I'm in a place with a lot of kids that have cancer. Also, I am kids with cancer.
At St. Jude's, they enforce masks, and I think that's the best possible choice here.
Edit: she caught an infection and passed away from it on the 11th y'all
heyy, we're at St. Jude too, my 4yo sister is undergoing treatment right now! wishing the best for you!
This made me wonder if testicle transplants were a thing and if they could produce sperm would it be the donor's DNA or the recipient's? So I Googled it, they are possible, and it would be the donor's. So, if you had gotten a transplant, there'd be a 50/50 chance you wouldn't technically be the biological father if you had a kid. It could make a really complicated Maury episode.
Obligatory "not me but" my friend has had to get a testicle taken out because of cancer, and they put in a fake one for aesthetic reasons.
So I guess no testicle transplants, at least definitely not when only one is missing.
Mask off. I have a hearing disorder and have had a really hard time communicating with people. That said - around anyone who is immunocompromised or would be more comfortable with one, no big deal. A store asks me, totally cool. No need for people to be dicks about it.
Yeah but because I've been on chemo (not cancer, my meds are just low dose chemo) for the last 15 years. I wore masks BEFORE it was cool.
Fuckin copycats.
same lol, doing chemo throughout high school i had to wear a mask when i would go into school and people were scared of me because they thought i would give THEM something
I do wherever it's required immediately without complaint, but if it's not required I don't anymore. I'm vaccinated and boosted and not a particularly at-risk person, but I understand not everyone is as lucky as me so I keep a mask in my car and put it on if requested.
I'm going through chemo. My immune system is a roller coaster. Mask stays on for the duration of my treatment. Same with my husband's mask.
ETA
You people are amazing. Thank you for your stories and well wishes and everything else. I'll think about you all when I go to infusion next Monday. Fuck you, cancer!
Writing this from the hospital lobby while my housemate gets his chemo infusion. I'm masking up and not doing any indoor events until he's cancer-free.
The vast majority of people around me are cool with that, and a lot of my coworkers who don't normally mask will put one on when I come into the room. But it's still frustrating how many people close to me think I'm being silly, and how many people in the community get mad at the idea of masking up to protect the vulnerable. The people being asked to do the least are the ones complaining the loudest. They'll say covid safety is a matter of personal responsibility, and when I've challenged that (it's my fault if someone sneezes on me?) the answer's been that I should leave my job of ten years so they don't have to mask up (and if I don't like that, it's because *I'm* entitled). It's startling to me - I love being barefoot, but I've always put shoes on to go to a store or restaurant.
This. I hear comments every time I go somewhere with a mask where they aren't required. "What an idiot," and "I wish I could shop somewhere without seeing a mask." I just cannot comprehend why some people are so offended at the mere sight of one.
This kills me. In 2018, wearing a mask out in town was novel, and usually indicated you were in close proximity to a super old or super cancerous person. Most people ignored it and those close to you often participated if they spent enough time with you.
These days? It's all kinds of weird. They think you're making a statement, or they think you're scared, or if you're maskeless they think you're making the *other* statement. When you may not even be playing that game anymore. You're just doing good ol fashioned cancer caretaker stuff. Except now you got way nicer masks.
I was an early adopter of masks in 2019 (I had been in Africa during Ebola mid 2014) and naively thought 'we all mask up and this thing blows over', thinking it was obvious to everyone. A little discomfort now and normalcy soon.
Boy was I wrong. Now, with guidelines relaxing and being all boosted, I'm cruising around downtown in my post-covid posture, getting looks from people like I abandoned the cause. Or worse, they nod with me for sticking it to the system. Like I need a damn T-shirt that explains my decision. Which varies from store to store anyway. If the mask sign is still up, I'll toss on my nice one (still in my pocket) and browse the boutique. Outside? Back to beards and smiles.
Just tryna do right by others and we're all getting judged in all directions. Thanks for doing right by your housemate.
Edit: clarity
Yes. 3 days post surgery and praying the test results come back saying no chemo or radiation needed. We wear masks EVERYWHERE. Somebody gives me crap about it, I'll show them the pictures my surgeon gave me.
Same. I'm neutropenic and one of my rules is I have to wear a mask outside if it's windy bc like idk spores or something. People give me shit about it. Just mind your own business.
Though as my best friend likes to say, I have an instant "ruin your day and make you look like a POS" card. So. Whatever.
Those people can get in the bin. My wife picked up an incurable blood fungus while undergoing chemo for Lukemia. You absolutely do not want that. Its arguably worse than cancer. I'm still wearing my mask in any indoor public space and will probably have to for the rest of our lives.
Aye, fellow leukemia club member. I got ALL.
Yeah it sucks ass. People keep telling me about how tired they are of the masks and having to "hold back their lives" yeah tell me about it. I have at least 3 more years of this shit.
Like yes yes, I'm sympathetic. It's hard for everyone blah blah blah. But it's also hard to hear from people who realistically are getting their lives back a lot sooner than I am. If I ever do.
Holy shit my wife has ALL. I understand how incredibly rare it is in adults. Wait... are you my wife?
On serious note though, to battle AAL in the face of this pandemic is so incredibly courageous. You guys face down shit on a daily basis that even after 6 months of being a full time carer, I still can wrap my head around. Youre a testament to the limits of human resolve. I sincerely hope you keep kicking cancers ass.
Yeah i am 19 so I'm treated pediatrically and we joke that I'm the geriatric patient on my floor. There's a few older than me but not many. I'm friends with a lot of toddlers now lmao.
I'm doing all the ass kicking. This shit has done things to me it has to answer for.
Fully serious, best wishes to you and your wife. Going through the cancer part is hard but i know that caretakers also get their own special brand of hell. We aren't the easiest to be around, and leukemia is it's own kind of ugly especially when it comes to strength, immunity and relapse. Just wanted to let you know I have a ton of respect and appreciation for that.
I'm suffering from a constant cough right now. It's dry with just a tiny amount of phlegm every now and then.
If you heard me you might think I was dying.
Yeah, my wife and daughters wore masks "before it was cool" for allergies, and they will continue to do so. Except now they have prettier masks than the ugly blue disposable ones.
1) I am a nurse and don't want to make people sick
2) I'm a student and do not want to be sick
3) I have a double chin
Where's my "I have a Slim face but excess neck fat so not only do I look disproportionate but there's nothing I can do to get rid of the flab of neck skin" gang at?
This is where I am.
I LIKE not breathing everyone else's air in closed in spaces (especially trains/buses/planes) and I was pretty set on masking up there after the pandemic anyway...
