I confess that I'll probably touch mine more than I should, as I'll only want to have it over my face when it's absolutely necessary (i.e. take it off when I'm not actually in a shop). I reckon its next airing will be when I try again to sort out my application for a bank account.
For Ethne Alba it is a general rule in Scotland that no alcohol can be sold before 10a.m.
Sometime the aisle with alcoholic drinks is blocked off till 10 a.m., at other times it is not, but the rule is still the same.
It used to be that alcohol could not be sold on Sundays before 12.30 pm (after church services)
Remember that there was no compulsory closing of shops on Sundays in Scotland because it was simply taken as read that no-one would be going out to the bigger shops anyway.
Then the government had the idea that schoolchildren might be buying alcohol on their way to school or at the very least school children might see others drinking alcohol when they were setting off for school. So no alcohol before 10 a.m. but as a quid pro quo the rule about Sundays is relaxed.
Our own difficulty with this rule is the bigger supermarkets who have special meal deals with a bottle of wine. Sometimes the best deals go before 10 a.m. but if you want the bottle of wine you have to wait till 10 a.m.
I’ve been wearing snoods for my morning walks since lockdown started. As you say, very convenient to use if I pop to the corner shop or pass close to someone, and can accessorise easily. Never thought about making it damp on hot days (used to do that with children’s hats).
If I go somewhere indoors (hospital, supermarket, went to a restaurant on Monday) I tend to carry a homemade fabric mask.
I keep mine in the Amandamobile and put it on when leaving the car. It's so hot in the car (thanks to the summer Arizona sun) that no living creature could survive for long.
I always take care to handle the mask by the straps only. I've finally mastered the art of removing it without the straps getting tangled up in my hearing aids.
Dear me - what a learning curve we're all on! The snood/neck gaiter has the advantage of being easily adjusted, despite the 'bunching up' I've experienced, but the mask proper was much more comfortable. Handling the mask by the straps only is a sensible thing to do.
I don't have hearing aids, but I do have to be careful not to get my glasses entangled...
I’ve gone for the Girl Guide special mask using my necker, a coffee filter and two TogetherBands (actually one is the healthcare one and the other is education). They are mini bands and can be adjusted.
World Health Organisation now advises people over 60 or with health issues should wear a medical-grade mask when they are out and cannot socially distance, while all others should wear a three-layer fabric mask.
Are we forgetting that frequent touching of the mask is not a good idea?
The dominant effect of cloth coverings are to prevent your virus from getting to other people. If your mask has your virus on it, you touching it isn't likely to be too bad.
This is in contrast to eg. medical folks treating Covid patients, wearing N95 or whatever to protect themselves from the sick patient.
Someone in our area has started a Facebook page called (M)asking for a friend. People are reporting which shops are enforcing masking and which ones or not. So now people can see which ones to avoid. They also have a go fund me account so each week a check is given by vote to stores that are following the guide lines. Last week the check went to the farm supply store that reported that one of their yard workers had come down with the Virus, they informed every one of what days he had been working. Tested all of the other employees, closed down the store for a deep clean. I think maybe it is helping because people are reporting that on re-visits some places are masking up.
on the way back from work (to which I sometimes walk)
You don't need a face covering at work? Your employer doesn't insist that you cover your face in shared indoor spaces?
The risk assessment and mitigation practices we've drawn up (based on a template for the same employer) specifies that as far as possible all employees should work in single occupancy rooms. Where it is necessary for two employees to be in the same room for more than a few minutes then face coverings should be worn (and, even then the two employees should maintain maximum distance and avoid facing each other). I've been back at work semi-normal for a couple of weeks without needing to mask up - some of that spent with two of us in the same room, which is a lab divided into two by a laminar flow hood which forms a floor to almost roof plastic division across most of the space.
I've been back at work semi-normal for a couple of weeks without needing to mask up - some of that spent with two of us in the same room, which is a lab divided into two by a laminar flow hood which forms a floor to almost roof plastic division across most of the space.
