that you know seals to your face and isn't soaked or super old, it's going to protect you from all the invisible ways #TrojanAir can get into your nose and mouth.
And even if you haven't proven that it seals, it's damp, or you've worn it a bunch of times before, it's still going to provide more protection than any other layer(s).
Please, please don't think you can compensate for being unmasked by utilizing combinations of other layers.
All the other layers are designed to make a respirator more effective or provide backup in the event a respirator lets a bit of something through. Even vaccines were trialled in the context of universal masking; their original efficacy numbers are a product of that environment.
If you can't get your hands on any respirators, reach out and I'll connect you to someone in your region who can help. If I have to ship you some myself, I will.
Has anyone successfully started a #mask#library, which stocks different kinds and sizes of #elastomeric and #N95 masks for people to try on for fit before spending $$ ordering their own? I have tried 4 different elastomerics, none fit well, so they are just sitting unused now: a #waste. I can afford to order and try several types to get good fit, but many ppl can’t. Can I donate my masks to be a resource for others to try? (They can be cleaned and let sit for days between tries?)
Have a trip to the store planned soon, first time I will have left the driveway of our rural property for over a week. Not looking forward to it.
Will be wearing an #elastomeric#N95 respirator, of course. Plus dry-eye Rx glasses, snorting Enovid immediately before and after, and trying not to be angry at everyone.
Well, I finally went off the property to restock some groceries and wouldn’t be surprised if my #Envomask#elastomeric#N95 and dry-eye prescription glasses were all that separated me from a swarm of #SARS2 floating around the place. The only cashier on duty was hacking up a lung—she was fine the last time I was there a few weeks ago. I decided to embrace the self-checkout concept for a change and GTFO.
Snorted some #Enovid and did an eye rinse for a little extra peace of mind. #CovidIsNotOver
My wife and I just returned from a trip to Western Washington State, doing our best to stay free of #Covid. Mostly outdoor stuff, darting into a restaurant for takeout, using way more public toilets than we’d have liked. This after basically living like hermits for much of the past three years.
I wish I could say it was great to be around people again, but it wasn’t. I’m frustrated, tired, and so very disappointed with almost everyone.
This 🧵 is a bit of a rant for fellow #ZeroCovid people.
…do all those people really have no idea that they have essentially zero protection against infection, no matter how many boosters they’ve gotten? Or that the #vaccines only reduce their odds of #LongCovid by about half? Does that make the remaining half somehow acceptable to them?
A few days of doing the thousand-yard stare past all those naked snouts looking at my #Envomask#elastomeric#N95 was more than enough. Masked for every bathroom visit, the store, getting takeout, even trails.
@neil@dans I wear an #N95#elastomeric not because I care about anyone in the naked snout parade but because I am determined to remain Covid-free as long as I possibly can. Preferably forever.
It has an exhalation valve. I don’t care about their health any more than they care about their own.