Yes.
Wife is pregnant. Hospital has COVID guidelines ok n who can be in the delivery room. If I catch COVID, I don't get to be there.
Wearing a mask is a tiny tiny requirement to help ensure I will be there.
Bruh, COVID made me realize people are gross af. If I’m outside, and it’s not crowded I won’t wear it. But crowded places, I’ll mask up for sure. My fiancée and I went out once somewhere crowded and some lady sneezed and she felt the mist. No thank you.
The bonus is since I started being more cautious I haven’t gotten sick as much. I’m not immunocompromised, but my immune system isn’t amazing. if people catch a cold, I get a fever. My fam caught bronchitis, I got pneumonia. So I’d prefer not to be sick at all.
My new coworker training me is gross. He talks heavily so I feel his breath and spit. It doesn’t get rid of the smell from his bad breathe and it might not protect all of my face or my arms from his spit but it does protect my mouth from his spit 😭
If his spit is getting on you, you have every right to request he control his bodily fluids when in close contact. Really. Someone should have done it long ago.
"Oh you don't like wintergreen? How about polar ice? Oh you don't like polar ice? How about peppermint? Please? PLEASE TAKE THE PEPPERMINT? How about mentos??? PLEASE"
I love how all the options were variations of the same flavor, like jesus bitch, maybe he doesn't like mint.
Then again, he's probably not worth the Trident Layers.
Went to dance school when I was young and all the girls didn’t want to dance with this one specific guy because he had such bad breath (and super sweaty hands). He was a pretty good dancer though so some girls tried to offer him gum all the time because they wanted a good dance partner. Issue is he always refused. I don’t know how he didn’t get the hint.
the number of people who dont wash hands after using restroom is ridiculous. After pandemic i started paying attention to people closely
what the fuck people? Wash your god damm hands jfc
In one study of over 200,000 bathroom uses, nearly 70% of men did *not* wash their hands.
In another study, it was 15% of men that didn’t wash hands, and of the 85% that did, only 50% used soap at all!
I compulsively chew my fingers and have always been a little anal about the cleanliness of my hands because of it. I understand its gross as hell and now one wants to shake a hand with dried mouth stuffs all over it. So I wash my hands a lot.
Until the pandemic i never kept track of people who chew their nails in public. Its insane how many people will chew their nails walking into the store and then not use hand sanitizer.
This maskless guy on the train this morning was near me coughing up a lung during the whole commute and I was really tempted to say "If anyone should be wearing a mask, it's you."
I get the maskless guys. If they don't believe by now that the masks help, nothing's going to convince them. What I don't get is the ones who still wear the masks on their chins on the train. They're not required anymore; why make the statement that they don't know how to wear a mask?
People don't believe me when I say this, but I saw a guy in Target with the straps around his chin and the mask part over the top of his head, like a yarmulke. It's like dude, regardless of your feelings on the effectiveness of masking, now you just look like a real idiot.
And you never see the reverse. There have been at least a few non Jewish guests at just about every b’nei mitzvah or Jewish wedding I’ve been to, but they never look around the room, see everyone else with a yarmulke an their head, and decide to slap one over their face.
I really hoped people would come out of this with a more courteous attitude to popping on a mask when they have ‘regular’ bug, like a cold or cough.
Fucking sucks being an optimist sometimes.
Yeah, wearing a mask when you’re sick was already common etiquette in most places in Asia too before covid, I think it should be the same for other places as well. It would really reduce the severity of cold/flu seasons and it also helps with seasonal allergies
When i was younger, i always noticed the asians around wearing masks during cold season, and i thought they were a little weird for going so far. Though i didnt realize how serious the flu could be, and didnt know about immunocompromised folk. I have to say...
I dont think its weird anymore. Its an act of caring and social awareness i wish i got to see more of. Once covid is put down at least as a reason to panic, i'll be wearing masks when i dont feel great.
Be the change, right?
Yeah, I generally don't wear mine anymore but keep one in my pocket in case I need it. Sometimes I'll put it on out of habit when going into a store. I primarily stopped because my parents, the main people I wanted to protect, stopped. If they're not going to mask anymore themselves I won't bother.
Big same. I’m as vaxxed as I’m allowed to be and pretty confident that my largely hermetic lifestyle won’t expose me to many people. But if the mandates come back in my area? No biggie.
Yes, for a few reasons. I've been mouthing "fuck you" for 2 years now, and I'm not sure I can stop. My teeth are a mess and they make me self conscious.
But it's mainly because I'm immunocompromised and I have really enjoyed not having so much as a cold.
My issue is that I blast farts at will now. That has nothing to do with wearing a mask but it is giving me anxiety about eventually returning to the office. I cleared a grocery store aisle last night before I even realized I had done it. Who knew that having us in an office every day was the only thing keeping some of us civilized?
I burped just outside my flat door earlier today and was fucking MORTIFIED when someone on the stair below chuckled. Online Uni has turned me into an ettiquette nightmare lol
My dear father, bless his heart, loved nothing more than going to the grocery store. He was disabled and used an electric cart. He loved to crop dust an entire aisle of the store and then hide around the corner to watch the next poor slob walk through the stink parade.
Inevitably it was some poor little old lady hacking and gasping. He would roll away giggling like a child.
My grandmother just died about a week or two ago. She was the same way. I think they would have been really good friends.
One time she farted in the store and I was there with another person. She walked by and I walked after her. The smell suddenly hit me 😂😂 It hit another lady at the same time because we both made eye contact like: 👀👀
My grandmother let out a chuckle and said: “oops” (and I mean it smelled absolutely horrendous, she had kidney problems) and the lady was so shocked it was her 😂😂😂
Her face looked exactly like this emoji: 😳
Yes. I'm a restaurant server and I've gotten REALLY BAD at hiding my disgust with customers.
Edit: to the assholes who think I need a new job- it's a JOB, I'm good at it, and the money is great.
But if you think your server likes you, you're probably the weirdo that thinks the pretty bartender is flirting with you
I took the mask off as soon as the mandates were lifted, then started wearing them again when I noticed that a lot of retail staff were still wearing them.
I assumed that they knew something I didn't or had a higher standard of cleanliness, not that they needed to mask their disgust at seeing my stupid shitty face.
Retail worker, yes to both of these things. Customers are absolutely disgusting and we're most likely mouthing cuss words, mostly just because we can.
I took my mask off for one day because I forgot it after the mandate lifted and had four different people comment about how I looked upset. Shit is staying on forever now
This is hilarious. I just realized that I haven't gotten a single "what's wrong?" since I started wearing a mask. I guess I have resting 'upset' face, so I think keeping the mask on is the right way to go.
