fabiochiu/medium-articles huggingface dataset:
Winde: We Must Not Relax Our Attitude Towards Masks
By: Kyle Forrest
Tags: Masks, Alan Winde, Covid 19, South Africa, Western Cape

Western Cape Premier, Alan Winde, has emphasised the importance of masks and maintaining social distancing under level one lockdown restrictions, saying that people cannot grow complacent.

South Africa moved to level 1 of its phased lockdown restrictions plan yesterday, which President Ramaphosa says will become the “new normal” in terms of the country’s post-COVID-19 status quo. Among other things, curfews have been reduced to the hours between midnight and 4am, but people will still be mandated to wear masks when going out in public.

Winde, whose province was initially the worst affected in the country by far, has now said that the next 100 days will be critical for economic recovery and will require people to continue observing social distancing and hygiene protocols.

“It’s really about getting our economy back up and running. It’s called the relaxation of those levels but we must not relax our attitude towards masking and social distancing etc,” Winde told .

Winde added that failing to wear masks and follow other necessary protocols could result in a second wave of infections, as it has in other countries around the world. He emphasised how important it is for the people of the Western Cape to avoid repeating the devastation of the last six months.

“We must learn from other parts of the world. They’ve got second waves, we’ve got to make sure we’ve got a really great summer season because then we’ll be able to get our jobs back that we’ve lost but we’ll have to do it safely,” he added.

Winde also said that the provincial response to the pandemic will continue in the form of monitoring trends and cluster outbreaks.
Games to Play When You’re Wearing an Air Mask in Public (8 May 2019)
By: Adira Bennett
Tags: Chronic Illness, Masks, Allergies, Autoimmune Disease, Illness

Hum or sing. It freaks people out because they can’t see your mouth moving, so their eyes scan the people nearby trying to figure out who it is and they skim right over you, not realizing that you are the culprit! Darth Vader breathing! Extra points if you can do the voice and be all, “Luke, I am your father,” under your breath on the subway. Is a creepy dude trying to get a little too close to you? No problem: “Excuse me but could you just…” — furtively glance around — “Could you maybe try to stay at least six feet away? It’s very contagious.”

Why Do I Wear a Mask?

I recently started wearing a Vogmask while outdoors. This is to reduce my exposure to anything that could trigger a mast cell attack, like pollen. I’ve noticed that I have fewer attacks now that I wear a mask regularly. It’s not terribly comfortable, but I’d rather wear a mask than be covered in hives! Plus, I have several masks in different colors and patterns, so I can coordinate with my outfit and try to make it a little bit fun.
GET GLOWING SKIN-PERSONALLY Examined FACE MASKS FOR 2020
By: Numan Rasheed
Tags: Glowing Skin, Masks, Skincare, Remedies, Home Remedies

Glowing Skin

Glowing skin is something you always dreamed of. Having a bright, radiant face is a wish of every girl. And to get such skin, you always spend a lot of money on beauty products.

But do you know your glowing skin hacks are present in your kitchen? You can get your desired skin quality and complexion with simple ingredients in your kitchen. Sounds interesting?

In 2018, I spent much money on face treatments to get a problem-free skin, but I did not get my desired result. This caused me to return to home remedies for glowing skin.

One day while surfing on the internet, I come across an article about getting a glowing skin with rice flour. And I was so much fascinated after reading the benefits of rice powder for skin. So, I decided to give it a try. I used a rice flour mask for one month, and the results were mesmerizing.

So, rice flour and rice water became the turning point in my beauty regime. After this, I added other home remedies of glowing skin.

Another thing that helped me a lot to achieve good quality skin is honey. Honey Sweet Honey is best if you have stubborn, active acne. Because of its antibacterial properties, honey prevents your skin from further acne and breakouts.

And also fight with the contemporary pimples on your face. One thing that one tells me about honey and I experience personally is that it also lightens the acne spots and dark spots on your face.

Honey face mask for acne is also smooth to apply and give you some instant results. Trust me in this concern.

Applying glowing skin remedies gave me pleasing results. Let’s be honest, I am not saying that it will bring some magic on your face instantly. Instead, you will see results after some applications.

Yet, your kitchen has some magical ingredients that quickly give results and have a longterm effect on your face. DIY glowing skin masks are also a good choice if you don’t want to provide more perils to your dear skin.
Justin’s Story Spine — Masks. This morning, I was introduced to the…
By: Justin W. White
Tags: Masks, Story Spine

This morning, I was introduced to the concept of “Story Spine”. It is a great place to start a “Once Upon A Time” narrative. The Story Spine is how ever fairy tale goes.

Once upon a time there was a…

Every day _____ would…

One day…

Because of that …

Because of that …

Until finally…

We were encouraged to fill in the blanks and write a story spine of the overarching narrative/s in our lives. Here is my Story Spine.

Masks

Once upon a time, there was a boy who was very confused about everything.

Every day he would hide from himself and others by putting on the masks that he thought other people wanted to see.

One day someone asked him the hardest question he ever had to answer.

Because of that question, he could not hide from himself, yet he still tried to hide from others.

