Coronavirus and wearing masks in stores

[Super S]

As I have noticed more people wearing masks inside stores, the thought occurred to me that we could see an increase in robberies and holdups by people wearing masks if all the closures continue. Many financial institutions have closed their lobbies, but in the days before had strict "no masks" policies in place for this very reason. Have any retailers prohibited masks inside their stores?

[Alpha8472]

Many supermarkets had a no mask policy for enployees up until just days ago. Due to the coronavirus, several large supermarket chains now allow employees to wear masks and gloves. Walmart just announced the same thing with the exception of N95 masks which Walmart says should be only for healthcare providers.

I know only of a few convenience stores that posted signs a while ago asking people not to wear masks. Most stores probably have changed those rules now.

Dr. Fauci is considering telling the entire country to wear makeshift masks. This is a sign that the situation is serious. Masks do provide protection. China requires masks when in public to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Masks help to prevent the fine droplets that spread through the air when a person coughs, talks, or sneezes. The use of masks will cut down on transmission. Every little bit helps and could save many lives. The major source of infection is when people touch their faces. The coronavirus enters through the eyes, nose, and mouth. Masks will significantly cut down on face touching. There is also the issue of eye protection. The doctors in China who first treated coronavirus patients still died. They did not wear eye protection. The virus entered through their eyes. People need to wear eye protection and wash their faces. You can wash your hands, but washing your face is also essential. The virus can get on your face and into your eyes, nose, or mouth.

With all of these unemployed people, I would think that companies all over the U.S. should try to switch over to making masks, medical gowns, gloves, and ventilators. This coronavirus could be with us forever like the flu. Every year we will have flu and coronavirus season.

The shortage of masks in supermarkets and other stores is going to kill people. We need companies all across the country to step up and start making them. People are willing to pay for them.

[storewanderer]

I find it ironic the US used to be able to build so much, and now we are so incapable that we can't even get face masks manufactured in the US to meet current safety needs of the population.

This is a pathetic sad situation. This is really unacceptable and a lot of manufacturing needs to be brought back to the US.

Thanks late 1980's and all of the 1990's for shifting so much production out of the US to cheaper places.

I think it is pretty clear that we should all be wearing masks now when we go to the grocery store. But the government won't come full circle and tell us that since there is a mask shortage and right now we have hospital nurses and doctors re-using masks from one day to the next (this is absolutely unacceptable as well- should probably be changing the masks multiple times during a shift to protect themselves).

Of course then all the activists who want to reuse cups, bags, and everything else will lurk out against these single use items and how bad they are. This "re use" culture they have pushed is what makes it appear acceptable to "re use" masks. Common sense needs to prevail here.

We are more than lucky these activists did not get their way 100% with their agendas to eliminate all the disposable stuff, or at this point we would not even have single use masks, gloves, cups, or bags to turn to at a time like this.

[TW-Upstate NY]

A lot of people are likening this situation to World War II and I think it's an apt comparison. Our industrial base of the day helped our armed forces win that war by building and making everything they needed. I always wondered if something on the scale of that were to happen today what would we do considering our industrial base pretty much doesn't exist anymore and has been hollowed out to a shell of what it once was and now we're finding out. So much for the "arsenal of democracy" I guess. Where I live alone, there were batteries and gloves (and tanneries to make the leather for those gloves) made in Gloversville that no doubt found their way to the troops. In Amsterdam, the carpet mills were converted to blanket production. My Mother told me she worked in a factory during the war sewing tents. And that's just in my little corner of Upstate NY. A short distance away was Schenectady which was (and still is although it's greatly diminished) home to a large GE plant that had around 40,000 employees making items for the war effort. Also in Schenectady was American Locomotive (ALCO) which made tanks during the war. It was a fact of life during the war to see tanks rolling down Erie Blvd. heading off to be shipped overseas. And in the Southern Tier, you had Endicott Johnson which made pretty much made all the footwear our troops wore and no doubt a lot of the leather to make those boots came from Gloversville as well. And that was just New York alone. Well know what folks, that entire litany of manufacturers (with the exception of an emaciated Schenectady GE), IT IS ALL GONE!! And mind you, this is just a microcosm of a couple areas of Upstate NY. At the time, there were 47 other states doing the exact same thing! And most of their industrial base is probably gone too. They are projecting the total number of American deaths from this could be larger than all the troops we lost in WW II. And all those people could die in months, not years as was the case during the war. It could be any of us on this board or our relatives and friends. That is totally UNACCEPTABLE and having that industrial base we possessed back then would go a long ways to bringing those numbers down to less horrific levels. I don't care if this is off topic or whatever-it's how I feel and if my post gets flagged or removed so be it.

[klkla]

Thanks late 1980's and all of the 1990's for shifting so much production out of the US to cheaper places.

I assume you're referring to NAFTA? While a lot of unskilled and lower-skilled labor went to Mexico you have to remember that 1.2 million jobs were created in the U.S. producing products that are exported to Mexico. Unfortunately, there was no plan to help people in the rust-belt states that were displaced.