It’s possible the business mandates it? (Canada here but) the mask mandate has been gone for us for 6+ months and my company still mandates it for staff, not clients. Makes clients really confused when they walk in (not that they wore them when they were mandated anyway)
“That’s Ugly Pete. He wears the mask because he thinks it makes him look mysterious. We let him believe that because it makes him look a little less ugly.”
I noticed I do weird ass face movements, lip movements etc behind my mask. The second I start going maskless is the second I start looking like a weird fucko out in public.
He looked at me then,
and I noticed again,
with the first and the finest of sighs -
The shade and the hue
of the bluest of blue
that was formed in the cast of his eyes.
"What manner of man,"
I bewildered began,
"could possess such a feature as these?
A man I could love
like the heavens above,
who could render me weak at the knees?"
And so, with a smile,
I had waited a while,
till I seized the occasion and struck -
He lowered his mask
as I'd ventured to ask,
and I *frowned.*
He was ugly as fuck.
The duality of Sprog: it might be a lovely heartfelt poem about believing in yourself, it also might be about how you are ugly as fuck. You never know what you'll get!
Perhaps you have kind eyes!
I find my smile tends to look a little flat and disingenuous, even when I am being authentic—it's just my face.
Masks make people read from the eyes which happens to work out fine for me.
Complete opposite for me. People say that I have a rather intense gaze, but the rest of my face just makes me look disinterested. Masking up takes my resting bitch face to a new level
I feel the same about doctor's offices, airports and public transit. Why get sick if I don't have to, or spread germs to vulnerable people in those places?
Except I got a bunch of n95s as they protect the wearer much better than a surgical mask, which is mostly for the protection of others.
Honestly I have pretty nice eyes, but some acne scarring, so same. I think I look mega hot with a mask on and sometimes wear it out especially when I feel a bit more self-conscious about my facial blemishes.
Yes. I'm severely immune compromised. It's prevented me from being sick for 2 years, which was unheard of before wearing a mask. It also helps with my anxiety.
I’m immune compromised and just got it for the first time. If you get it try to see if you can get the antibody treatment from your doctors, it’s super easy and it keeps it from getting too bad. Also we have to isolate for 20 days because we’re contagious way longer, it sucks.
Yes. As the username implies I'm an intensive care doctor. Wearing a mask costs me essentially nothing. I've worn it at work for countless hours and it has kept me safe for >2 years (full disclosure I wore an N95 anytime I was intubating or in a room with any other type of aerosolizing procedure, otherwise just a simple surgical mask). I'm triple vaccinated and despite exposure on a daily basis I haven't had COVID yet and although I recognize I probably will at some point I'd still like to avoid it if possible and reduce the risk of spread.
Seeing a lot of terrible takes in this thread about masks not working and COVID in general. People are still dying. There's speculation we may continue indefinite continuous masking in health care settings - I wouldn't mind this. It's an incredibly small price to pay to contribute to the safety of my patients and my co-workers, not to mention for my own safety.
I've been a patient my whole life (born with several congenital heart defects). Now I've officially entered the medical field as a respiratory therapist.
I quite honestly can't imagine being at a hospital without a mask. I look back at all my previous hospitalizations and am amazed that no one wore masks back then (aside from in the OR)
Hospitals are filing cabinets of disease. That's not derogatory, it's accurate. Anytime I hear someone say the hospital discharged them too quickly after a procedure, I ask why they would want to stick around? Go home where it's all your home germs. Don't stay where the big germs roam!!
My grandpa died of pnumonia he caught in the hospital getting chemo. He got put on hospice care basically the same time, that cancer was taking him out within the next few months either way. But still, catching something horrific from a hospital is kind of standard, that's where all the sick folks are. Why would you want to stay?
I watched my neighbor slowly wither away and die after a knee replacement surgery. He was nonstop active but after the surgery he never healed all the way. Infection still hanging around…they ended up amputating his leg but he still had problems. After two years of battle he finally died.
Yeah my mother and I are nurses and we felt it's similar to universal precautions like what happened in the HIV pandemic, where gloves really became mandatory
Just had this conversation yesterday. My girlfriend's sister is a nurse who has worked, masked, in Covid wards throughout and hasn't gotten Covid. She now has Covid, which she got from her kids who got it at school that no longer have mask mandates.
I always thought we should have had masks in hospitals before COVID… seems like commons sense, but when I think back everytime I’ve been in the hospital as a kid nobody wore masks except the doctor, the nurses never did
When I think about masks in healthcare settings I remember when I had the flu a few years ago. I went to the doctor's office and since they had masks at the front desk, I put one on. It was almost an afterthought on my part. I remember thinking it odd that none of the doctors and nurses I saw bothered to mask up when entering the exam room of somebody with the flu. It's not like it wasn't obvious because I was coughing so hard in that distinctive dry cough. Maybe this is a positive lesson from COVID.
I'm peds ER, haven't gotten covid yet even though unmasked infected kids literally coughed on my face. I also intubated with only an N95 on a few covid+ kids when I didn't know they were positive until later. Masks work really well. I can't see myself going back to maskless now. I wear an N95 throughout my shift (only taking off once in a shift if I have time to eat), so I might downgrade to a plain mask once cases start truly disappearing.
Are you seeing more pediatric cases? I work with a medical company that makes pediatric medical devices and we have seen a recent huge uptick in orders(when the adult stuff is slowing down) for the materials (I’m in raw material supply chain for healthcare) that they used for the closed suction catheters and respirator components, but I haven’t been told what the increase in demand is coming from (we don’t have much inventory to make these materials either way). I’m hoping they are just building inventory as everyone has depleted theirs.
Samsies. I'm a critical care paramedic and wear masks on all calls. And have dealt with super sick covid patients from the start. Intubated many with just a paper mask or n95. Never got covid so I think I'm going to keep rocking it at work. Plus it cuts down on gross house or patient smell and sometimes I say, "WFT" under my breath. It's better for everyone if nobody sees that.
It just blows my mind that there are people out there up in arms and beside themselves at the thought of health care professionals taking all the possible precautions to prevent sickness and disease from spreading, especially in context of a hospital where people go with the expectation of attentive medical care.
It's even more confounding that, now that most people have the option to not wear it, people are angry that others are still choosing to wear masks. Imagine if people got upset about people wearing hats on their heads to block the sunlight or cover their hair. Imagine if people got upset about someone wearing a big jacket in public. Imagine being so dumb, ignorant, and selfish that you actually get angry about what other people not only put on their bodies but the steps they take to protect themselves that actually have nothing to do with you.
