We live in a country where our highest ranking medical official thinks that Vitamin A either cures or treats measles.
As I have expressed before, it is very disturbing that our experiences with Covid-19 has not compelled hospital networks to have medical personnel wear N95 masks throughout the traditional flu season. That adaptation would have been the very least amount of effort in order to curb the traditionally contagious diseases, nevermind Covid.
It does not make sense to institute masking requirements *AFTER* infectious diseases are significantly affecting your community but *BEFORE* they do so. We know that influenza and "the cold" are seasonal; Why not anticipate the increased amount of infections by having masking requirements instituted before they occur? Curbing Covid-19 infections would only be an added benefit to that policy.
We are fortunate that, for this winter so far, the level of Covid infections and deaths have been lower than normal. However, influenza spiked far earlier than normal and Norovirus was also far more infectious than usual.
And then, obviously, there is the now-constant measles outbreaks which are becoming commonplace in areas of the country.
I do not consider wearing a N95 mask in these conditions to be an abnormal response in this environment and will continue to do so until I feel that I am in a safe and responsible environment.
.. my sentiments exactly masking properly has been proven to prevent airborne illness and airborne disease... therefore if we know something works then we should continue to routinely use it! It is
feeble-minded and considered a form of 'science denial' not to use something that works!
By the way I cleaned my chimney yesterday. I wore a mask because people aren't supposed to breathe in chimney creosote and soot any more than they are supposed to breathe in airborne droplets from sick people. So I just don't understand Masks should be required of chimney sweeps to prevent breathing in cancerous harmful soot just like guys who paint cars need to wear masks to prevent inhaling dangerous fumes and so airborne illness are dangerous for all so it just follows that people in healthcare people including patients need to mask for contagious illness ..it just goes with the territory.. its just so simple!
Illnesses are dangerous for everybody! And nowadays sooner or later there's gonna be an outbreak of sorts. There's always going to be a time when an airborne illness hits so I'm one who will wear a mask in advance. That's why masking is also referred to as a precaution.. 'pre' meaning prior.. you mask prior to the exposure therefore preventing the exposure.
... you see I'd rather mask to prevent getting the infection than have to mask because I have an infection or am infectious.
Also I'd rather experiment with the mask by using the mask as an experiment than to catch a virus and be experimented on by the virus. I'd rather see what the long term effects are from wearing a mask than see what the long term effects are from getting covid or any of the other viruses readily available to me. That's really how masking evolved for me. Covid came along and I decided I really don't wanna play with that covid and so I masked for that.. and then others seemed to drop their maske willing to experiment with catching covid and I just waited and decided I think I'll experiment by continuing to wear my mask and so I kept the experiment going because I had such good results never getting sick plus the mask simply made doing all sorts of other stuff safer.
It was like masking for me was such a successful experiment so its been 6 years of healthy success in my masking thus far! Again I'd rather experiment with the mask than have whatever is out there experiment on me. To me it seemed noble and still does. Masking is a noble and rewarding experiment! and sure enough people who haven't taken precautions or masked have caught covid and other stuff. There's even money involved call me a cheapskate but a cheapskate skates for free lemme tell you not getting sick equals no doctor bills .. medical bills can set you back forever.. Masking is also good insurance. So all those factors played a part and reinforced and rewarded my experience of masking.
I Mask for what I think is dangerous. Illness equals DANGER to me. I also mask because I have scientific mindset in that Ive weighed certain factors and so it's a choice based on reason. It's not motivated by fear that I mask ..its that I choose to mask because of the long term ramifications and repercussions involved with airborne illness. I simply choose to guard myself from the long term repercussions.
For me Masking is based on reasoning and intellect. Enough things happened in this world that I just decided it is highly intelligent to mask and never get a contagious illness. Life became better after I decided that. There's just too many benefits from masking to ever quit.
I'm 55 and have been around long enough to know what a disease will get me so I found it much more exciting to see what masking would get me.. anybody can get sick. Getting sick is boring to me. I wanna see what its like to never get sick. It's far more interesting to mask and be a masked man!
That is how I became a Masked Man!
P.S. For a certain time span Its just easier to stay masked for me for example.. I'm going outside I'm grabbing a bunch of dusty straw and filling some outdoor boxes with straw for our feral cats.. my mask is on filtering out any possibility of allergies from straw and out door cat bedding..its perfect.. then I get a bunch of wood for the wood stove and grab the mail and then got inside wash may hands and take my mask off. That masking only made my work more safe for me. People don't bother me when I'm getting my mail... I was actually listening to some scholars discussing some classic literature philosophers therough earbuds the whole time I did all this stuff so I dont have to look over my shoulder just incase somebody caught me by surprise out side and no chance of allergies from working closely with cat bedding and straw...