Because of that, he found new masks, what he thought were better masks, and yet his life was still confusing, fraught, and scary.

Until finally, he decided to take the masks off one by one; burning them into ashes and releasing them to the universe. That is when he started uncovering and discovering his true self.

Sometimes he still finds new masks and tries them on for size, until he remembers his face is glorious and that he is beloved just as he is.
5 Ways to Travel Safely During the COVID-19 Pandemic
By: Sabrina Disney
Tags: Travel, Pandemic, Masks, Covid 19, Safety

At the start of the pandemic, Americans were hesitant to board planes and travel to their favorite destinations. Fast forward a year later, Americans are feeling more confident. With vaccines quickly rolling out, Americans are eager to travel to national and international destinations but ,any are still questioning whether traveling can be done safely.

Well, not to worry. If you’re deciding to plan that much needed vacay, here are 5 tips to travel safely during a pandemic.

1. Get vaccinated

If you are vaccinated against COVID-19, you are less likely to get and spread the virus. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention recently released new travel guides, stating that travelers do not need to get tested before or after travel in the United States. Travelers also don’t have to self-quarantine after travel within the United States. How sweet is that?

2. Drive. Don’t fly

Grab your pod, pack a bunch of snacks, and road trip to your favorite destinations across the United States. Did you know that road trips for Easter weekend in 2021 were 35 percent higher than road trips during 2019? Whether you’re visiting the most iconic monuments in America or taking a trip to the beach, you’ll surely find something you and your pod will love to do.

3. Check your destinations COVID-19 cases

Before you get in your car or catch that flight, make sure to check your destinations COVID-19 travel notices. There are many countries that are accepting United States citizens as travelers.

4. Wash your hands

Fun Fact: Hand washing has dropped to pre-pandemic levels. Make sure to consistently wash your hands when traveling and for a full 20 seconds.

5. Always wear a mask in public

Even if you are vaccinated, it is recommended that you still wear your mask in and practice social distancing to protect others. Be cool! Wear your mask.

Traveling during a pandemic can be hard, but is doable if you are safe and smart. Before you travel, make sure to get a great fitting mask, get vaccinated (if possible), and weigh the pros and cons of each destination.
Please Please Please Act As If You Did Not Get The Vaccine
Tags: Covid 19 Update, Masks, Covid 19, Covid Vaccine, Vaccines

95% efficacy is based upon a) statistical gamesmanship

Yes, and no. The misleading claim is accurate once one understands how efficacy is measured. My guess is 95% of the…

Sadly the answer is yes, the reported results of this deeply flawed study are incontrovertibly too good to be true.

and b) clinical trials x) with design flaws

A look inside and under the numbers for the reasoning and motive — conspiracy to defraud, I think not. Hubris to think…

and y) merely provide opinions that would not be admissible in a court of law

This email that I received from a medical publication here in Medium is instructive:

Hi

I’ve read through your article and while your assumptions relating the trials seem based on solid data and the questions you raise relating to claimed efficacy may hold water, they are in fact pointless at this stage.

Here’s why. We don’t know for certain how effective the vaccines will be in the general population. The trials were more about establishing safety than efficacy, as you point out, trial sizes were woefully inadequate.

We now have an opportunity to assess the vaccines efficacy in the wild. Even if these vaccines prove to only reduce the severity of infection in thirty to fifty percent of the population then we are winning. We’re so much better off than we were in 2020.

As a medical publication attached to Medika we have a responsibility to ensure that published materials don’t in any way compromise the vaccination efforts being rolled out globally. Sowing doubt in the public’s mind, which I am sure we will agree, is not exceptionally large, is contrary to responsible medical publishing.

If you were highlighting potential risk, this would be a different issue. Flawed trails or no, deaths are what matter at this point. I doubt you’ve experienced first hand the death that surrounds our colleagues each day and any tool to alleviate that needs to be supported rather than criticised to ensure wide scale adoption will occur.
What Influences Are at Play in the Creative Process?
By: Ernesto Sanchez
Tags: Creativity, Masks, Spirituality, Art, Artist

What Influences Are at Play in the Creative Process?

Time flies, it slips, it merges with forces we see and do not see. As an artist it is an amazing time to be creating in this world as it simmers with so many unknowns. May the force of the times and the beauty of our spirits merge and create new dimensions of thought, awareness, and love. We have but this time, the NOW, to be with our essence and speak our truths.

In the spirit of inspiration and art I would like to share three faces I sculpted in December.

Because of the rains in Pt Reyes visitors were scarce last month. To keep busy in the studio I sculpted. Here are the stories of 3 new faces for the “Spirits of the Underworld” series.

The first image is the first piece sculpted in December. It’s curved face is how I feel sometimes. Disjointed yet flowing and keeping it together.

Swirly Melty Face

The second face with the sculptural elements about the eyes became a process of fine detail work. Not so easy for me in the clay with my present vision. So I fretted and practiced patience keeping my hand steady with one eye closed so the lines would become defined and precise. My mind drifted in the realms of color while I worked on this piece. Though it gave me a lot of trouble doing the detail work I told myself it was worth it, for when the piece was cast in paper and ready for paint and adornments it would glow with a special presence of elegant beauty.

