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| BOO!!! |
So a dear friend of mine fashioned me a mask that seems to be a little easier to breathe through under strenuous exercise, having a somewhat looser weave than a tightly woven N-95 or similar but better than some of the single layer headscarfs I've seen around. I tried it out yesterday, which was a very muggy day indeed. A few quick thoughts after the high humidity test.
One, it worked fine even when climbing hard. I didn't think I was any shorter of breath than I would have been maskless and I was pushing it to around max heart rate a few times on my Gonzales Road/Sierra del Norte loop. Two, when steeply climbing uphill, my prescription sunglasses turned into a rain forest so I had to fiddle with the mask and glasses and finally pull the mask down to avoid running into things. Three, to take a gulp from the water bottle the mask must come down. Four, it got soggy as hell.So it is definitely catching a lot of droplets.
But otherwise it worked great. If you are around people (downtown, running errands, on a busy road or bike path, etc) I think you are morally obliged to wear a mask, even if you want to grump about the health order. Fashion a good one, or one of those tubular things you can pull up around your face. Its COVID out there and it ain't going away. Last thing you want to be doing while riding your bike is unintentionally giving someone else The Bug if you are diseased but asymptomatic. Or, be seen setting a bad example, of which there are enough already. I've seen a number of people milling around the plaza lately maskless in numbers. Kinda dumb, and probably why our New Mexico numbers are going up fast. As Steve said in a comment, when people in his community got sloppy the numbers went up fast.
Be smart out there. The life you save may be your own. Or that of a loved one. As far as PPE, I spent sixteen years working in a Plutonium facility. You let your
guard down, you get "crapped up", as we say in my business. So I guess I
try to be careful with this COVID stuff. You can check for alpha
contamination with a hand held monitor. You find out about COVID
contamination when you get sick and its too late.
2 comments:
Our numbers in Ocean Shores in July have topped our previous "all time to the present" totals. We're seeing TV commercials saying we should wear masks when we go outside - like to walk the dog on a quiet morning or to ride the bike to get coffee at 6AM, or when we go to a beach where the winds are coming from Japan via the Jet Stream and the nearest person is a quarter mile away. OTOH, without such silliness, many people will take the "use common sense" as a license to hang out at "Charlie's in Montesano" with no mask at all. Apparently, that is a true episode responsible for much of our new Covid spike.
I trust that your loyal readers realize that the first rule is to stay as far away from potential contaminants as practical (not practicable), and to wear a mask when that distance is too small for gas dispersion (which is pretty much true inside any store). After leaving any location where mask wearing is deemed prudent, hand sanitizer should accompany its removal on any potentially tainted items including bike handlebars and glasses.
Hi Steve. I think your point is an important one. Without a KISS approach, people soon get sloppy and well, heck, I'm only gonna be in this Charlie's Place for a few minutes...
I spent sixteen years working in a Plutonium facility. You let your guard down, you get "crapped up", as we say in my business. So I guess I try to be careful with this COVID stuff. You can check for alpha contamination with a hand held monitor. You find out about COVID contamination when you get sick and its too late.
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