...I was just totally happy in my own world listening to interesting lectures about great philosophers and so I am completely safe and I don't have to think when I have my mask on outside ... and when I go inside I don't have to worry one bit about giving my loved one any illnesses ..to me masking frees me up in oh so many ways . I just take my time outside in my own world. That's what it feels like for me. Sometimes I might grab a helmet, hop on my bike in my mask and race up the road and back.. its perfect. no chance of getting sick by anybody and no chance of breathing in occupational hazards.. Masking is like having a helmet on in the wind under tree limbs that are falling in the yard or like working under an apple tree when the apples are falling.. you can keep working without nearly as much worry. Masking will spoil you in ways you never would have thought.
.. and that's just one day .. chimney sweep..mowing the lawn... work with hazardous material I just always mask outdoors I'm always ready for whatever almost like a first responder.Anybody or any animal or any dust or allergen can blow in or at whenever I'm ready! Whenever I am outside its always something harsh or dangerous here in the mountains. This is a harsh environment and I like it that way! I live kind of rough yet safe with my protective gills /filter/mask. I end up doing more stuff that requires a mask being outdoors. I take advantage. All I know is I got used to it and I have far less troubles now than in the pre pandemic days before 2020 when I was maskless. That's all I know . it makes my life better now because I proved it does for myself. I simply stand to gain more by wearing a mask than not wearing one.
Masking for me know is kind of like wearing glasses for me..I wore contacts for awhile and realized in the long haul they are just uncomfortable for me ... you wear glasses all your life and you realize its kind of nice like your eyes don't tear up as much and you are a little bit more protected from wind and dust and you just don't get as much stuff in your eyes with glasses on... mask feels like that now for me. You do it long enough and you realize its more pleasant to mask than not mask. Like a wide brimmed hat or something you get used to a mask and its benefits will spoil you.
You ever play chess? Its all about strategy...
Above all, the mask is all about strategy. You got a mask on and you are in a perfect defensive mode. Your king or queen is never in danger when you are masked and you are that king or queen! Ever play checkers? Being masked is like you just made it all the way across the board to the other side and now you are king and can move in any direction now.
Yet even more reasoning to mask for me is based on unpredictbality and how little is known as indicated by publicly admitted semantics and the studies. For example I base it on how many times they have been wrong about something or omitted something which indicates to me a science denial. Numerous studies can be cited about the insidious nature of the long term heat repercussions diseases carry such as long covid. They've never establish true rates of long covid.. maybe they think they have more of a handle on covid and maybe they say the latest variants carries less symptoms of initial infection but that doesn't diminish the rate of long covid.. in fact more people might get long covid because more people will catch covid thinking the initial infection phase is more tolerable. In public media they tend to only focus on surviving initial phase of covid and dismiss all possibility of long term repercussions. I don't trust that and won't for the many years to come..
...in its very essence and in reality covid is totally novel in this lifetime and we won't know for sure even in our lifetime if covid won't carry dormant repercussions like dementia or something could occur. So covid is even more of a threat the less people are afraid of the initial infection period... Think of how the completely asymptomatic people with covid will multiply even more so and carry and spread more covid hence more long covid will persist. I don't like how the general public or typical news 'feels'..I don't 'feel' like them... I see a lot of people in most news media and I get indications people just 'want' and 'feel' and 'hope' for the best and I don't rely on those feelings or sentiments. I have more of a scientific approach to how I carry myself and make decisions in life so I am not complacent and I mask in accordance to what I believe has reality in it and about cause and effect.
If they are doing studies on children that have recently got long covid then that's more than enough reason to mistrust the covid era is truly over. I apply all my reasons for masking to bird flu potential as well as monkey pox etc. Even if things got better I would rather mask because it is an investment and an insurance against a very real threat that again based on patterns and my belief in today's and tomorrow's denser population, massive high speed transportation, and climate. I'm not going to get any younger might as well live accordingly to what I see the future will bring. So I am also masking based on my personal beliefs. I am more excited about the future because its like a bet.. bet you I will fare better and longer than the unmasked. So far I am faring better than the maskless.I am living as if the mask works and it is. Imagine things 20 years from now and its easier to go ahead and mask based on that.
I also simply mask to maintain what I have. I am happy with what I got. I am proficient enough in countless skills and activities while masking and so I believe in not fixing or tampering with success.Not to brag but I have far fewer illnesses and maladies than I perceive others have although I have no way of proving that I don't know anybody else that can do half the things I can do as safely as me. Because the mask doesn't hinder my success I include it in my activities outside the house. It was sort of like in 2020 or so everybody was scared and many of us thought masking was the responsible and best thing to do.. then most everybody stopped masking and I kept my mask on while everybody appears to be going downhill. I have even gone as far as to reason to myself what would do If I had all the money in the world and I was eighty years old? How would I live at that age? Surely I'd mask, sit back and live like a king so why not now.. if its good for an eighty year old to mask to not get airborne illnesses then same applies to everybody! Just cause I'm not the ripe old age of eighty doesn't mean I want to get covid or anything for that matter ..lol..