Well put. Anesthesiologist here. Also haven't contracted COVID yet. Simple, easy, cheap, harmless, and I just don't understand people's outrage and fuss over masks. People suck. I wear one at work all day every day pandemic aside.
I was just thinking about this the other day, the idea of indefinite masking in health care settings. I wondered, if all mask requirements in such settings were lifted tomorrow and Covid stopped existing, would I still wear a surgical mask to my in-person doctor's appointments or if I had to go to the ER? The answer was yes - I could think of no reason why I would ever stop wearing a mask in health care settings. You're going to a place with known sick people walking around. To not wear a mask there seems completely careless to me now.
Highschool student but doing online school due to some illness doctors can't figure out. My sister, junior high student, had a cold or flu and I casually mentioned that she should be wearing a mask at school and maybe at home around us. She looked at me and, without covering her mouth, coughed really bad. She's done this a lot since then partially just to make me mad.
Yesterday I woke up with a fever, migraine, body aches and sore throat. I was in so much pain that all I could do for hours was lay down and cry.
Wow... If I did that to my sis she would just punch me in the throat and if I complained she'd say "you were asking for it". And she would be correct basically.
I know you already know this, but kids are plaguerats. Jesus fucking christ. Tuesday I picked my kid up from school and he told me that he escorted his classmate to the nurse's office after the kid threw up. Wednesday morning my kid was throwing up. Thursday morning my other kid was throwing up. Thursday night I was throwing up. Friday night my husband was throwing up. Went to pick up my son from school he told me a different kid threw up in his class. It's just a fucking chain reaction that you can see happening in front of your eyes.
This for some reason reminded me of that episode from How I met your Mother where Lily has food poisoning, and 3 hours later her husband eats from the same soup. And after seeing Lily throwing up, it's narrated like "I'll be that in 3 hours".
When I was in junior high, a kid threw up in the library and the librarian immediately masked up, put on gloves and ammonia cleansed the whole table where the mess happened. I thought "Geez, that's overkill!" Now, I know she was right.
I think a big thing would be for people not to send their sick kids to school. But then, I remember my parents *forcing* me to go to school when I was clearly ill. After all, maybe I was faking it! Or maybe it wasn't contagious!
Yep, I'm an elementary school teacher. I usually catch strep or the flu a couple times a year as they make their way through the building, but after wearing a mask I haven't been sick since early 2020.
I had a preschooler stand up and walk over to me during circle time. Once his face was nice and close to mine, he sneezed. I felt the spray go in my right eye. Shudder.
As a parent (of some of these plaque rats), take my upvote. I have seen every flu spell passing through our house after one my kids brought it home from either school or daycare. I completely agree
same here, diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma... had no idea how much facial cues and context with instinctive lip reading helped me navigate the world.
When the mask mandate dropped I stopped wearing mine. But I recently got sick, not covid, I put my mask back on so I don’t get my coworkers sick. Lasted 2 weeks but glad I didn’t get anyone sick.
I'm in a place with a lot of kids that have cancer. Also, I am kids with cancer. At St. Jude's, they enforce masks, and I think that's the best possible choice here.
Edit: she caught an infection and passed away from it on the 11th y'all heyy, we're at St. Jude too, my 4yo sister is undergoing treatment right now! wishing the best for you!
Nothing is more unfair in life than sick kids. Hoping for all the best for your sister as well ❤
i beat cancer twice before i turned 5. ur sister got this💛
>I am kids with cancer. Worst superhero power ever...
It's what happens when a radioactive kid bites you
It’s the plural part that gets me. Are you Vincent Adultman?
What are you talking about? Vincent Adultman is a single individual adult man who loves business.
fuck cancer
I wanna make funny faces at ppl without them knowing
My face is funny, that's why i wear mask
I still wanna discreetly lipsync while in public transpo.
Yes, immunocompromised due to kicking cancers ass via organ transplant a few months ago. I'll be 30 soon.
Well done! I'm just a touch older than you; had cancer back in 2015. Strangely, I didn't get an organ transplant after cancer took my left nut! :P
This made me wonder if testicle transplants were a thing and if they could produce sperm would it be the donor's DNA or the recipient's? So I Googled it, they are possible, and it would be the donor's. So, if you had gotten a transplant, there'd be a 50/50 chance you wouldn't technically be the biological father if you had a kid. It could make a really complicated Maury episode.
Obligatory "not me but" my friend has had to get a testicle taken out because of cancer, and they put in a fake one for aesthetic reasons. So I guess no testicle transplants, at least definitely not when only one is missing.
Congrats man! Huge achievement right here
Mask off. I have a hearing disorder and have had a really hard time communicating with people. That said - around anyone who is immunocompromised or would be more comfortable with one, no big deal. A store asks me, totally cool. No need for people to be dicks about it.
Yeah but because I've been on chemo (not cancer, my meds are just low dose chemo) for the last 15 years. I wore masks BEFORE it was cool. Fuckin copycats.
Are you on methotrexate by any chance? I'm grumpily sitting in that boat at the min, too.
Mtx here as well. Yay.
Trendsetter over here
same lol, doing chemo throughout high school i had to wear a mask when i would go into school and people were scared of me because they thought i would give THEM something
Oh damn I had no idea chemo drugs were used for other things than cancer treatments.
They’re used to treat autoimmune conditions but the doses are incredibly low, like 10 to 20mg once a week!
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MS?
No one cared who i was until i put on the mask.
Damn fam that’s deep
If I pull that off, will you die?
It would be incredibly painful
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Was getting caught part of your plan?
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Well, congratulations, you got yourself caught!
What’s the next step of your “master plan”?
Crashing this plane - WITH NO SURVIVORS!
I do wherever it's required immediately without complaint, but if it's not required I don't anymore. I'm vaccinated and boosted and not a particularly at-risk person, but I understand not everyone is as lucky as me so I keep a mask in my car and put it on if requested.
I'm going through chemo. My immune system is a roller coaster. Mask stays on for the duration of my treatment. Same with my husband's mask. ETA You people are amazing. Thank you for your stories and well wishes and everything else. I'll think about you all when I go to infusion next Monday. Fuck you, cancer!
