Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

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storewanderer
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Re: Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

Post by storewanderer »

In Mono and Inyo County CA the mask is required of everyone in all public places. This is a County requirement. One store had a sign up that said it was the "Governor of California's requirement." That is flat out false. County requirement, and that is as far as it goes. But, in any case, compliance is 100%. Cases are pretty low.

This was my first time being in an area where the mask is required of everyone everywhere.

Many businesses had signs up "apologizing" for the requirement. I am not sure when the requirement started.

In the case of Inyo County, I do wonder how the masks will work out in a few weeks when the temperature is 100+.
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Re: Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

Post by cjd »

I went to several places yesterday and there were several with masks, but a lot of people weren't. IMO the masks should be made mandatory if they will stop the spreading of it. I have been wearing one when I go into areas around people, but my understanding is they are more effective at blocking the virus from being expelled than breathing it in.

Yesterday it was in the 80s here and it does get rather hot when wearing it outdoors. As soon as I get out in the parking lot away from people it comes off.

I read in the 1918 pandemic, the city of San Francisco required masks in all public spaces or you would be fined $5 (a weighty sum back then!)
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Re: Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

Post by klkla »

cjd wrote: May 24th, 2020, 7:20 amIMO the masks should be made mandatory if they will stop the spreading of it. I have been wearing one when I go into areas around people, but my understanding is they are more effective at blocking the virus from being expelled than breathing it in.
Exactly. They are almost useless for keeping a person from getting the virus because it can still enter through the eyes. But it is about as close to 100% accurate as you can get for preventing the virus from being spread.

During World War 2 people had to have black curtains to block light at night. And people did this to be patriotic and for their own safety. To me this is an issue of patriotism, as well. We should also be working to block the spread of the virus and be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish this. Wearing a mask is a small price to pay.
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Re: Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

Post by storewanderer »

Today I went down to the edges of Sacramento (Roseville, Folsom, etc.). One store I went into had mandatory masks and again I saw no issues or push back on the part of any customers. However the customer traffic at this store was the least I've ever seen on a weekend; probably 50% of normal. So I am not sure if the mask rule has anything to do with it or it was just a coincidence; everywhere else I went was as busy as it ever is. Every other store I went into, it ranged from 20%-50% of customers wearing masks and also in some stores not all of the employees were wearing masks either.
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Re: Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

Post by Alpha8472 »

I ordered clear plastic face shields from Amazon and Walmart.com. The Amazon ones are coming in July and the Walmart ones arrived in days. The plastic face shield is hardly noticeable after you get used to it. I never see anyone use these. With these, it is much easier to breathe. You can also wear a mask under it and keep it loose for easier breathing.
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Re: Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

Post by storewanderer »

Alpha8472 wrote: May 25th, 2020, 5:08 am I ordered clear plastic face shields from Amazon and Walmart.com. The Amazon ones are coming in July and the Walmart ones arrived in days. The plastic face shield is hardly noticeable after you get used to it. I never see anyone use these. With these, it is much easier to breathe. You can also wear a mask under it and keep it loose for easier breathing.
I recently had an order on Amazon from March that never showed up. Basically after Amazon input the UPS Tracking number, there was no further activity (no evidence it was picked up by UPS). Item was sold by Amazon. Last week wondering where the item was I went onto the website and there was a vague message like "it it on its way but you may request a refund since it is delayed..." It seems to me Amazon after over a month of zero tracking activity should be able to run some kind of algorithm and automatically issue a refund when an item is not delivered. I felt somewhat deceived by having to go and request the refund myself.

So I wonder if what you ordered will actually show up in 2 months in July... at least Wal Mart has a more reasonable shipping time, as they seem to for everything the past couple months.

Back to the mask topic, I went into a Save Mart today. All of the employees had masks on but none of the customers did. To be fair I only saw about 5 employees and about 8 other customers in the store this afternoon so not a large sample. This is a lousy store in a lousy neighborhood and has a high population of homeless customers. There was no sanitation of carts/baskets going on between customer uses (of the few carts they even have) or cleaning of self checkouts between customers. As I walked out of the store I noticed a big sign which was facing the front wall (not facing the entry or exit so nobody would see it unless they turned as they were walking out) that said face covering required for entry to this store. Obviously not being enforced but curious they would implement this policy in Reno when nobody else but Smart & Final has. I am wondering if the sign was wrongly shipped to this store and that is why it is there but not being prominently displayed.
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Re: Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

Post by cjd »

klkla wrote: May 24th, 2020, 5:09 pmExactly. They are almost useless for keeping a person from getting the virus because it can still enter through the eyes. But it is about as close to 100% accurate as you can get for preventing the virus from being spread.

During World War 2 people had to have black curtains to block light at night. And people did this to be patriotic and for their own safety. To me this is an issue of patriotism, as well. We should also be working to block the spread of the virus and be willing to do whatever it takes to accomplish this. Wearing a mask is a small price to pay.
I agree. I see lots of people out without any on, employees too. I can't say whether mask wearing has gone up or down since I wasn't really out anywhere for the last two months. I'd venture to say it's been about the same though.

I'm starting to wonder if masks will be more enforced by health insurance companies: ie they won't pay claims anymore in relation to the corona-virus or heart attacks, strokes, etc if the person was not wearing a mask.

I don't know where the term "new normal" came from and don't care for it, but I think to some degree where we are now is pretty much what we are going to have to get used to going forward. That idea is starting to settle in now for me. FL has eased up a lot from where we were and we may have to scale back later, but I think more or less we're going to just have to get used to wearing masks, distancing, not seeing family or friends much, and doing everything virtually.

There is only an estimated worldwide immunity around 2-5% so we are nowhere close to even beginning to have a population immunity. Therefore the virus outbreak will not end without that or a vaccine. I expect sometime late next year we will have a vaccine or two, but I don't believe it will be totally effective or the miracle end to this that we all hoped for.

Therefore I think the current situation we are in his here to stay for a number of years. There's really no way around it and I hate that I don't feel comfortable going out to dinner, or movie theaters, etc, but this is just the way it is. At least we aren't back where the only places we could go were the grocery store or big box stores and preferably only once a week.
I was afraid to go at all but do feel a bit more confident with my face covering, at least for short exposure periods.

I do realize some states are still at that level though.
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Re: Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

Post by submariner »

Sorry guys, I'm locking this topic now. It's straying too far off course for the bounds of this board.
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