A plaster mold was made of this clay sculputre.

The 3rd picture is a piece I started in December but just finished recently. If I thought the detail work was time consuming on the second piece, I had not experienced this design. The high cheek bones were in my original sketch but became stylized in nature. The rectangles for the eyes were also in the sketch but everything else in the design evolved.

A plaster mold will be made of this sculpture, then will be cast in paper.

I loved working on this piece not because of the tedious days I spent trying to clean up the clay to make precise clean lines, but with thoughts of who is this spirit? What is this spirit saying to me? What will it say to others? This piece still intrigues me. I had a great time thinking of colors and adornments but what a slow and difficult time getting edges precise and the clay clean.

With our recent sunny California weather I have been able to cast them. Will be good to bring to life when painted and adorned. Each of these pieces are approximately 35 inches tall.

Hope you enjoyed this little written tour of the process.
11 Reasons We Should Provide “MASK for EVERYONE” NOW
By: Hoss Faghih
Tags: Masks, Proposal, Coronavirus

Everyone is talking about the Coronavirus. First a hoax, now a serious international emergency, shutting down the countries around the globe.

This is going to be a short essay with a simple proposal. “MASK for EVERYONE” should be implemented NOW.

The main reason behind this proposal is to contain the virus within each person whether or not they have it and making sure we are consciously cutting the chain of infection by not making anybody else sick. As an analogy, this is equivalent of a country that is closing the border, at the personal level.

I would briefly prepare several arguments to support this proposal.

Fighting-at-the-Core Argument:

Until there is a vaccine, each one of us has to fight the virus alone. Either our immune system finds a way to fight it itself, or we employ aid from health professionals, facilities and medications as well. Both ways, we have to do the fight ourselves, with or without aid.

Responsible-Citizen Argument:

As a responsible citizen, I’m looking for ways to actively help the global fight in this crisis while I can hardly find anything I can do. By wearing a mask, I am making sure that no one is getting the virus from me.

Visualizing Argument:

Fighting this virus is like fighting a shadow, that can’t be seen. Our defense systems have a hard time responding to it, one of the reason many people are not taking this seriously. Wearing a mask is easily noticeable.

Fight-it-Together Argument:

We are in this together and we all need the assurance from each other. Everyone wearing a mask can provide an easy signal.

A-Reaction Argument:

No one wants to feel the guilt or shame behind over-reacting or under-reacting, specially in a pandemic. People are ready to adopt a new behavior, if it is not impossible.

Effectiveness Argument:

Wearing a mask can reduce the chance of transferring the virus to others while also slightly reduce the chance of getting the virus, by increasing our awareness and sensitivity not to touch our face.

The-Spread Argument:

Coronavirus transfers through air and surfaces. If everyone is containing the virus through their masks, we will have more of clean air and surfaces and less rate of contagiousness. It is not viable to disinfect every surface of every place in every city every day.

No-Panic Argument:

Although we are passed the no-panic phase, we need a healthy fear to resurface in us. This is the driving force behind our actions in a pandemic.

The-Incubation-Period Argument:

There is no other way to fight the transfer during incubation period.

Complementing-Social-Distancing Argument:

Although social distancing is a good prescription, it is not a plausible behavioral solution. Wearing a mask and using association techniques can provide a more effective strategy.

The Price Argument:

Masks are cheap, in the order of cents.

So, Let’s spread the message.

Implementing “MASK for EVERYONE” needs careful consideration on supply and distribution chain which at this time can be effectively managed.
Hello Aashish Garg,
By: François Paupier
Tags: Masks, Signal Processing, Python, Image, Model

Hello Aashish Garg,

The detection_masks that you get are soft predictions, they are expected to be float values. The soft masks need to be resampled to the input image coordinates and thresholded to obtain a binary image.

I updated the client code client.py in my repo to draw the masks. It should fit your use case. Take a look at the format_mask function for implementation details. The outline is specified below.

Transforming soft masks to binary mask:

Deciphering the model output : detection_masks is indeed an array of size [100*m*m] where m is the size of a soft mask outputted by the model. In your case m is 33. Those binary masks and in the slide below it is 28. The masks are made of float values. It is up to you to set the value of a threshold to make a binary mask out of it. Rescaling to the detection box size: This m*m mask must first be rescaled to the size of the matching detection box. Resize the mask to the box dimension. Binarize the mask: Float values were helpful to interpolate from a m*m mask to a mask of the detection box’ size, now we want a binary mask. Using a hardcoded threshold of 0,5 is generally good enough - if you want an adaptative threshold, take a look at Otsu’s method. Create an image size mask from the detection box size mask: Create a np.zero array and for each pixel belonging to the detection box use the previously generated binary mask to fill the values (either 1 or 0 in the mask). The tricky part is the conversion of normalized coordinates inside the detection box to the image coordinates.