...its all downhill from here. Might as well start taking care of myself now. Better to be healthy behind a mask than sick behind one. there was a brief time when I saw school children on a bus stop masking and a school bus driver masking and I thought "man, those masked kids and the masked school bus driver and me the Masked Man are going to be the only healthy ones left. They are the chosen few. There was a very brief time I had the most hope was in 2020 when I bicycled some baked goods across town in my mask and would meet farmers market people who were masking .. we were safer when people were scared to catch covid and masking. Eventually masked people will endure and be doing business with masked people and it will thrive and flourish! Its a great skill and you'd think masked people stand to profit the most in the business world.
To me politicians are too bigheaded to trust and too big for their britches I sport these views because as a kid in West Virginia I witnessed many men cut down by the black lung from the coal mines sickly waving to me from their porches... no politics in the world could save them as a matter of fact politicians were promising those very same people that they were going to bring back the coal mines.. I learned my lesson having observed all those coal miners with black lung that the government could not protect them from black lung or covid if covid existed at that time.
..I kept saying to myself I'll wait six months and observe and simply watch how everybody does. You know what happen ? More and more viruses emerged with new threats meanwhile I saw brain fog and even dementia occurring in public leaders and I sensed a mania and nervousness in people going on just by observing people on my street. I just sense that it is getting worse. The health reccomendations didn't happen like professionals thought .. herd immunity and a cure never really occurred and people got long covid which was my worst fear about covid to begin with... leaders declared pandemics were over even while they were catching covid so I gained trust only in myself ... It's just natural to acknowledge whether we like it or not that diseases and the diseased are creepy. Its hard to interact with a sick animal.. illness is upsetting and dangerous...
Let me elaborate so I don't offend victims of illness who are responsible and coping.. naturally there are people that have to deal with being ill and chronically ill and are in a state of responsible management.. my critique of dealing with sick people doesn't apply to those who acknowledge illness and are in treatment and coping with illness however people who don't acknowledge illness or know their limits are often dangerous ...Sickness is weakness and is not good period. There is mistrust as well that goes along with any animal that is sick. I don't trust people in office who are sick that's for sure... I have trust issues when I see someone who is sick or open to sickness. As a masked person I don't trust people to make sound decisions or judgements while they are sick or hurting which is naturally why I view maskless people at being at a disadvantage in life.
I definitely don't trust a maskless person with my life like I would a masked person. Maskless people aren't defending themselves from my point of view in a strategic fashion.. anyway much can be said of the big scale, small scale, & wide-scale repercussions of trying to deal with sick or unhealthy persons and people who are out of control because on some level they feel bad and are sick and this applies to the sick ones that don't know they are sick or unhealthy. Even the asymptomatic ones seem especially dangerous to me. It's dangerous simply not knowing whether a person is sick or not and therefore the maskless people are viewed to me as being at risk or more prone to illness. To me it is wiser to be a masker and never get sick for the reason alone that sick people and often people in the throes of a disease can't be trusted..
..so I also mask because I want others to mask because sick people are horrible to deal with and typically not pleasant to be around .. ever have to to work alongside a sick person or a person on the verge of sickness? ..its awful their behavior is atrocious they can't even help it but an ill person or a person falling ill has no clarity and are annoying and dangerous and can't be trusted whatsoever because their bodies are fighting themselves and they are sick or about to get sick.. they are hurting and not patient or prudent when they are sick. Masked people are safer to be around.
...Study after study came out the quality of life and control and power over people's life seemed to diminish from what I see locally, politically and health wise so eventually I realized I was smart and will keep masking due to my own personal success. I've been rewarded with maintaining a baseline of good health by masking. It is a noble experiment and even a great skill to have that has paid off for me or I wouldn't have continued. I can control whether I get sick or not which is an amazing virtue!(Nobody else maskless holds that beautiful power and they seem helpless and desperate when they get sick... its scary that they can't control that about their bodies and their bodies betray them) When you can control whether you get sick or not by a simple act such as masking you are onto something there! That's a mastery and a power indeed!
I also mask because it's not all about me. Even best case scenario for me personally I don't want to give others covid or anything ... maybe I'm religious in that sense I believe what goes around comes around and I have an obligation because its not practical financially or health-wise nor is it in my best interest to give my loved ones or anybody an illness which is an illness I don't trust. It has not been sufficiently proved to me that catching covid is a safe thing to do. I am a person that lives according to what I see is proven. I like proofs not wishes because I am like a scientists..I experiment wearing the mask while others experiment catching diseases and illnesses. I simply observe from my mask like a masked scientist safely and objectively waiting to see what becomes taking notes.
I mostly use the respiratory type mask with shell cartridges fairly impervious to rain. I even use a bandanna which serves sort of like a dust cover for my respiratory mask... insofar as n95 masks go I recommend the ones that have little exhale valves. I feel they are the most comfortable and safer because one can freely exhale the air out while still being protected when breathing in.(unless you are masking because you are sick because if you are sick wearing the ones with exhale valves won't protect others from illness).