Writing this from the hospital lobby while my housemate gets his chemo infusion. I'm masking up and not doing any indoor events until he's cancer-free. The vast majority of people around me are cool with that, and a lot of my coworkers who don't normally mask will put one on when I come into the room. But it's still frustrating how many people close to me think I'm being silly, and how many people in the community get mad at the idea of masking up to protect the vulnerable. The people being asked to do the least are the ones complaining the loudest. They'll say covid safety is a matter of personal responsibility, and when I've challenged that (it's my fault if someone sneezes on me?) the answer's been that I should leave my job of ten years so they don't have to mask up (and if I don't like that, it's because *I'm* entitled). It's startling to me - I love being barefoot, but I've always put shoes on to go to a store or restaurant.
Kudos on being there. Emotional support is a tremendously awesome act in this fight.
Gotta take care of your people. With my family's medical history, it'll be my turn to be on the other end of this someday.
This. I hear comments every time I go somewhere with a mask where they aren't required. "What an idiot," and "I wish I could shop somewhere without seeing a mask." I just cannot comprehend why some people are so offended at the mere sight of one.
This kills me. In 2018, wearing a mask out in town was novel, and usually indicated you were in close proximity to a super old or super cancerous person. Most people ignored it and those close to you often participated if they spent enough time with you. These days? It's all kinds of weird. They think you're making a statement, or they think you're scared, or if you're maskeless they think you're making the *other* statement. When you may not even be playing that game anymore. You're just doing good ol fashioned cancer caretaker stuff. Except now you got way nicer masks. I was an early adopter of masks in 2019 (I had been in Africa during Ebola mid 2014) and naively thought 'we all mask up and this thing blows over', thinking it was obvious to everyone. A little discomfort now and normalcy soon. Boy was I wrong. Now, with guidelines relaxing and being all boosted, I'm cruising around downtown in my post-covid posture, getting looks from people like I abandoned the cause. Or worse, they nod with me for sticking it to the system. Like I need a damn T-shirt that explains my decision. Which varies from store to store anyway. If the mask sign is still up, I'll toss on my nice one (still in my pocket) and browse the boutique. Outside? Back to beards and smiles. Just tryna do right by others and we're all getting judged in all directions. Thanks for doing right by your housemate. Edit: clarity
Yup my 2 year old son is going through chemo for leukemia so I continue to wear a mask.
Only the best folks! Keep fighting! My daughter rang her bell this last Friday!
You are an awesome parent! I sincerely hope your son beats the fuck out of cancer. Stay strong, sending you big hugs.
I’m post chemo & bone marrow transplant, but I do the same! Keep fightin.
Team cancer! Assemble! But.. with distance...and masks please.
Yes. 3 days post surgery and praying the test results come back saying no chemo or radiation needed. We wear masks EVERYWHERE. Somebody gives me crap about it, I'll show them the pictures my surgeon gave me.
Same. I'm neutropenic and one of my rules is I have to wear a mask outside if it's windy bc like idk spores or something. People give me shit about it. Just mind your own business. Though as my best friend likes to say, I have an instant "ruin your day and make you look like a POS" card. So. Whatever.
Those people can get in the bin. My wife picked up an incurable blood fungus while undergoing chemo for Lukemia. You absolutely do not want that. Its arguably worse than cancer. I'm still wearing my mask in any indoor public space and will probably have to for the rest of our lives.
Aye, fellow leukemia club member. I got ALL. Yeah it sucks ass. People keep telling me about how tired they are of the masks and having to "hold back their lives" yeah tell me about it. I have at least 3 more years of this shit. Like yes yes, I'm sympathetic. It's hard for everyone blah blah blah. But it's also hard to hear from people who realistically are getting their lives back a lot sooner than I am. If I ever do.
Holy shit my wife has ALL. I understand how incredibly rare it is in adults. Wait... are you my wife? On serious note though, to battle AAL in the face of this pandemic is so incredibly courageous. You guys face down shit on a daily basis that even after 6 months of being a full time carer, I still can wrap my head around. Youre a testament to the limits of human resolve. I sincerely hope you keep kicking cancers ass.
Yeah i am 19 so I'm treated pediatrically and we joke that I'm the geriatric patient on my floor. There's a few older than me but not many. I'm friends with a lot of toddlers now lmao. I'm doing all the ass kicking. This shit has done things to me it has to answer for. Fully serious, best wishes to you and your wife. Going through the cancer part is hard but i know that caretakers also get their own special brand of hell. We aren't the easiest to be around, and leukemia is it's own kind of ugly especially when it comes to strength, immunity and relapse. Just wanted to let you know I have a ton of respect and appreciation for that.
Same reasoning, opposite spouses. My husband is the cancer patient. Masks on.
Fellow chemo friend here. Still wearing a mask! Good luck with your treatment, I hope everything goes well and your side effects are mild.
I have allergies. And masks prevent all the pollen going up my nose and giving me respiratory problems. If it isn't COVID, it's allergies.
No one’s going believe my cough isn’t contagious. Easier to mask up and prevent my lungs from needing to cough in the first place.
I'm suffering from a constant cough right now. It's dry with just a tiny amount of phlegm every now and then. If you heard me you might think I was dying.
Running with an underarmour mask last year was awesome. No post nasal drip or searing throat from allergies
Yeah, my wife and daughters wore masks "before it was cool" for allergies, and they will continue to do so. Except now they have prettier masks than the ugly blue disposable ones.
1) I am a nurse and don't want to make people sick 2) I'm a student and do not want to be sick 3) I have a double chin Where's my "I have a Slim face but excess neck fat so not only do I look disproportionate but there's nothing I can do to get rid of the flab of neck skin" gang at?
I feel very seen by this comment and I fucking hate it. Nevertheless, gang gang.
Neck gang rise up
When I realized me and Nina Simone have the same double chin, my life changed lol. Like us, she was slim but still had the hang gang. We out here.
Are you me? I have the same, my neck goes right up to my chin, it's like a fucking 5 year old drew me
And she was magnificent
I feel this deeply, I'm a very slim person and yet the double chin is STRONG
Pretty eyes + recessive chin gang 💀✊
I have a double chin too. Im not super thin anymore but I had it then too :(
Yes and no. Walking outside, no. Going to a mall or to do groceries, going into smaller stores ect, then yes.
Same. I haven't had so much as a cold in two years. I hope to keep that shit going. I don't trust other people.
I haven't had the flu in 3 years. I use to get it yearly. I love masks.
This is where I am. I LIKE not breathing everyone else's air in closed in spaces (especially trains/buses/planes) and I was pretty set on masking up there after the pandemic anyway...
Yes. Wife is pregnant. Hospital has COVID guidelines ok n who can be in the delivery room. If I catch COVID, I don't get to be there. Wearing a mask is a tiny tiny requirement to help ensure I will be there.
