8 April 2020 — 1307 mdt
Help save your checkout clerk’s life:
wear a mask, any mask, while shopping
Masks mandatory in Los Angeles
LATimes, 8 April 2020. Effective Friday, Los Angeles residents must wear a mask, bandanna or other type of covering over their noses and mouths when in grocery stores and other essential businesses under an order from Mayor Eric Garcetti. Workers at many businesses must also cover their faces.
Some of the bravest and most frightened people in our nation are our fellow humans who work the checkout stations at supermarkets and other essential businesses that must remain open during the science fiction nightmare in which we now are living.
We need to keep these workers, and fellow human beings, alive. That’s both in our enlightened self-interest to survive, and a fundamental moral obligation members of a species owe each other.
One thing we all can do is wear a face mask while shopping. Although only N95 masks intercept particles as small as viruses, even cloth masks made from high thread count pillowcases attenuate the spread of virus laden aerosols discharged when one sneezes or coughs, or even when one shouts loudly.
The surgical mask I wear on my few outings provides me with little protection against inhaling the coronavirus, but should I be an asymptomatic carrier of the disease, my mask provides everyone else with some measure of protection. Even if I can’t protect myself, I can help protect others.
I’ve made three outings in the last two weeks. One, last week, to my pharmacy for a three-month supply of medications, and three over the weekend, one to the emergency room at KRH for a non-respiratory problem, two to my pharmacy. I combined a pharmacy visit with what I hope is my last grocery shopping outing until the coronavirus emergency passes.
During my weekend outings, I saw only a few customers wearing masks. Most customers were observing social distancing, but they were not wearing masks and they were not holding their breath when they approached the food on the shelves. I thoroughly cleaned everything when I got home.
My supermarket has erected plexiglas sneeze shields at the checkout stations, banned reusable bags, and placed big red and white social distancing markers at six-foot intervals on the floor. But the checkout clerks are barefaced and are not wearing gloves. They need N95 masks, but won’t get them for a while.
Meanwhile, they need their customers to wear face masks. That will help.
Procure a mask. Wear it. Keep food on your table and your checkout station clerks out of coffins.