We are expected to wear face coverings in shared areas (corridors, toilets, etc.) regardless of whether anyone else is present at the time. (Also in shared-use vehicles even if you're the only one in it. So if you drive a forklift, you're doing it in a mask.) So although people can take their mask off in their single-user office / whatever space, almost nobody can get to their single-user space without walking through some kind of public corridor-type space, in which a mask must be worn.
(I can think of one person who has an exterior door to his single-user workspace - I suppose he could go to work without a mask, as long as he didn't want to use the toilet at all.)
I went to the hairdresser today. Whilst all the staff wore visors, none wore a mask. I was surprised. And naturally you cannot cut or wash hair at a distance of 2 or even one metre.
If your mask has your virus on it, you touching it isn't likely to be too bad.
But if you've touched something contaminated with the virus == a counter top, faucet handle, doorknob, etc. -- and then touch your mask, you've most likely transferred the virus from your fingers to the mask, where your breath could draw it right through the mesh and into your lungs.
I've been back at work semi-normal for a couple of weeks without needing to mask up - some of that spent with two of us in the same room, which is a lab divided into two by a laminar flow hood which forms a floor to almost roof plastic division across most of the space.
We are expected to wear face coverings in shared areas (corridors, toilets, etc.) regardless of whether anyone else is present at the time. (Also in shared-use vehicles even if you're the only one in it. So if you drive a forklift, you're doing it in a mask.) So although people can take their mask off in their single-user office / whatever space, almost nobody can get to their single-user space without walking through some kind of public corridor-type space, in which a mask must be worn.
(I can think of one person who has an exterior door to his single-user workspace - I suppose he could go to work without a mask, as long as he didn't want to use the toilet at all.)
Well, we're certainly working from different rule books. Our risk assessment is based on risks from airborne infection increasing as a function of proximity and duration of sharing the same space - and that things which increase that risk (eg: longer in the same room or significantly closer contact) should where possible be mitigated by additional precautions (face covering). Where there's no one else in the room/corridor there's no risk and hence no benefit from face covering, except perhaps the benefit of not taking it on and off frequently. Work would be impossible if it was necessary to wear face coverings for hours at a time - I find my face has got uncomfortably hot after 15 mins in a shop, even longer in our small labs which are already too hot for comfort would be intolerable, not to mention the safety issues of safety glasses steaming up more rapidly. But, I agree if I was in an open plan office with others then that would be a different issue, and face coverings would be more useful.
We may see more face coverings in the corridors when we get more people back into work and it's not possible to negotiate from opposite ends of the corridor about who's going through (in practically all cases there are spaces at the ends of corridors where people can step back more than 2m and let others past, and where possible they're one way, and of course quite often someone is heading for a room off that corridor anyway). The toilets will remain single use for the foreseeable (what we do need is for people to mark them as vacant when they leave).
I went to the hairdresser today. Whilst all the staff wore visors, none wore a mask. I was surprised.
I went to mine on Tuesday, and had the same experience. I had a thorough cut, it took a little time, and we spoke about how I wanted it done.
I was seated, the stylist standing, and any moist air expelled as she breathed out or spoke descended onto my head & shoulders.
I was disconcerted.
Fortunately I live only three minutes walk from the salon and it was a mild day, so I had dressed in light clothing in order that, if I felt it necessary, I could strip, have a shower and put my discarded clothes and mask in the washing machine as soon as I got home.
on the way back from work (to which I sometimes walk)
You don't need a face covering at work? ?[Your employer doesn't insist that you cover your face in shared indoor spaces/quote]
The risk assessment and mitigation practices we've drawn up (based on a template for the same employer) specifies that as far as possible all employees should work in single occupancy rooms. Where it is necessary for two employees to be in the same room for more than a few minutes then face coverings should be worn (and, even then the two employees should maintain maximum distance and avoid facing each other). I've been back at work semi-normal for a couple of weeks without needing to mask up - some of that spent with two of us in the same room, which is a lab divided into two by a laminar flow hood which forms a floor to almost roof plastic division across most of the space.