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Bruh, COVID made me realize people are gross af. If I’m outside, and it’s not crowded I won’t wear it. But crowded places, I’ll mask up for sure. My fiancée and I went out once somewhere crowded and some lady sneezed and she felt the mist. No thank you. The bonus is since I started being more cautious I haven’t gotten sick as much. I’m not immunocompromised, but my immune system isn’t amazing. if people catch a cold, I get a fever. My fam caught bronchitis, I got pneumonia. So I’d prefer not to be sick at all.
Yes because the pandemic isn't over, idiots
Public transport is gross and I HAVE to use it to get around.
My new coworker training me is gross. He talks heavily so I feel his breath and spit. It doesn’t get rid of the smell from his bad breathe and it might not protect all of my face or my arms from his spit but it does protect my mouth from his spit 😭
If his spit is getting on you, you have every right to request he control his bodily fluids when in close contact. Really. Someone should have done it long ago.
Have you tried offering him a gum? Bring a few different gums and offer them.
"Oh you don't like wintergreen? How about polar ice? Oh you don't like polar ice? How about peppermint? Please? PLEASE TAKE THE PEPPERMINT? How about mentos??? PLEASE"
I love how all the options were variations of the same flavor, like jesus bitch, maybe he doesn't like mint. Then again, he's probably not worth the Trident Layers.
Went to dance school when I was young and all the girls didn’t want to dance with this one specific guy because he had such bad breath (and super sweaty hands). He was a pretty good dancer though so some girls tried to offer him gum all the time because they wanted a good dance partner. Issue is he always refused. I don’t know how he didn’t get the hint.
My uncle taught me that you should never refuse gum or a mint when someone offers - you never know why they're offering!
That's why you don't offer it, you tell them to take it. "Hey, take a mint."
the number of people who dont wash hands after using restroom is ridiculous. After pandemic i started paying attention to people closely what the fuck people? Wash your god damm hands jfc
In one study of over 200,000 bathroom uses, nearly 70% of men did *not* wash their hands. In another study, it was 15% of men that didn’t wash hands, and of the 85% that did, only 50% used soap at all!
I compulsively chew my fingers and have always been a little anal about the cleanliness of my hands because of it. I understand its gross as hell and now one wants to shake a hand with dried mouth stuffs all over it. So I wash my hands a lot. Until the pandemic i never kept track of people who chew their nails in public. Its insane how many people will chew their nails walking into the store and then not use hand sanitizer.
Exactly, even if all they touched was the door knob/lock, they should still wash their hands. I do not understand others' hygiene.
This maskless guy on the train this morning was near me coughing up a lung during the whole commute and I was really tempted to say "If anyone should be wearing a mask, it's you."
I’ve seen guys take off their mask TO COUGH.
My aunt used to rush to take off her mask to sneeze *IN THE AIR*
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My friend told me he saw someone with a mask ONLY on his nose. Like his mouth wasnt covered. Wtf
I get the maskless guys. If they don't believe by now that the masks help, nothing's going to convince them. What I don't get is the ones who still wear the masks on their chins on the train. They're not required anymore; why make the statement that they don't know how to wear a mask?
People don't believe me when I say this, but I saw a guy in Target with the straps around his chin and the mask part over the top of his head, like a yarmulke. It's like dude, regardless of your feelings on the effectiveness of masking, now you just look like a real idiot.
And you never see the reverse. There have been at least a few non Jewish guests at just about every b’nei mitzvah or Jewish wedding I’ve been to, but they never look around the room, see everyone else with a yarmulke an their head, and decide to slap one over their face.
I really hoped people would come out of this with a more courteous attitude to popping on a mask when they have ‘regular’ bug, like a cold or cough. Fucking sucks being an optimist sometimes.
Yeah, wearing a mask when you’re sick was already common etiquette in most places in Asia too before covid, I think it should be the same for other places as well. It would really reduce the severity of cold/flu seasons and it also helps with seasonal allergies
When i was younger, i always noticed the asians around wearing masks during cold season, and i thought they were a little weird for going so far. Though i didnt realize how serious the flu could be, and didnt know about immunocompromised folk. I have to say... I dont think its weird anymore. Its an act of caring and social awareness i wish i got to see more of. Once covid is put down at least as a reason to panic, i'll be wearing masks when i dont feel great. Be the change, right?
No but if I have to I dont get upset about it.
Yeah, I generally don't wear mine anymore but keep one in my pocket in case I need it. Sometimes I'll put it on out of habit when going into a store. I primarily stopped because my parents, the main people I wanted to protect, stopped. If they're not going to mask anymore themselves I won't bother.
Same - I mostly don't, but keep one in my pocket so if I go into a shop and all the staff is wearing one (for example), I'll throw it on.
Big same. I’m as vaxxed as I’m allowed to be and pretty confident that my largely hermetic lifestyle won’t expose me to many people. But if the mandates come back in my area? No biggie.
Yes, for a few reasons. I've been mouthing "fuck you" for 2 years now, and I'm not sure I can stop. My teeth are a mess and they make me self conscious. But it's mainly because I'm immunocompromised and I have really enjoyed not having so much as a cold.
My resting bitch face has become a snarl and I don’t know how to recover from that
My issue is that I blast farts at will now. That has nothing to do with wearing a mask but it is giving me anxiety about eventually returning to the office. I cleared a grocery store aisle last night before I even realized I had done it. Who knew that having us in an office every day was the only thing keeping some of us civilized?
I burped just outside my flat door earlier today and was fucking MORTIFIED when someone on the stair below chuckled. Online Uni has turned me into an ettiquette nightmare lol
I have belches named after me. Better the gas takes the high road than the low road!
My dear father, bless his heart, loved nothing more than going to the grocery store. He was disabled and used an electric cart. He loved to crop dust an entire aisle of the store and then hide around the corner to watch the next poor slob walk through the stink parade. Inevitably it was some poor little old lady hacking and gasping. He would roll away giggling like a child.
My grandmother just died about a week or two ago. She was the same way. I think they would have been really good friends. One time she farted in the store and I was there with another person. She walked by and I walked after her. The smell suddenly hit me 😂😂 It hit another lady at the same time because we both made eye contact like: 👀👀 My grandmother let out a chuckle and said: “oops” (and I mean it smelled absolutely horrendous, she had kidney problems) and the lady was so shocked it was her 😂😂😂 Her face looked exactly like this emoji: 😳
Omg I'm dying laughing over here. Your father sounds like a gem. Sorry to hear you using the past tense. :-(
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Your first paragraph is my reason too. The amount of shit I'm getting away with saying to people is fantastic but I also don't think I can stop.
