Anonymous wrote:Regular masks have nothing to do with anxiety. It’s to protect others in case you’re an asymptomatic carrier. Stop scapegoating moms.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:An entire just family just rode by on bikes — they all had masks on. Not rare lately, but our family does not do it. Do what works for you. We are in a dense urban area, but people are very respectful—stepping into street, etc. when passing. My neighbors are all suddenly super friendly; kinda creepy.

The ones I don’t get are the people driving with their mask on.

To help you understand:

The biggest risk from people wearing masks who aren't used to it for virus/bacteria protection (not smoke protections like I had to use one last year being in CA) is that they will actually not handle the mask correctly and infect themselves. There is actually a NIH study about this (with health careworkers and homemade masks).

You must handle the outside of the mask as though it is contaminated when you wear it in public. If you are exposed to viral cells, they will be on the outside of the mask (and some fabric masks are better at filtering to keep them on the outside and not let them through than others - they are not all created equally).

If you are going to more than one store, you may not have a way to take your mask off and keep it from infecting something in your car. When you take your mask off, you should hold it by the tie or elastic part that goes over your ears. You should not touch the front of the mask at all. Then you should drop it right in your washing machine.

If you see people driving in the car with a mask on, it is because they are doing that to not risk contaminating themselves with the mask with then take it off and put it back on again. Or they don't want to set the outside of the mask down on their car seat and risk infecting themselves when touching the seat later. We wear the masks and then drop them straight in the washer. We assume our hands are exposed and then wash our hands.

Anonymous wrote:An entire just family just rode by on bikes — they all had masks on. Not rare lately, but our family does not do it. Do what works for you. We are in a dense urban area, but people are very respectful—stepping into street, etc. when passing. My neighbors are all suddenly super friendly; kinda creepy.

The ones I don’t get are the people driving with their mask on.