Extract from Mask R-CNN:

A Perspective on Equivariance

ICCV 2017 Tutorial, Venice, Italy

Further reading

For more context on Mask RCNN and soft prediction, I invite you to go through of those slides Mask RCNN: http://kaiminghe.com/iccv17tutorial/maskrcnn_iccv2017_tutorial_kaiminghe.pdf (especially p 46 and 47 for mask resampling)
BREATHE TO SURVIVE OR DON’T TO LIVE?
By: Jc Buckman
Tags: Masks, Health Foods, Air Pollution, Healthcare, Environment

Air Pollution is often declared a public health emergency in cities like Lahore and Karachi. Lahore was recently put on number 1 by World Air Quality Index Rankings followed by some major cities of India and experts advised to avoid inhaling air directly as it can prove to be seriously harming. Statistics according to the World Health Organization state up to 3 million deaths a year linked directly to air pollution.

With pollution being a leading cause of deaths in the country, environmental experts have been urging the governments to take corrective actions. One such example is the prohibition of burning stubble which leads to the seasonal smog in Lahore. However, such actions have a flipside leaving some people jobless as those stubbles are burnt to prepare for the next planting by farmers.

We find similar conditions in our households. In fact, the combined statistics of outdoor and indoor pollution have shown to be the cause of 6.5 million deaths every year on average. What causes Indoor pollution? There are endless possibilities, the very obvious ones include smoking, foul odor and chemicals in products we may use to clean around the house.

People have started becoming aware of this and we have witnessed an increase in the use of clean air houseplants and water to stay hydrated. Recently, HEPA (High efficiency particulate air) filters have also made a breakthrough known to be very effective in filtering dirt mites along with other toxins. According to GlobalNewsWire the market of Industrial Air Filtration would hit $6.5 billion by 2024 aided by the technological advancements of eco-friendly HEPA filters.
The Anti-Mask Crowd in Other Scenarios
By: Dave Fymbo
Tags: Satire, Politics, Humor, Masks, Covid 19

So that got me thinking, how would these people react in other scenarios?

On an airplane that’s losing altitude

“I’m not going to wear an oxygen mask! My body, my choice! As long as you allow abortions, I’m not going to wear an oxygen mask!”

Getting an X-ray

“No way, Doc. There’s no way I’m wearing that lead apron. First of all, there’s no proof that radiation doesn’t make you stronger. I’m not giving up my chance to become Spider-Man. Second, I’m not gonna let you cover up this sleeveless Big Johnson shirt for one second.”

During a zombie outbreak

“I’m not going to wear zombie-proof clothing! I’d rather get bitten and die and be a literal zombie for the rest of my life than look stupid by wearing PPEZ.” (Personal Protective Equipment from Zombies.)

In the old west shootout in Back to the Future Part III

“I’m not going to stuff a potbelly stove door under my shirt to protect me from Buford “Mad Dog” Tannen’s bullets. I’d rather die in 1885 and never ride a hover board again than make it back to present day and finally take Jennifer to the lake.”

When Godzilla attacks while they’re dining at Outback Steakhouse

“That’s great that you’re handing out Godzilla shields, but read my lips: I’m Not Gonna Wear One! I’m going to sit here and eat this Bloomin’ Onion, shit my pants, and die here in this booth like a real man.”
Our monitoring of attendance has never been more important.
By: Jeff Spears
Tags: Masks, Social Distance

Our monitoring of attendance has never been more important. Recently major sporting events have made the decision to have no fans at their events. What impact will this have on the financial services industry? Our blog this week will examine how we are social distancing and measuring attendance at the same time.

Status Quo

The methods we used to track our progress have been neutered by COVID. It is no longer a good practice to look at the bottom of a box score to see the attendance. We know that the attendance is zero and time will tell if fans meant more than the trophy acceptance speech. Early on, LeBron even questioned not having fans, but realized that attendance matters but has a larger impact on his compensation. Businesses and Universities have drunk this medicine too. Acceptance rates, monthly production and asset growth are correlated to tuition and revenue. COVID does not care if you are an elite school or a top producer. Finally, our fancy office does not matter as much as it used to. A good video and a nice picture background will work.

Social Media

Social Media is a double-edged sword for businesses and for our children. One edge of the sword is the tracking attendance of our website and social media posts. This data is accurate, but the platforms know the addictive power of Google Analytics Data and the followers and likes from Facebook and Twitter. Parents warn their children about this addictive data, but I too want to have as many followers as Josh Brown.

Next Steps

How can we pivot our professional and personal lives to address the Virus? Surveys of our clients and our co-workers are a good place to start. The dramatic market moves, and the high unemployment claims reinforced that we need a personal and a business CFO to monitor our bank accounts. We cannot rely on the Government to cover our insufficient funds charges. Our attendance matters.

I am not enjoying the fan-free golf tournaments. Let’s see if attendance is important for baseball and football.
Reflections of a Semi-disillusioned Individualist
By: Smrithi Upadhyayula
Tags: Individualism, Masks, America, Coronavirus, Freedom

When did the empowering “I matter” morph into the narcissistic “I am the only thing that matters”?

……………………………………………………………………………………….