It gets complicated in a joint employer/honorary status environment, as happens between the University/NHS in Scotland (and in Glasgow, in a clinical environment, the difference is pretty much the thickness of a Rizla paper). It or may not be the case in rUK. It basically comes down to who owns the building/environment in which one works. Risk assessment and mitigation are then responsibility of the building/environment owner/occupier. One may be an employee of the University, but based in an NHS environment/building/have honorary NHS status, in which case one is governed by NHS rules or indeed, one may be an NHS employee, but have Honorary University Status/work in a University building, in which case you are governed by University rules.
I am an NHS employee with an honorary University status. I work (99%+ of my time) on an NHS site and our local (NHS) rules specify an occupancy per room, above which thou shalt wear a mask. This is based on room volume and air flow/number of air changes and pertains to office/lab areas. Therefore if more than two people are in present in my office we must mask up, irrespective as to whether we are employed by the NHS or the Uni ... Those who directly work with patients are requires to wear more PPE because they are physically that much closer.
I also have Honorary University status, and when working on a Uni site would be governed by their requirements.
So no, my employer(s) doesn't insist that I cover my face in shared indoor space as a blanket statement. If I work with/interact with patients: yes. If (based on risk assessment) I/we exceed room occupancy: yes If none of the above: no. Are we required to maintain social distancing in communal areas: yes, but one can't wear a mask when eating lunch!
I'm in California, not across the pond. At my place, masks are required of all employees at all times, even if we're alone in a large area. I mask up before I leave the house to go to work. It stays on until I leave (although I do get a break while eating lunch. Mask on again when my shift starts again, and stays on for the bus ride home. 9 hours or so all told. I do my shopping at work (of course!) and rarely go out otherwise. It's been like that for several weeks, and I don't anticipate that changing for six months to a year.
I checked the UK regulations and masks are not compulsory for hairdressers, visors are.
But I am now almost regretting the time spent indoors with strangers- though not the haircut! I can only hope and pray that I haven’t caught the virus, but there are very few cases in my county.
All the staff at my optometrist's establishment wear gowns, masks, and visors - and they are surely in as close physical contact with patients as hairdressers, so it does seem a bit odd that the latter don't mask up, at least whilst dealing with a customer.
My new washable masks arrived today - reasonably comfortable, and, I hope, acceptable to TPTB...
In other Covid-19 related news, Our Glorious Leader, Johnson The Great, reckons that we'll be back to 'significant normality' by Christmas. I'm not quite sure how he defines that term...
Well, we're certainly working from different rule books. Our risk assessment is based on risks from airborne infection increasing as a function of proximity and duration of sharing the same space - and that things which increase that risk (eg: longer in the same room or significantly closer contact) should where possible be mitigated by additional precautions (face covering). Where there's no one else in the room/corridor there's no risk and hence no benefit from face covering, except perhaps the benefit of not taking it on and off frequently.
Our thoughts are, more or less:
Droplet clouds linger for a while, so infected people exhaling in a corridor or toilet seeds the corridor with clouds of virus.
Wearing a covering in a shared-use vehicle partially protects against coughs and sneezes causing surface contamination.
If we're wrong about this, wearing a mask when you walk down the corridor isn't a big hardship.
We mostly agree - it's just that we're skeptical about the "Where there's no one else in the room/corridor there's no risk and hence no benefit from face covering" statement.
I went for a socially distanced walk with a friend today. She got a stone in her shoe and asked if she could lean on me while she removed her shoe.
It struck me that her hand briefly on my forearm is the first physical touch I've had from anybody outwith the North East household since before lockdown. I was a fairly huggy person pre-Covid, but today it felt weird, and it was much less contact than a hug.
I wonder how long it will be before I'd feel comfortable with the snog-fest that is "passing the peace" in church. Perhaps we will never return to that? I'm certainly in no hurry to pass the peace with anyone.
I was a fairly huggy person pre-Covid, but today it felt weird, and it was much less contact than a hug.
I'm reasonably huggy, and am still finding it hard to see people I usually hug, and not hug them. It's the right thing to do, and I'm going to keep doing it, but for me, not hugging still feels weird. I think I hope it always does.
