i am not far from washington dc, where there are as yet (per lancet/johns hopkins CSSE tracker
at 12:13 am) no reported cases. a migraineur whose triggers include
breathing fragrances, i have routinely worn a surgical mask (bought in a
box from walgreens long before novel coronavirus was a thing) while on
public transport or in the workplace, for some years. until recently
this has usually caused people to recoil from me, often securing me a
seat alone on the train; occasionally another person wearing such a mask
can be seen in the same train car. no one ever initiates conversation
with me. until last week, when the number of other masked persons
started ticking up, and people began approaching me in the office or the
street to ask where i got it. on thursday some among management asked
me who the manufacturer is, but it is not clear from product info online
or packaging (made in taiwan, though). when i provided some market
reporting on mask manufacturers, it turned out that those management
parties were trying to figure out whose stock to buy, although a few
among them were concerned enough to accept masks from the supply i carry
with me when i offered (first one's free). on saturday, president
horrorshow mentioned encouraging 3M (among top five reported
manufacturers) to make a greater supply available during the press
conference (where an inordinate amount of time was spent talking about
afghanistan).
today nobody else on the train was wearing one. several coworkers --
including identified sources of overweening workplace fragrance --
helpfully told me that the attorney general said i shouldn't be wearing a
mask. i think they meant surgeon general, but, this misministration
being what it is, attorney general is just as likely. i said "it's not
for coronavirus but to mitigate fragrance exposure." (it is information i
do not generally share unsolicited with my coworkers because we're a
pathalogically-hostile and inconsiderate group of children in adult
bodies, as a class.) "no," one replied, "it is for coronavirus." "this
mask," i insisted, "i wear so that breathing fragrances doesn't make me
sick and unable to work." we all laughed (an attentive interlocutor can
see my eyes crinkle when i smile, i'm told): pronouns are imprecise. i
figure next time i'll just start coughing rather than try to explain
myself. i too have had a runny nose and headache for some weeks. no
fever though. i wash my hands frequently, and try not to touch much more
than i have to. if nothing else, i figure the mask decreases the
likelihood that i'll be the vector by which someone else catches my
cold.
the messaging in the u.s. has been abysmal; it is worse with the
president involved. i can take an expert epidemiologist explaining that
the elderly and immune-compromised are at greatest risk because that is
true and a refrain we hear in the context of the flu every year. but not
when he's standing next to president horrorshow who's crowing about how
everything's okay and our response has been unprecedentedly perfect:
it's not ok for those elderly, infirm and immune-compromised; that they
may not recover is no goddamn comfort nor an index of everything being
fine. it is not okay for their loved ones and communities. stop smiling.
last week, when centers for disease control stated we should prepare for
community transmission, i accosted several representatives of the
management: "the cdc encourages me, in preparation for community
transmission, to ask you about telework opportunities." those management
representatives looked thoughtful and replied, "hmm," (before inquiring
where i got the mask). some days later an email was received
encouraging us to, out of consideration for our coworkers during
cold/flu season, cover our sputum-holes while coughing and sneezing,
providing instructions as to how to wash our hands, and encouraging us
to apply the heavily-scented sanitary wipes to our workplaces. i wrote
back: please provide fragrance-free wipes. my very own canister of
"fresh scent" wipes were quickly brought to me by a sympathetic staffer
who had been given incomplete instructions, and promptly, abashedly,
taken away when i pointed to that part of the label.
my best wishes to those closer to known infection clusters, and where no cases are reported. be well, y'all.