Individualism

noun. a belief in the importance of the individual and the virtue of self-reliance and personal independence

Seeing several sources implicating “American individualism” as a contributor to the recent spike in US coronavirus cases confused me enough to make me want to look up the precise definition of the word.

I have always been proud of my individualism.

My belief in the “virtue of self-reliance” is what motivates me to spend hours poring over textbooks and scrolling through internship websites so that I can someday support myself financially. Striving for “personal independence” was one of the reasons I chose to move out at age sixteen to attend an early college program. My commitment to the “importance of the individual” is why I’ve chosen an unconventional undergraduate major that directly relates to my personal interests instead of simply following one of the many tried and true pathways for pre-medical students.

My individualism has given me confidence and helped me live a more fulfilling life, so I was initially puzzled by the idea of it being a culprit in the COVID-19 crisis. Yet, after a little Internet digging, I was horrified by the examples of selfishness and utter lack of empathy that I discovered. One question remained in my mind:

When did the empowering “I matter” morph into the narcissistic “I am the only thing that matters”?

I now see that the answer is, “it didn’t.” Individualism has always been two-sided, and now, in the midst of a crisis, the dark side is rearing its ugly head. American individualism is not just having the courage to break away from restrictive social norms, walking away from toxic relationships, and following your own path in life instead of the one your family prescribes for you. It’s also refusing to potentially save lives by wearing a mask because you find it mildly uncomfortable. It’s also having a juvenile Twitter meltdown because, in the middle of a global pandemic, your server at Mi Cocina dared to forget your shredded cheese.

The current situation is a great opportunity for us Americans to take a serious look at the “freedom” and “individualism” we value so much and find the point at which they become a danger to us and others. To believe that any modern country, America included, is 100% free is foolish- the very act of living in a society under an organized government requires that we relinquish some small percentage of our “freedom”. The question that drives most of our biggest political conflicts is exactly how much that should be. If practicing social distancing is giving up “too much” freedom- even knowing that it could mean the difference between life and death- perhaps we need to reevaluate where we draw the line. I still am and always will be an individualist, but an individualist with a heart. People should have the capacity to look out for themselves without tossing everyone else out the window.
Use the Tube!
By: Bronwen Gray
Tags: London, Travel Tips, Masks, Lockdown Diary, Commuting

In the midst of last week’s heatwave I twice went into town to meet with friends — once with a change onto the Victoria line and the other keeping to my local Northern line only. My last foray had been March 18th (the day Boris pulled the plug on the educational system by cancelling the exams with no consultation or planning) when I already felt rather exposed and slightly nervous about my foolhardiness on the journey home especially when a woman sat down right next to me despite other available seats as already my sense of safe space was overriding my Londoner acceptance of zero personal space when commuting. Both journeys last week admittedly were not in rush hour but I am now confident about my next journey when the Allbright Club hosts a coffee morning to celebrate reopening their doors. Having spoken to my neighbours at our weekly Friday night drinks in front of our houses I realise that I am the trailblazer and so thought it timely to share WHY I feel confident using the tube to get round town again.

The familiarity of descending into the station with the new commuter habit of pausing to hook your mask (home made cotton so rewashable — no need to contribute to the new menace of discarded surgical masks which are the new normal equivalent of the plastic bag lying in the gutters and catching on twigs in bushes) already becoming second nature and feels strangely comforting & reassuring. Smiling at the TfL staff (and trying to make sure it reaches your eyes so they can see it!) you start the familiar journey and nod at other mask wearing commuters all spaced seats apart and settle into your usual habit of reading a book/magazine or paper, making notes or most likely scrolling your phone for games. As you whizz up to your stop (and compare the speed of your journey to the recent trips out of town to wildswimming spots where the traffic to get onto the A3 seems to have recently returned to gridlock most afternoons) you also appreciate the escape from the whole family all working at home (and that you’ve escaped responsibility for yet another lockdown lunch!). Ascending the escalator back out onto the street but this time in a central London postcode you help yourself the hand sanitiser (especially grateful when you realised you picked up a pre Covid handbag on the way out and so have none of your own with you) and emerge blinking into the new normal feeling hopeful that London really is open again…. Let the real life networking return!!!
His Wife Is An Alien
By: Mayumi Cruz
Tags: Flash Fiction, Masks, Marriage, Aliens, Alien Invasion

Image by Heike Georg from Pixabay

As soon as his friend came into his house, he screeched: “My wife is an alien!”

Don laughed. “Really, Ismael? That’s your emergency?”

“I’m telling the truth! This morning, she thought I was asleep. She went into the bathroom and peeled off her face like a mask! She was hideous! She has a huge head, no hair and nose, bulging eyes with no eyelids! And her skin, it’s green!”

“Ismael, maybe you were dreaming?”

“I saw it with my own eyes! I was awake! I was not dreaming!”

Don sighed. “Have you been drinking again?”

“No! I haven’t touched a glass of wine since last year. Here!” He put out his phone. “I took a photo of her without her knowing it. See? You can clearly see her facing the mirror. She’s a monster!”