Way back in early March I hugged was a young women in our church who was having some physical problems. I asked if it was alright to give her a hug her and she said yes. Little was I in knowing she would be the last person other then Mr Image that I would hug in a very long time. I am not a big hugger but now I am missing that with my usual friends and family.
A colleague and I misjudged distance in a lab area and brushed past, touching briefly. (Yes, it was crowded unavoidably and all were wearing masks for the record). It was the only physical contact I've had in 4 months. I'm not a big hugger either, but it's now really beginning to get to me.
I'm a fairly active hugger too and do miss it. I sometimes engage in "virtual hugs" -- hugging the air in the 6-foot gap between me and the huggee.
Yesterday at the pharmacy I spied a bottle of a certain mouthwash that is very hard to find but which I like, especially for its superior antiseptic properties. There appeared to be only one bottle of it.
The oral hygiene products aisle was blocked by a burly gentleman browsing the toothpaste, and an elderly woman who seemed to be in a fog. I scooted around and entered the aisle on the opposite end from where the burly gentleman was standing. He had moved out by that time but the fog lady was still there.
I brushed past her as rapidly as I could, snagging the mouthwash on the way.
I am not saying it out loud to DH, but I am holding my breath for however long it takes to be sure of not showing symptoms of Covid 19, after my visit to the hairdressers.
Much as my hair needed cutting, the length of time spent indoors with strangers was unwise.
I shall not forgive myself if we get ill.
... I wonder how long it will be before I'd feel comfortable with the snog-fest that is "passing the peace" in church ...
I've never been comfortable with that, but it's got nothing to do with Covid ...
In other situations, I am quite a huggy person, as are most of my family: it would normally take ages for us all to say goodbye, as everyone has to hug everyone else, and we're all missing it horribly. The rules have been relaxed for Archie and the dogs, who don't do social distancing, and getting cuddles from them has been an absolute joy.
I think it will be a LONG TIME before we can share the Peace with each other in churches again. And that is, I think, fine by me, although a simple handshake is OK it had all got a bit much recently with a free-for-all.
I've seen my cousin and her family three times in the last three weeks and not hugging them has felt weird and sad. I'd also like to hug my Beloved Goddaughter.
I'd be happy if, in the future, passing the peace in church involved nothing more than smiling and nodding. However, I'd be sad if we stopped using the Common Cup at communion. We are a wee cuppie church, but those serving share a common cup (usually 11 of us).
Two of the village flower tubs were overturned last night. They are too heavy for two people to lift them. It required three people who had to be from the same household, because of social distancing. The North East household duly obliged , supervised and advised by socially distanced members of one- and two- person households. "You've missed a bit!" etc etc.
FatherInCharge encourages us to 'share the Peace', by simply turning to one another, and making the Sign of the Cross!
(Or, as we have people from Asia in our congregation, namaskar/namaste..., with palms together, and a slight inclination of the head. A most gracious gesture, IMHO, and with which I feel very comfortable).
I do find it odd that people have felt it necessary to invent the incredibly awkward elbow bump, when we already possess the wave, bow and namaste as options.
(Though I suspect that was a hoax, invented by those wicked Chinese peeps...).
I agree - the elbow-bump is awkward, and just looks silly. Besides, it's a good way of ensuring you drop your shopping, breaking your bottle of WINE, and/or your box of Eggs...
I had one person do a foot touch with me in the workplace - but I’ve never seen it since.
Whereas all the European leaders at the Covid summit were elbow bumping, but I notice the translators appeared to be bowing then standing back.
Video call protocol appears to be awkward wave on beginning and ending call - at least partly because you are checking the camera is working when you start.
(So long as we don’t regress to curtseys in person, I’ll cope - perhaps we could all start wearing hats again so we can tip them to people ?)
I am not saying it out loud to DH, but I am holding my breath for however long it takes to be sure of not showing symptoms of Covid 19, after my visit to the hairdressers.
We referred to an article the other day about two Covid-infected hairdressers who cut the hair of something like 150 people whilst infected with Covid and wearing cloth masks, and infected none of them. So there's a datapoint that the risk of transmission in that environment, if people take appropriate care, is low.
