this post was submitted on 25 Oct 2024
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So like…how do you know when and where to wear a mask? (hexbear.net)
submitted 8 months ago by Tomboymoder@hexbear.net to c/covid@hexbear.net
15 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

I don’t really leave the house that often, mostly to walk the dog, but I don’t then cuz it’s a huge open air space.

I do on the bus because of how confined it is and how many people use/touch it, but besides that I have no idea.

Do you always have to wear a mask in these places? Or just when there is a covid spike?
How do you even know when there is a covid spike for that matter?

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[–] TheModerateTankie@hexbear.net 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Covid can hang in the air like smoke, so basically any public indoor space, and any busy outdoor space. One sick person shedding virus, whether they present as sick or not, can fumigate a small area with covid for a while. It's best to assume there's covid around even when cases are low.

A small room with a few people? I don't worry about it that much outside of covid peaks, personally, but it kinda depends on how much you trust them to not lie about symptoms or recently being around someone sick.

If peer pressure or malaise of not doing stuff gets the best of you (this happened to a few people I know who are otherwise pretty covid aware still), at the very least look into nasal sprays like betadine.

[–] tactical_trans_karen@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

What other nasal sprays would be helpful?

[–] TheModerateTankie@hexbear.net 2 points 8 months ago

Of the ones I've had experience with, I would recommend all the iota-carageenan based sprays: Betadine, Luca V-defense, Flo Travel Spray. What little studies they've done have shown at least some effectiveness. It coats your nasal passage with a thin film of carageenan which is derived from seaweed and traps small particles like dust and virus. Super-snot, basically. Doesn't irritate the nose like other sprays do.

I've also seen generic saline sprays with iota-carrageenan added, which should basically do the same thing.

Covixyl has done animal studies that showed effectiveness, but it stings which some people don't like. I used this a lot unti they added an xylitol that irritated my nose and made it start running for an hour.

Xylitol based sprays supposedly work, but it bothers my nose so I can't vouch for them. The main brand is called Xclear. They are easy to find. Supposedly changes the ph of your nose to make it hostile to viruses. Didn't work for my friend who used it when their partner was sick, but that might just be a limitation of nasal sprays generally.

There's also nitric oxide sprays, but the main developer of those types of sprays (Enovid) is based in Israel and it's not authorized for distribution in the US so you have to import it.

There were also some evidence that the ingredient in neosporin can trigger an immune response and fight of viruses that way, with some people suggesting you take a q-tip and apply a little bit to the inside of your nose when going someplace high risk, like taking a flight or whatever. But that's anti-bacterial and probably not a good idea to do too often. If you are doing something particularly high risk, like a concert in a crowded bar or something, I would do the q-tip thing on top of a nasal spray.

But if you are exposed to a lot of virus in the air for a long duration, these probably won't be enough to prevent infection, but reducing the amount of virus you are exposed to is a good thing.

[–] barrbaric@hexbear.net 2 points 8 months ago

Indoor public spaces, always. Outdoor public spaces, I would if it's crowded but I just don't go to any crowded events anymore.

How do you even know when there is a covid spike for that matter?

You can look at COVID wastewater levels for your region, but really because of how unpredictable it is you may as well just always assume we're in the middle of a surge.

[–] thebartermyth@hexbear.net 2 points 8 months ago

Definitely any indoor public space, I'll ask friends if I'm going to theirs, and outside it depends.

[–] Robert_Kennedy_Jr@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago

I'd assume most people here would recommend wearing it anytime you're in an enclosed area with other people.

[–] Owl@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago

Public indoors (like stores), crowded outdoors (farmer's market). Only caught it once, and it was directly from my parents who didn't quarantine as long as they should've.

I routinely go to small social gatherings without a mask, but this is very contingent on the fact that I have trustworthy friends.

Public transit, medical settings, and grocery stores should be always-mask even if we somehow solved covid, imo.

[–] fart@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago

for me, public indoors all the time. Outdoors rarely, only in a big crowd

[–] FunkyStuff@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago

I wear it indoors and outdoors all the time if there's anyone who doesn't live with me around. Makes finding a place to eat a bit tricky but I generally just take my food out to the most secluded place I can find and eat there.

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Always indoors. Always in crowded outdoor areas, but I rarely deal with that shit. Tbh, since I have to mask at home, when I go out I rarely even bother taking it off even if I'm not around other people outside. Just easier to leave it on.

I watch wastewater, but in all reality the "lull" between surges is so high we don't really get a break anymore. Best to assume you are always in active area.

[–] FunkyStuff@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

For reference, https://www.cdc.gov/nwss/rv/COVID19-nationaltrend.html puts us at a 'low' wastewater level ATM, 1.94 nationally. April 2022 was about the same. The difference is, in 2024 far more people have been disabled by the pandemic and have compromised immune systems, and in 2022 almost everyone was up to date on their vaccines. Right now, a negligible number of people who aren't 65 or older or immunocompromised have their vaccines up to date. So IMO it makes very little sense that if your calculation in 2022 was to always mask (which was the case for everyone who wasn't an antimask psycho at the time), there's no reason other than peer pressure to be anal about when to mask or not in 2024.

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

imo, the CDC can lick my BLEEEEEEEEEEEEEP. We're monitoring far less locations now and they've been so manipulative with their maps that it's criminal. Florida has 67 counties and the CDC has 20 locations spread among 10 of them. They average sites together that are nowhere near each other and then call it good with a MINIMAL.

Meanwhile over on the wastewaterscan.org dashboard...

The high lulls are maintained by spikes occurring in the unmonitored areas, viral spread isn't as simple as each person infects one or two people and that's how lulls are kept as they are. Viral spread needs spikes in order to make up for the people that don't spread. those are then averaged out in the wastwater and give us a "level" lull. There are random spikes occurring in unmonitored areas that people are spreading into the monitored areas.

edit: I really need to figure out how to explain this better. Maybe a with video or something.

[–] FunkyStuff@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago

Thanks for the source! Also, it really is a tragedy how monitoring has been completely gutted so on top of the government providing the conditions for capital to kill all of us, we also can't even attempt to make informed decisions because the information is simply not there. i-love-not-thinking

[–] scarcity_of_the_self@hexbear.net 0 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Any indoor space unless you regularly meet with people like a classroom. Any outdoor space with a lot of particulate matter. People like to pretend that is reliable enough that self-quarantining can help. Yeah... no. I just can't afford to alienate people that way.

I change them out a lot more than recommended. I am a tower of wet filth. I must be destroyed. That's unrelated though.

[–] FunkyStuff@hexbear.net 1 points 8 months ago

unless you regularly meet with people like a classroom

What do you mean? That is the exact, most important case where you should use a mask. I've done 3 years of college in person since the CDC gave up on the COVID lockdown and masked religiously since the beginning, have not caught COVID in college once. I don't think it would've been possible without masking given all the data about the effectiveness of masks.