Don looked at the picture and frowned. Then he gave it back to him. “I think you’ve been watching too many horror movies.”

Ismael stomped his foot in frustration. “I told you what I saw and I showed you proof! Why can’t you believe me? Alice is an alien! She really is!”

“Well… that depends.”

“On what?”

Don starts to peel off his face. “On what planet you are in.”
A photo journal of a plague month (-and-a-half)
By: Rashmee Roshan Lall
Tags: Pandemic, Masks, Britain, London Transport, Gloves

All photos: Rashmee Roshan Lall

Britain went into lockdown, reluctantly and rather later than much of the world, on March 23. In the past six weeks, here’s a snapshot of the small but significant changes to the way we live now.

I see masks everywhere. Not as many as are being worn in other countries because the British are apparently more resistant to face coverings than other markets. Market analysts Mintel report that only 17 per cent of Britons wore a mask in public by April 16, compared to 65 per cent in the US and 86 per cent in China.

But there are still lots more masks than ever before. Often, they are to be found on pavements — having probably fallen and been abandoned by the wearer.

Gloves are very much in evidence too. People who work in shops are wearing them; so are receptionists, delivery people and others in customer-facing jobs. In the past few weeks, abandoned gloves often litter the streets.

Pop-up businesses are very much a feature of a pandemic, or any crisis really. So too the one in my neighbourhood, which set up shop for just one day at the height of the panic in March. It boasted a supply of toilet paper, cleaning wipes and other stuff that was increasingly in demand.

And finally, there is the strange sight of London buses available to ride for free. Customers no longer have to tap-in to pay for rides as part of measures to protect drivers during the coronavirus crisis.
Wear Masks Now To Crush the Curve — An Open Letter From Healthcare Workers To Patients
By: Grant Stern
Tags: Pandemic, Masks, Coronavirus, Covid 19, Doctors

If you agree with this letter, the CDC’s mask-wearing recommendations, and the scientific data that we have aggregated, then please sign this letter.

Dear Citizens,

We the below signed healthcare professionals believe that wearing masks is the right thing to do from a medical perspective to fight the spread of COVID–19.

But to do that, we need all your help if you want to go back to work, reopen schools, and bring back a more normal life.

As your doctors, your nurses, your healthcare workers, and health administrators, we want to relay why this advice to you, our friends, our neighbors, and our patients. Universal mask-wearing is beneficial to our community and necessary to fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Here are three very important reasons to wear masks now:

Wearing masks now is the good, right, and the American thing to do to save lives and get back to work.

Wearing masks will greatly expand the number of businesses and places of worship that could potentially reopen.

Wearing masks worked in South Korea, a country with whom America shares deep commercial and cultural ties.

People without any symptoms are carrying the coronavirus. But if they wear a mask, they stop spreading it.

Since nobody knows who has the virus, that’s why everyone needs to wear a mask to stop the spread of the disease which has shut down our economy.

Even a cotton mask can cut an infected person’s expulsion of viral material by up to 99% according to a study in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Read more about the facts here.

If you’re walking in the park or down a sidewalk; going to the store, the office, or a meeting, you’ll need to wear a mask. Your mask protects them, their mask protects you. And it protects your family.

Please wear masks whenever you leave your home.

Your country, your neighbors, and your family are counting on you.

Sincerely,

The MasksNow Coalition Medical Advisory Board
My SO and I do projects at home.
By: Megan Charles
Tags: Masks, World, Health, Coronavirus, Family

My SO and I do projects at home. So, lucky for us, we happened to have a variety of masks laying around the house when this outbreak started to emerge. Anyone who knows me knows I am far from privileged. And yet I too worry about people giving me the ugly side-eye for inadvertently having some general grade PPE; for donning masks I bought over a year ago and deigning to go out in public.

We also have 2 (now college-age) Korean-American children. I’m regularly concerned for their well-being in the wake of growing ignorance and fear; how people could easily lash out at them, simply for how they look, when they have nothing to do with the impact this disease has had. There are many similarities to the 1918 flu (social distancing, masks, financial hardships, etc). But this time we have a 24-hour news cycle often littered with misinformation and conspiracies, and people eager to point an accusatory finger because they need someone to blame.

In an effort to help others, we’ve donated some of our PPE and made others for those in our community. My SO 3d printed hundreds of face shields, and I have learned to sew masks. Our free time, for the last 6 weeks, has been consumed with it. Still, I would be a hint humped if any of my so-called ‘friends’ stated to me in a pseudo-parental tone, outright telling me I ‘needed’ to do something with my PPE. Yeah, I get the intent behind the words, but I don’t need to do anything. I will, however, do what I can to help others without completely sacrificing my own well-being and or feel bullied into doing so. Like what they say when the plane is going down — put the mask on yourself first, then help others. You shouldn’t feel guilty for being gifted masks and your friend should have known better than to give you unsolicited orders on what you ‘needed to do’ with them. I would have assumed you kept some and given away others.