Video call protocol appears to be awkward wave on beginning and ending call - at least partly because you are checking the camera is working when you start.
I've spent a long time on zoom, and haven't seen anyone do an awkward wave. Partly because my colleagues tend to use virtual backgrounds, to avoid having to show off whatever corner of their house they're lurking^Wworking in, and zoom's background algorithm often treats hands in mid-air as background and removes them.
In the kind of work video calls I've been involved in, with students with multiple learning/physical disabilities, it's been perfectly normal and natural to wave enthusiastically as you join/leave the meeting! As well as getting deafened by the enthusiastically loud greetings from the students who've missed us more and more as time has gone by,
But we've managed to avoid it in staff team meetings - though we've mostly organised ourselves via WhatsApp and e-mails.
Comments
That's perhaps where a 'proper' mask scores over a neck gaiter, or whatever, which might need adjusting...
Not to mention the hassle of sorting out a bank account...
Good luck with that, @Piglet...
Sometime the aisle with alcoholic drinks is blocked off till 10 a.m., at other times it is not, but the rule is still the same.
It used to be that alcohol could not be sold on Sundays before 12.30 pm (after church services)
Remember that there was no compulsory closing of shops on Sundays in Scotland because it was simply taken as read that no-one would be going out to the bigger shops anyway.
Then the government had the idea that schoolchildren might be buying alcohol on their way to school or at the very least school children might see others drinking alcohol when they were setting off for school. So no alcohol before 10 a.m. but as a quid pro quo the rule about Sundays is relaxed.
Our own difficulty with this rule is the bigger supermarkets who have special meal deals with a bottle of wine. Sometimes the best deals go before 10 a.m. but if you want the bottle of wine you have to wait till 10 a.m.
If I go somewhere indoors (hospital, supermarket, went to a restaurant on Monday) I tend to carry a homemade fabric mask.
I always take care to handle the mask by the straps only. I've finally mastered the art of removing it without the straps getting tangled up in my hearing aids.
I don't have hearing aids, but I do have to be careful not to get my glasses entangled...
You don't need a face covering at work? Your employer doesn't insist that you cover your face in shared indoor spaces?
Point taken, though. Shipmates who are working in close proximity to other workers will doubtless come along with their own comments...
Isn't the consensus that coffee filters are useless for this purpose?
The dominant effect of cloth coverings are to prevent your virus from getting to other people. If your mask has your virus on it, you touching it isn't likely to be too bad.
This is in contrast to eg. medical folks treating Covid patients, wearing N95 or whatever to protect themselves from the sick patient.
We are expected to wear face coverings in shared areas (corridors, toilets, etc.) regardless of whether anyone else is present at the time. (Also in shared-use vehicles even if you're the only one in it. So if you drive a forklift, you're doing it in a mask.) So although people can take their mask off in their single-user office / whatever space, almost nobody can get to their single-user space without walking through some kind of public corridor-type space, in which a mask must be worn.
(I can think of one person who has an exterior door to his single-user workspace - I suppose he could go to work without a mask, as long as he didn't want to use the toilet at all.)
I suspect as much but it does help with sturdiness.
But if you've touched something contaminated with the virus == a counter top, faucet handle, doorknob, etc. -- and then touch your mask, you've most likely transferred the virus from your fingers to the mask, where your breath could draw it right through the mesh and into your lungs.
We may see more face coverings in the corridors when we get more people back into work and it's not possible to negotiate from opposite ends of the corridor about who's going through (in practically all cases there are spaces at the ends of corridors where people can step back more than 2m and let others past, and where possible they're one way, and of course quite often someone is heading for a room off that corridor anyway). The toilets will remain single use for the foreseeable (what we do need is for people to mark them as vacant when they leave).
I was seated, the stylist standing, and any moist air expelled as she breathed out or spoke descended onto my head & shoulders.
I was disconcerted.
Fortunately I live only three minutes walk from the salon and it was a mild day, so I had dressed in light clothing in order that, if I felt it necessary, I could strip, have a shower and put my discarded clothes and mask in the washing machine as soon as I got home.
