These days, as part of caregiving to folks in my family, I have to visit the pharmaceuticals shop at least once a day. Everyone is slowly improving, thankfully, but the medicines list is never ending. When I go there, I try to stay as outside as possible while people keep flocking in with, and sometimes without proper masks to buy their own medicines which are also similar versions of what I came for buying. This means that the issue of infection is obviously more prevalent than what newspapers report. Mind you, newspapers are already reporting huge numbers which are jaw-dropping in their own sense.
Anyway, the mask buying thing is pretty interesting. I have seen several people who come and buy the masks as if they are buying vegetables or a piece of clothing. Of course, safety is what they should intend for, but their concern is not how good the mask functionally is. Many people ask for different colors than usual White or Gray or Surgical Aqua Green Blue. They want designer masks. They want masks with sockets in them so that ‘Oxygen can flow normally’. I didn’t see anyone asking if the mask is meeting the specification or not.
Our collective energy is being focussed in trying to curb the virus infection in multiple ways possible. But trying to change public perception regarding Science of the Mask is an art in itself. There have been several animations and videos but we are still far from making everyone understand the importance of a proper mask which is the 1st thing we should have done.
P.S.: Seth Godin reminded us all that Google is not your friend. It is just a tool that was free but might not be future. Today is World Backup Day so why not start here: https://takeout.google.com/
Photo by Adam Nieścioruk on Unsplash