In reality this problem started long ago in 1972 when Nixon normalized relations with China. The fact that China could produce workers for $1 an hour and didn't care if their rivers, lakes and air were polluted played a big part. So, American companies moved more and more production there and never received any pushback from the U.S. government. The recent trade sanctions have had no effect on the trade deficit and have only hurt U.S. farmers.

[storewanderer]

Thanks late 1980's and all of the 1990's for shifting so much production out of the US to cheaper places.

I assume you're referring to NAFTA? While a lot of unskilled and lower-skilled labor went to Mexico you have to remember that 1.2 million jobs were created in the U.S. producing products that are exported to Mexico. Unfortunately, there was no plan to help people in the rust-belt states that were displaced.

In reality this problem started long ago in 1972 when Nixon normalized relations with China. The fact that China could produce workers for $1 an hour and didn't care if their rivers, lakes and air were polluted played a big part. So, American companies moved more and more production there and never received any pushback from the U.S. government. The recent trade sanctions have had no effect on the trade deficit and have only hurt U.S. farmers.

I wasn't referring to NAFTA. I wish any of the countries involved in NAFTA could produce masks and other medical equipment right now and get them deployed at a fast clip. 37 days wait to get equipment here from the current supply source is unacceptable, which is what 4012 mentioned today, attempting to send special planes to pick supplies up to get them here faster. It is also dangerous when the current supply source has stated we are "lucky" they keep sending us stuff, which I read last week in some news article where the head of the current supply source made that statement. Ouch.

What if the grocery stores suddenly said they were done and not going to expose their staff to this virus anymore and people had no way to get food other than "order online?" It would turn into literal chaos.

As you note, things started going the wrong way in the 70's for production. Then in the 80's and 90's the chapter was finally complete and literally nothing was being made in the US anymore.

I just really, really wish we could at least make masks, drugs, vaccines... maybe this virus will teach us a lesson.

I don't expect the US to start producing things in mass because we are too expensive and not efficient enough, but at this point about all we seem to be able to produce here is food and disposable plastic stuff (rubber totes, etc.). And the plastic police are working overtime to shut down the production of the disposable plastic stuff. And the past couple years and the virus have exposed how dangerous this is. Especially the past few weeks.

Wal Mart did have some Made in USA gift wrap and gift bag type items last Christmas, and some real limited decor as well. But 95% of the seasonal offering was still made in... the place you refer to from 1972. But we can do without holiday decorations and trinkets. But these medical supplies we need, are, literally, life or death.

[klkla]

I just really, really wish we could at least make masks, drugs, vaccines... maybe this virus will teach us a lesson.

Hopefully we do learn a lesson. We used to have laws that at least some essential items had to be manufactured in the U.S. We need to reactivate some those laws.

[storewanderer]

I just really, really wish we could at least make masks, drugs, vaccines... maybe this virus will teach us a lesson.

Hopefully we do learn a lesson. We used to have laws that at least some essential items had to be manufactured in the U.S. We need to reactivate some those laws.

4012 has been saying this for the last 4 years to try and bring back manufacturing here. The problem is the other elected officials, the ones with those approval ratings in the, like, teens, of both parties, seem to keep doing things that discourage it from happening. I do not know what else it is going to take...

But I hope this is a real wake up call to both parties. We cannot afford to be at risk like this. It is great we still produce food here and we can all eat but what good is it when we can't even get basic medical supplies here to protect health care workers who are caring for people during this pandemic? There are decades of business people and politicians who should be very ashamed of what they have done to cause this situation.

[Alpha8472]

I used to work in a hospital and in the hospital inpatient pharmacy. People need to realize masks are essential. Otherwise hospital workers would not wear masks.

There is the issue of viral load. There are low risk exposures such as touching objects that are contaminated. You can wash your hands and your face easily afterwards.

However, you cannot wash your lungs. Masks are needed and you must also limit your time around the airborne particles of virus floating in the air. If you are in a crowded supermarket, the 6 feet rule will be meaningless if you are in the store for 30 minutes breathing in the virus. It is based on time. If you breath in the virus for 4 minutes, your exposure is much less. People need to get in the store get what they need and leave as soon as possible.

Store workers who work in stores for 8 hours have an extreme risk. They are inhaling the virus for 8 hours. The doctors that work in crowded hospitals have the most concentrated exposures and still died even though they wore masks.

If you have to choose between a supermarket with 5 customers or a crowded supermarket with 80 customers and 30 minute lines, you know what you should choose. Limit your exposure based on minutes and how many people are in the store regardless of wearing a mask. Masks work mostly one way. It keeps the coughed out germs limited. However, the germs breathed in is still wide open. Reduce your exposure time.

[BillyGr]

Store workers who work in stores for 8 hours have an extreme risk. They are inhaling the virus for 8 hours. The doctors that work in crowded hospitals have the most concentrated exposures and still died even though they wore masks.

Not sure that is quite going to be correct - store workers would only be inhaling it for 8 hours IF those shopping had it and put it into the air (which could certainly happen, but it's quite unlikely that every single person, or even any majority of them, shopping actually have the virus), where the doctors are working with known positive patients so they know it is there all the time.