I think people need to reconsider your circumstance before they judge or make demands on what you should do with your care package. Certainly, it is one thing to be one of those jerks who drove around buying out all of the hand sanitizer and bleach and trying to resell it to others at a gross profit. It is quite another to get a care package from a loved one, abroad, and be made to feel weird about it.

It is unfortunate you felt encumbered with anxiety to the point of sleepless nights over a box of masks. But, as an abuse survivor, and someone who understands people-pleasing and anxiety, I get why you felt burdened instead of overjoyed.

I wish you the best of health and safety in these trying times.
DIY No-Sew Face Masks | Fashion Furniture Rental
By: Fashion Furniture Rental
Tags: Masks, DIY, Covid 19

COVID-19 restrictions are being lifted across the country as states are working to try and get life back to normal (or as normal as we possibly can, given the circumstances). In order to continue to keep our communities safe, the CDC recommends that the public continues to wear face masks when going outside and running errands: think going to the store, picking up to-go orders, being around groups of people not in your household. (States have varying restrictions, please check with your local and state government for details). Instead of purchasing medical masks-please leave those for healthcare workers!-here are some easy, no sewing required DIY face masks you can make at home to keep you and your family safe:

No-Sew Bandana Mask

Have a bandana lying around? Put it to work! Here’s what you need:

Bandana

2 rubber bands, hair elastics, or something similar

Fold bandana in half

Fold the top of the bandana down, fold the bottom of the bandana up.

Place rubber bands or hair ties 6 inches apart

Fold sides to the middle and tuck

Your mask is ready to wear!

Images and directions via CDC

No-Sew T-Shirt Mask

Don’t have a bandana? No sweat. Grab a t-shirt you’re willing to sacrifice for the greater good and get to cutting!

You’ll need:

One t-shirt

Pair of scissors

Lay t-shirt flat and cut off the bottom 7–8 inches

Cut a 6–7 inch rectangle on the side of your fabric (this will be for the opening and the strings). Cut the edge of the fabric to make the strings that will tie around your face.

Instructions and images from the CDC How should a mask fit?

A mask should go as high as the bridge of your nose and cover your mouth down to your chin. According to medical experts, you want to make sure you have a good seal around your mouth to protect yourself and others.

Cleaning Your Mask

One of the benefits of making your own cloth face mask is they are easy to clean. You can hand-wash it in the sink or throw it in the washer with the rest of the laundry (mesh laundry bags would be perfect!) whenever your mask needs a refresh. The CDC recommends you wash your mask once a day, for example, at the end of the day when you’re done with errands-and always wash your mask before you wear it for the first time.

We hope that these tips provide useful information to keep you and your family safe. For more information about COVID-19, please visit the CDC website.

If you have questions about renting furniture and Fashion’s policies during COVID-19,
Why do masks work to prevent people from spreading the coronavirus?
By: Grant Stern
Tags: Masks, Public Health, Coronavirus, Covid 19

In April 2020, the Centers for Disease Control updated its recommendation that all Americans should wear cloth facemasks in public.

Unlike traditional mask applications that are designed to keep from inhaling dangerous particles such as when a construction worker wears a mask to keep out dust, fighting the spread of COVID with masks is about preventing people from exhaling virus “particles and potentially infecting others.”

Here’s how it works:

Many infected people feel fine, then go into public places and spread the disease. They emit virus particles when talking or even breathing.

Scientists now agree that the coronavirus is at its most contagious in the few days before symptoms (dry cough and fever) first appear.

You can catch COVID-19 when these virus particles enter through your nose, mouth, or eyes.

The virus particles are inside small droplets that come from the mouth. These droplets are too small to see. The droplets evaporate and become much smaller very quickly. It’s harder to stop them with a mask after they’ve evaporated. That harms others wearing masks, such as grocery workers and bus drivers.

The best way to stop the infected droplets is to catch them in a fabric mask that covers someone’s mouth.

Research suggests that if you do inhale some virus particles, the fewer you inhale the better your chance of only getting a mild illness.

Most importantly, if every American wears cloth face masks it will also help the heroic doctors and nurses working in our hospitals to care for those with COVID-19.

That’s because if we cut the viral spread, then they will have fewer COVID-19 patients.

And fewer of our healthcare heroes and their families will get infected.

The Masks Now Coalition’s volunteers make nonmedical masks that are compliant with all CDC guidelines, in addition to facemask covers for the N95 respirator. All of their patterns are freely downloadable under a Creative Commons license.

Many healthcare professionals might not know that that doctors and nurses have the discretion to use these nonmedical cloth facemasks in clinical settings if medical PPE isn’t available. This is according to recently issued FDA emergency enforcement guidance.

You can read more facts about wearing masks to stop COVID here.
Dear Doctors, let’s stop this virus in its tracks
By: Million Mask Mayday
Tags: Masks, Nurses, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Doctors

URGENT MESSAGE:

As co-founder of #MasksNow, we have joined together with several mask groups to move this nation to wearing masks.

These groups are joining together to do #MasksNowMondays. Our 2nd week this week is a press release with interviews re: cloth mask wearing by the public.