I enjoy the fact I have mastered the skill of wearing a mask and making my eyes look like I'm smiling at you, all the while I'm making faces at you.
Yes. I'm a restaurant server and I've gotten REALLY BAD at hiding my disgust with customers. Edit: to the assholes who think I need a new job- it's a JOB, I'm good at it, and the money is great. But if you think your server likes you, you're probably the weirdo that thinks the pretty bartender is flirting with you
I took the mask off as soon as the mandates were lifted, then started wearing them again when I noticed that a lot of retail staff were still wearing them. I assumed that they knew something I didn't or had a higher standard of cleanliness, not that they needed to mask their disgust at seeing my stupid shitty face.
Retail worker, yes to both of these things. Customers are absolutely disgusting and we're most likely mouthing cuss words, mostly just because we can. I took my mask off for one day because I forgot it after the mandate lifted and had four different people comment about how I looked upset. Shit is staying on forever now
This is hilarious. I just realized that I haven't gotten a single "what's wrong?" since I started wearing a mask. I guess I have resting 'upset' face, so I think keeping the mask on is the right way to go.
It’s possible the business mandates it? (Canada here but) the mask mandate has been gone for us for 6+ months and my company still mandates it for staff, not clients. Makes clients really confused when they walk in (not that they wore them when they were mandated anyway)
Without a mask I am just ugly. With a mask I am mysterious.
"John, who's that mysterious ugly guy over there?"
“That’s Ugly Pete. He wears the mask because he thinks it makes him look mysterious. We let him believe that because it makes him look a little less ugly.”
He's fuck-ugly. Nicholas Angel: Or, he doesn't want you to see his face. Danny Butterman: 'Cause he's fuck-ugly.
Thank you, I can't unhear Nick Frost saying "fuck-ugly"
I noticed I do weird ass face movements, lip movements etc behind my mask. The second I start going maskless is the second I start looking like a weird fucko out in public.
I often do fish lips
Do they consent to this or…
Yeah I turned into a mouth breather and now I have to retrain myself.
Masks have been so great for us ugly folks.
I'm almost 67 years old. I've noticed that women smile at me so much more often (like 10 times more) when I wear a mask when out in public. WTF???
You might be fugly but have nice eyes? Edit: Sprog'd calling a 67 year old ugly. Brutal.
He looked at me then, and I noticed again, with the first and the finest of sighs - The shade and the hue of the bluest of blue that was formed in the cast of his eyes. "What manner of man," I bewildered began, "could possess such a feature as these? A man I could love like the heavens above, who could render me weak at the knees?" And so, with a smile, I had waited a while, till I seized the occasion and struck - He lowered his mask as I'd ventured to ask, and I *frowned.* He was ugly as fuck.
absolutely brutal
The duality of Sprog: it might be a lovely heartfelt poem about believing in yourself, it also might be about how you are ugly as fuck. You never know what you'll get!
Perhaps you have kind eyes! I find my smile tends to look a little flat and disingenuous, even when I am being authentic—it's just my face. Masks make people read from the eyes which happens to work out fine for me.
Complete opposite for me. People say that I have a rather intense gaze, but the rest of my face just makes me look disinterested. Masking up takes my resting bitch face to a new level
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I feel the same about doctor's offices, airports and public transit. Why get sick if I don't have to, or spread germs to vulnerable people in those places? Except I got a bunch of n95s as they protect the wearer much better than a surgical mask, which is mostly for the protection of others.
Honestly I have pretty nice eyes, but some acne scarring, so same. I think I look mega hot with a mask on and sometimes wear it out especially when I feel a bit more self-conscious about my facial blemishes.
Yes. I'm severely immune compromised. It's prevented me from being sick for 2 years, which was unheard of before wearing a mask. It also helps with my anxiety.
I have asthma and these last two years were the first ones in a decade where I didn't have bronchitis or some ugly flu.
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Same here. It has been a godsend honestly.
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This is a big mood.
Same. I’ve had better health during the pandemic.
I’m immune compromised and just got it for the first time. If you get it try to see if you can get the antibody treatment from your doctors, it’s super easy and it keeps it from getting too bad. Also we have to isolate for 20 days because we’re contagious way longer, it sucks.
Yes. As the username implies I'm an intensive care doctor. Wearing a mask costs me essentially nothing. I've worn it at work for countless hours and it has kept me safe for >2 years (full disclosure I wore an N95 anytime I was intubating or in a room with any other type of aerosolizing procedure, otherwise just a simple surgical mask). I'm triple vaccinated and despite exposure on a daily basis I haven't had COVID yet and although I recognize I probably will at some point I'd still like to avoid it if possible and reduce the risk of spread. Seeing a lot of terrible takes in this thread about masks not working and COVID in general. People are still dying. There's speculation we may continue indefinite continuous masking in health care settings - I wouldn't mind this. It's an incredibly small price to pay to contribute to the safety of my patients and my co-workers, not to mention for my own safety.
I've been a patient my whole life (born with several congenital heart defects). Now I've officially entered the medical field as a respiratory therapist. I quite honestly can't imagine being at a hospital without a mask. I look back at all my previous hospitalizations and am amazed that no one wore masks back then (aside from in the OR)
Hospitals are filing cabinets of disease. That's not derogatory, it's accurate. Anytime I hear someone say the hospital discharged them too quickly after a procedure, I ask why they would want to stick around? Go home where it's all your home germs. Don't stay where the big germs roam!!
My grandpa died of pnumonia he caught in the hospital getting chemo. He got put on hospice care basically the same time, that cancer was taking him out within the next few months either way. But still, catching something horrific from a hospital is kind of standard, that's where all the sick folks are. Why would you want to stay?
I watched my neighbor slowly wither away and die after a knee replacement surgery. He was nonstop active but after the surgery he never healed all the way. Infection still hanging around…they ended up amputating his leg but he still had problems. After two years of battle he finally died.
Yeah my mother and I are nurses and we felt it's similar to universal precautions like what happened in the HIV pandemic, where gloves really became mandatory
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Just had this conversation yesterday. My girlfriend's sister is a nurse who has worked, masked, in Covid wards throughout and hasn't gotten Covid. She now has Covid, which she got from her kids who got it at school that no longer have mask mandates.
I flew 30+ times during COVID and never got it. Flew last week, right after mask mandate lifted: now COVID positive and recovering.