But I am now almost regretting the time spent indoors with strangers- though not the haircut! I can only hope and pray that I haven’t caught the virus, but there are very few cases in my county.
My new washable masks arrived today - reasonably comfortable, and, I hope, acceptable to TPTB...
In other Covid-19 related news, Our Glorious Leader, Johnson The Great, reckons that we'll be back to 'significant normality' by Christmas. I'm not quite sure how he defines that term...
Now where have we heard that before? 🤔
Our thoughts are, more or less:
Droplet clouds linger for a while, so infected people exhaling in a corridor or toilet seeds the corridor with clouds of virus.
Wearing a covering in a shared-use vehicle partially protects against coughs and sneezes causing surface contamination.
If we're wrong about this, wearing a mask when you walk down the corridor isn't a big hardship.
We mostly agree - it's just that we're skeptical about the "Where there's no one else in the room/corridor there's no risk and hence no benefit from face covering" statement.
It struck me that her hand briefly on my forearm is the first physical touch I've had from anybody outwith the North East household since before lockdown. I was a fairly huggy person pre-Covid, but today it felt weird, and it was much less contact than a hug.
I wonder how long it will be before I'd feel comfortable with the snog-fest that is "passing the peace" in church. Perhaps we will never return to that? I'm certainly in no hurry to pass the peace with anyone.
I'm reasonably huggy, and am still finding it hard to see people I usually hug, and not hug them. It's the right thing to do, and I'm going to keep doing it, but for me, not hugging still feels weird. I think I hope it always does.
Yesterday at the pharmacy I spied a bottle of a certain mouthwash that is very hard to find but which I like, especially for its superior antiseptic properties. There appeared to be only one bottle of it.
The oral hygiene products aisle was blocked by a burly gentleman browsing the toothpaste, and an elderly woman who seemed to be in a fog. I scooted around and entered the aisle on the opposite end from where the burly gentleman was standing. He had moved out by that time but the fog lady was still there.
I brushed past her as rapidly as I could, snagging the mouthwash on the way.
Much as my hair needed cutting, the length of time spent indoors with strangers was unwise.
I shall not forgive myself if we get ill.
In other situations, I am quite a huggy person, as are most of my family: it would normally take ages for us all to say goodbye, as everyone has to hug everyone else, and we're all missing it horribly. The rules have been relaxed for Archie and the dogs, who don't do social distancing, and getting cuddles from them has been an absolute joy.
It felt very odd to hug a friend last week...
I'd be happy if, in the future, passing the peace in church involved nothing more than smiling and nodding. However, I'd be sad if we stopped using the Common Cup at communion. We are a wee cuppie church, but those serving share a common cup (usually 11 of us).
Two of the village flower tubs were overturned last night. They are too heavy for two people to lift them. It required three people who had to be from the same household, because of social distancing. The North East household duly obliged , supervised and advised by socially distanced members of one- and two- person households. "You've missed a bit!" etc etc.
(Or, as we have people from Asia in our congregation, namaskar/namaste..., with palms together, and a slight inclination of the head. A most gracious gesture, IMHO, and with which I feel very comfortable).
(Though I suspect that was a hoax, invented by those wicked Chinese peeps...).
I agree - the elbow-bump is awkward, and just looks silly. Besides, it's a good way of ensuring you drop your shopping, breaking your bottle of WINE, and/or your box of Eggs...
Whereas all the European leaders at the Covid summit were elbow bumping, but I notice the translators appeared to be bowing then standing back.
Video call protocol appears to be awkward wave on beginning and ending call - at least partly because you are checking the camera is working when you start.
(So long as we don’t regress to curtseys in person, I’ll cope - perhaps we could all start wearing hats again so we can tip them to people ?)
I've spent a long time on zoom, and haven't seen anyone do an awkward wave. Partly because my colleagues tend to use virtual backgrounds, to avoid having to show off whatever corner of their house they're lurking^Wworking in, and zoom's background algorithm often treats hands in mid-air as background and removes them.
Mostly, people just appear and say hello.
But we've managed to avoid it in staff team meetings - though we've mostly organised ourselves via WhatsApp and e-mails.