Please click on and

SIGN THE LETTER BELOW (at end of this post) which asks people to wear masks, do it NOW. SHARE with ALL your doctor, nurse, HC friends, please. If you are so inclined, make a SHORT video, post it and copy me on the post if you are so inclined. Get local press to interview you on this topic starting Monday and ongoing. Put it in your newsletter. If you know a doctor doing a podcast, or anyone doing a podcast, get on their podcast now to talk about why people should wear masks. On Mondays, do social media posts with hashtag #MasksNowMondays

We are going to PUSH HARD and the message is:

“If you want to open our economy, everyone must wear masks. Other countries have been successful, U.S. is lagging.” PLEASE stay away from more than one or two facts, it bores people. Stay with the message if you can!! THANK YOU and please link me on any press you get.

TOGETHER, we can bring sanity and science to this situation.

Thank you,

Dr. Sennholz

https://medium.com/themasksnowcoalition/masks-now-coalition-healthcare-workers-open-letter-db3de94b524d
A Neighborly Smile
By: Nealson Munn
Tags: Masks, Quarantine, Covid-19, New York

I’d been running, unmasked, and slipped mine back on as I walked home. A young family lingered on the steps of a townhouse. Beside a stone handrail, a child scowled defiantly. “Everybody’s wearing one, sweetie,” said her mother, indicating a father and brother who stood nearby, masked. The child folded her arms and frowned. Seeing me, and my mask, the mother’s eyes brightened: “Mommy’s wearing one. And he’s wearing one!”

Mother and daughter looked at me. I smiled sympathetically — a smile that said: This is hard on all of us. I was a child once, and I can appreciate a little girl’s not wanting to put a strange, stifling implement (“garment” would be too kind a word) over her face. It’s uncomfortable and it’s alienating. Perhaps even a little scary. However, in light of the current circumstances I commend you for taking all advisable steps to keep our community healthy and safe.

“That was a well-calibrated response by me,” I thought, fatuously. “Neighborly commiseration mingled with warm encouragement. An apt and empathetic expression.” I took a moment to reflect on the refined emotional intelligence that smile had conveyed. I walked into my apartment, hung my keys on their hook, and took off my mask.
Ep 2.4 — You’ll Never Pod Alone. You’ll Never Pod Alone is an attempt to…
By: Bhavesh Lalwani
Tags: Masks, Mental Health, Podcast, Covid 19, Flu

A Quick Book recommendation

If you miss traveling and getting out due to the lockdown, one of the best ways to make your mind wander is read fiction. This month I read a range of books, a non-fiction based on Football Ultras, A Russian play by Anton Chekov and short stories by Alice Munro. I have found that reading fiction (and non-fiction if its descriptive rather than prescriptive) is a great way to take your mind off the real-world problems. (Wow! What a new Insight bro!)

The Cherry Orchard — This is not as much a book recommendation as it is a reading recommendation. This is Anton Chekov’s last published story and its a short play. The story is a simple family interaction. I made it interesting by changing names of characters to Indian ones and reading it to my wife like a narration. That made it one awesome Sunday in this month easy!

Hope this small list sparked some interest in you. Once again, you can find my podcast playlist here. Feel free to give any feedback or recommendations on my Twitter.
My Friend’s Marriage
By: Junha Choi
Tags: Friends, Masks, Marriage, Coronavirus, Life

Image by Takmeomeo from Pixabay

In South Korea, the number of confirmed coronavirus cases continues to decline. Although it is not safe yet, social activities are being carried out cautiously. Today was my friend’s wedding. There were as many people as it was the wedding. During the wedding, everyone except the bride and groom wore masks. It was a rare scene, but all the guests blessed the future of the two main characters.

I am a 27-year-old Korean youth. The average age of Korean men’s marriages is about 33. Today was my friend’s wedding. He got married six years earlier than the Korean average. Thanks to my friend, even if I get married six years later, the average age of marriage in Korea is 33 years old!

Marriage is one of the important events in life. Most people would want to hold a wedding only once in their lives. It should be as careful as it is. In Korea, it is most often necessary to obtain the consent of both parents to get married. There are quite a few couples who can’t get over this crisis. It also often checks economic, social and physical conditions meticulously. Ironically, there are more checks, but divorce rates continue to rise in South Korea.

A hundred years ago, marriages were often held before they reached their 20's. Some countries still marry in their teens or early 20's. However, the global trend is that the more developed countries are getting married, the more age they get. I’m in my late 20's now, but I can’t even dare to get married now. Even if I don’t think about all the other situations, I think that I haven’t become an “adult” emotionally.

One of the reasons for delaying marriage is to try to get closer to perfection. However, the word “perfect” is often not applicable to humans. The most important thing is to be sure that men and women love each other. Realistic issues are important, but it is also the meaning of marriage that men and women join forces to wisely overcome such problems. Life is about challenging the wall of the world together while complementing each other’s shortcomings.

I want to get married in the future. Currently, I lack economic ability and have no woman to be the most important spouse. However, there is a high possibility that good conditions will be met in the next few years. I’m not perfect, and I can’t be perfect all my life. Therefore, I wish I had an eternal friend who will go to life with me.