The virus issue is a real pain, I myself do not wear a mask. Have only worn one for 5 minutes when it was time to change the tires out and I needed to go inside to pay the bill. Found out on the second trip that they would come get my card from outside and then I did not need to wear a mask.
At a guess and purely from observation when I am shopping only about 25% of the people in the stores wear mask. It was only recently that one store began requiring employees to wear a mask that we shop at.
If a person is healthy there is no need to wear a mask. We exhale for a reason, we sneeze for a reason and we cough for a reason, that is to remove harmful things to us from our system. Re-breathing all that crap we are trying to remove can not be that healthy of a thing to do. I also have some breathing issue since the lung cancer and loss of half a lung. Every breath I take is important.
I still believe normal flu prevention such as wiping your hands down with rubbing alcohol after shopping does help. I am the primary shopper, perhaps I have just been lucky and not come in contact with the virus, or I am immune to it because I already had it, who knows. It's the flu or a flu type virus, I just hope my luck holds until this is all over.
I am somewhat happy with how the state of Alaska is handling it and mostly leaving it up to the burrows and municipalities on what measures they want to take.
Hey, @bashadow.
Yeah. I think getting out of the state and moving somewhere else where they aren't as restrictive would be good. Unless the virus is going to be around for a while, though, for longer than a year, I don't think we get out before it's over.
I would imagine Alaska would have one of the better responses. The west coast has had among the worst, and I imagine it gets worse before it gets better.
Here, nearly everyone is wearing a mask indoors. There might be some that will wander in without it, then realize at some point they're expected to be wearing it, and then put it on. It's a pain.
I don't have quite the diminished lung capacity, but I was told several years ago that I do have some scar tissue on one of mine that diminishes breathing (I don't know how much). I don't notice it mostly, but every now and then I feel something and wonder if that's it.
According to the DanMask study that was released a couple weeks back, there's only a 0.3% difference between wearing a mask and not as far as catching the virus is concerned, and that's only if the other protocols are also observed. If the mask isn't fitting properly or something else is routinely ignored, the difference might go up. Even so, we're talking 1.8% and 2.1% chances of catching it.
Of course, that study is being dismissed, even though it's more of a scientific study than the ones being touted.
I would imagine in your neck of the woods with as many open spaces and sparser populations that it would be more difficult to spread as long as people are avoiding going to concerts and so forth where the superspreader events can take place.
I guess Anchorage has had some west coast syndrome responses to the Virus, but Alaska's biggest response as a state I can think of was the 14 day mandatory quarantine for people entering the state. In the area I live pretty much life as normal with a few exceptions.
!ENGAGE 20
ENGAGEtokens.We've been lucky here not to have much push for masks, however I did get an experience of a mandatory mask wearing at my daughter's physio appointment this week. It was eye opening. I've used dust masks for dusty jobs before, but you can step away at any point to catch a breath of fresh air in these circumstances. This was the first time I couldn't just pull it down for air and I was struggling to draw enough in via normal breathing. I had to take some deep breaths and did indeed feel the panic rising. I did work through it to calm myself, but can now understand why asthmatics and those with reduced lung capacity would have panic attacks. They already know what it's like to not be able to catch their breath.
You would think medical people would understand, but they do have others telling them what to do or lose your license to practice, via the medical boards.
!ENGAGE 20
Some just don't have a problem with it, so perhaps that's why they don't understand. It doesn't bother my daughter at all, but then she doesn't have glasses to steam up and she breathes shallower, for some reason. Her breathing can be rather loud and I've been trying to encourage her to expand her lungs better, but maybe that breathing helps her in this case.
ENGAGEtokens.