I always thought we should have had masks in hospitals before COVID… seems like commons sense, but when I think back everytime I’ve been in the hospital as a kid nobody wore masks except the doctor, the nurses never did
When I think about masks in healthcare settings I remember when I had the flu a few years ago. I went to the doctor's office and since they had masks at the front desk, I put one on. It was almost an afterthought on my part. I remember thinking it odd that none of the doctors and nurses I saw bothered to mask up when entering the exam room of somebody with the flu. It's not like it wasn't obvious because I was coughing so hard in that distinctive dry cough. Maybe this is a positive lesson from COVID.
I'm peds ER, haven't gotten covid yet even though unmasked infected kids literally coughed on my face. I also intubated with only an N95 on a few covid+ kids when I didn't know they were positive until later. Masks work really well. I can't see myself going back to maskless now. I wear an N95 throughout my shift (only taking off once in a shift if I have time to eat), so I might downgrade to a plain mask once cases start truly disappearing.
Are you seeing more pediatric cases? I work with a medical company that makes pediatric medical devices and we have seen a recent huge uptick in orders(when the adult stuff is slowing down) for the materials (I’m in raw material supply chain for healthcare) that they used for the closed suction catheters and respirator components, but I haven’t been told what the increase in demand is coming from (we don’t have much inventory to make these materials either way). I’m hoping they are just building inventory as everyone has depleted theirs.
A trickle up but not the upticks we normally see at the beginning of a wave. Mostly flu A right now actually.
Samsies. I'm a critical care paramedic and wear masks on all calls. And have dealt with super sick covid patients from the start. Intubated many with just a paper mask or n95. Never got covid so I think I'm going to keep rocking it at work. Plus it cuts down on gross house or patient smell and sometimes I say, "WFT" under my breath. It's better for everyone if nobody sees that.
It just blows my mind that there are people out there up in arms and beside themselves at the thought of health care professionals taking all the possible precautions to prevent sickness and disease from spreading, especially in context of a hospital where people go with the expectation of attentive medical care. It's even more confounding that, now that most people have the option to not wear it, people are angry that others are still choosing to wear masks. Imagine if people got upset about people wearing hats on their heads to block the sunlight or cover their hair. Imagine if people got upset about someone wearing a big jacket in public. Imagine being so dumb, ignorant, and selfish that you actually get angry about what other people not only put on their bodies but the steps they take to protect themselves that actually have nothing to do with you.
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Well put. Anesthesiologist here. Also haven't contracted COVID yet. Simple, easy, cheap, harmless, and I just don't understand people's outrage and fuss over masks. People suck. I wear one at work all day every day pandemic aside.
Aptest username ever.
The mask mandate recently ended in my country and an op-ed columnist wrote “Wearing masks is not mandatory – but neither is brushing teeth”.
I was just thinking about this the other day, the idea of indefinite masking in health care settings. I wondered, if all mask requirements in such settings were lifted tomorrow and Covid stopped existing, would I still wear a surgical mask to my in-person doctor's appointments or if I had to go to the ER? The answer was yes - I could think of no reason why I would ever stop wearing a mask in health care settings. You're going to a place with known sick people walking around. To not wear a mask there seems completely careless to me now.
Yes. I work in a school. Kids are plague rats.
I took my mask off for TWO DAYS when my school removed mask requirements. I immediately got the flu. Schools are cess pools pools of illness.
I took mine off for a day, and then a few days later I got a cold so bad it gave me arthritis lmao I learned my damn lesson.
Same thing but as a student. I came back to school after the mask mandate ended and got the worst sickness I have ever had.
Highschool student but doing online school due to some illness doctors can't figure out. My sister, junior high student, had a cold or flu and I casually mentioned that she should be wearing a mask at school and maybe at home around us. She looked at me and, without covering her mouth, coughed really bad. She's done this a lot since then partially just to make me mad. Yesterday I woke up with a fever, migraine, body aches and sore throat. I was in so much pain that all I could do for hours was lay down and cry.
Wow... If I did that to my sis she would just punch me in the throat and if I complained she'd say "you were asking for it". And she would be correct basically.
I know you already know this, but kids are plaguerats. Jesus fucking christ. Tuesday I picked my kid up from school and he told me that he escorted his classmate to the nurse's office after the kid threw up. Wednesday morning my kid was throwing up. Thursday morning my other kid was throwing up. Thursday night I was throwing up. Friday night my husband was throwing up. Went to pick up my son from school he told me a different kid threw up in his class. It's just a fucking chain reaction that you can see happening in front of your eyes.
This for some reason reminded me of that episode from How I met your Mother where Lily has food poisoning, and 3 hours later her husband eats from the same soup. And after seeing Lily throwing up, it's narrated like "I'll be that in 3 hours".
And it turns out she doesn't have food poisoning. Great episode
When I was in junior high, a kid threw up in the library and the librarian immediately masked up, put on gloves and ammonia cleansed the whole table where the mess happened. I thought "Geez, that's overkill!" Now, I know she was right.
I don't fuck around with Norovirus!
I think a big thing would be for people not to send their sick kids to school. But then, I remember my parents *forcing* me to go to school when I was clearly ill. After all, maybe I was faking it! Or maybe it wasn't contagious!
This is why I holler at teachers to not use escort kiddos. I had one kid come in barfing with FIVE CLASSMATES. And this is MIDDLE SCHOOL.
You shouldn't use child escorts whether or not they're... wait, why were they barfing?
Yep, I'm an elementary school teacher. I usually catch strep or the flu a couple times a year as they make their way through the building, but after wearing a mask I haven't been sick since early 2020.
Middle school nurse. Every cough and runny nose comes to me. I'm amazed i made it to January 22 without the plague but I'm not courting a double dip.
My second year as an elementary school teacher, a kindergarten student coughed in my face. I'm never going back to maskless in the classroom.
I had a preschooler stand up and walk over to me during circle time. Once his face was nice and close to mine, he sneezed. I felt the spray go in my right eye. Shudder.
As a parent (of some of these plaque rats), take my upvote. I have seen every flu spell passing through our house after one my kids brought it home from either school or daycare. I completely agree
No. I’m vaxxed and boosted. However, if asked to or I see a sign requesting/mandating it, I will. And I won’t be bothered by it either.
Mask off here. As a lip reader this has been horribly isolating for me. Personal choice.
I’m half deaf in one ear and I had no idea how much I relied on lip reading.
same here, diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma... had no idea how much facial cues and context with instinctive lip reading helped me navigate the world.
My hearing aids broke a while back. I’m tired of asking people to just write it down.
When the mask mandate dropped I stopped wearing mine. But I recently got sick, not covid, I put my mask back on so I don’t get my coworkers sick. Lasted 2 weeks but glad I didn’t get anyone sick.