Before covid, I would be sick with a cold or flu for a total of about two weeks every year. That means I spent 4% of my time sick; one out of every 25 days. Since covid appeared, I’ve been wearing an N95 in crowded indoor areas whenever I reasonably can. (Obviously I can’t if I’m eating something.) My main goal initially was to protect my elderly relatives, but during the last four years I have not gotten sick even once, except from my elderly relatives who didn’t wear masks, got sick, and then infected me when I was caring for them.

Why isn’t everyone wearing N95s? Sure, it’s uncomfortable, but being sick is much more uncomfortable. And then there’s the fact that wearing an N95 protects other people and not just the wearer…

    • ArbitraryValue@sh.itjust.worksOP
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      29 days ago

      Yeah, it’s funny because I’m often the token libertarian but my attitude towards covid is so different from that of other libertarians. For the record, I think that containing the spread of infections disease is in practice a necessary function of the state.

  • BoxerDevil@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    Just cause you have the immune system of a sickly Victorian child, doesn’t mean the rest of us do.

    • Player2@lemm.ee
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      29 days ago

      I think most people don’t actually want organ and brain damage, even if they consider putting a cloth on their face to prevent that way too much effort.

  • Mayor Poopington@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    Well, even before the 'vid I got sick enough to miss work maybe once every few years. The past couple years I have been going to clubs and music festivals again and have not gotten sick. Despite not wearing a mask. For the record, I am up to date on flu and covid vaccines. I do think people should mask up if they’re feeling under the weather.

  • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    I still see a few people wearing masks in public. I know some local / state laws can be problematic. If you want to wear one, more power to you!

  • the_toast_is_gone@lemmy.world
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    29 days ago

    I used to wear KN95s every day as a cashier during the height of the pandemic. It was noticeably more difficult to breathe through them, especially when I was working carts duty in the dead of winter. It also doesn’t help that masks like this would need to be replaced pretty frequently for maximum effect because the moisture of my breaths will make them wet after a period of time. I could feel the condensation building in my mask throughout my 4-6 hour shifts.

    Oh yeah, and if you want your mask to work properly, don’t have a beard. Those will impair the filtration because air will get through your beard instead of your mask.

  • Microplasticbrain@lemm.ee
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    29 days ago

    Im often the only person I see still masked in the supermarket or even doctors office. It’s so fucking dumb, you’re in there for like 20 minutes just be considerate of others. The hilarious part is its mostly dinosaurs coughing unmasked 😂. Like imma be fine but y’all need all the help you can get and you can’t even wear a mask in high risk places, suit yourself 🤷‍♂️

  • tobogganablaze@lemmus.org
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    29 days ago

    Even if I would get sick for 2 weeks every year, that would be preferable to wearking a mask all the time.

  • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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    28 days ago

    Not being sick occasionally is foolish.

    Your immune system doesn’t go away when it’s unused. Instead, it goes haywire, resulting in allergies and autoimmune disorders.

    It’s better to have the immune system responding to the sort of environment it evolved in (dirty) than trying to respond to the sort of environment it didn’t evolve in (clean), as if it were the one it evolved in.

  • Boomkop3@reddthat.com
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    28 days ago

    Ignoring the pandemic, I don’t bother unless the air quality is very bad. I get sick about once a year, around the beginning of winter.

    Fortunately I’m not the kind of person who refuses to wear one around vulnerable people

  • PhlubbaDubba@lemm.ee
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    29 days ago

    N95 is not a respirator,

    Was expecting a post about how people should be wearing sith masks everywhere and I am now sorely disappointed.