Advice needed - no masks worn in local restaurant

Awhile ago I had stated how important it was to wear a mask. So many of you disagreed. You felt a mask had to be properly fitted and of course we needed them for the medics. Now you are making them out of shirts,sheets,etc. Some are really pretty but do they work? The material used is very important. Citizens in other countries are wearing the proper masks. What is wrong with us? 

galileo said:

Awhile ago I had stated how important it was to wear a mask. So many of you disagreed. You felt a mask had to be properly fitted and of course we needed them for the medics. Now you are making them out of shirts,sheets,etc. Some are really pretty but do they work? The material used is very important. Citizens in other countries are wearing the proper masks. What is wrong with us?

What are these proper masks? The only truly protective mask I’ve read about is the N95; is that what they’re wearing? If not, what is the very important difference in effectiveness between what they have and what we’re jury-rigging?

Why are you jury-rigging? That’s the whole point. At the beginning no one thought masks were necessary for civilians. Now we jury-rig.Look at every picture of people all over the world and their masks. Those are the proper masks. Our country is not making these available.Most of the homemade masks are not the proper fabric to hold up through many rinses.l

galileo said:

Why are you jury-rigging? That’s the whole point. At the beginning no one thought masks were necessary for civilians. Now we jury-rig.Look at every picture of people all over the world and their masks. Those are the proper masks. Our country is not making these available.Most of the homemade masks are not the proper fabric to hold up through many rinses.l

 Them that's jury-rigging are doing so because appropriate masks are not available. Thank you, Gropenfuhrer.

galileo said:

Why are you jury-rigging? That’s the whole point. At the beginning no one thought masks were necessary for civilians. Now we jury-rig.Look at every picture of people all over the world and their masks. Those are the proper masks. Our country is not making these available.Most of the homemade masks are not the proper fabric to hold up through many rinses.l

It’s an honest question: Other than how they look in pictures, what evidence have you seen that those masks are so much better than even an oft-rinsed cloth — or really anything but an N95? Everything I’ve read has experts saying they’re all effective at only a basic level, with facial coverage and no fiddling with fingers more important than, say, the type of fabric.

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

galileo said:

Why are you jury-rigging? That’s the whole point. At the beginning no one thought masks were necessary for civilians. Now we jury-rig.Look at every picture of people all over the world and their masks. Those are the proper masks. Our country is not making these available.Most of the homemade masks are not the proper fabric to hold up through many rinses.l

 Them that's jury-rigging are doing so because appropriate masks are not available. Thank you, Gropenfuhrer.

They’re not available AND you can be turned away from the grocery store if you’re not wearing one  

DaveSchmidt said:

galileo said:

Awhile ago I had stated how important it was to wear a mask. So many of you disagreed. You felt a mask had to be properly fitted and of course we needed them for the medics. Now you are making them out of shirts,sheets,etc. Some are really pretty but do they work? The material used is very important. Citizens in other countries are wearing the proper masks. What is wrong with us?

What are these proper masks? The only truly protective mask I’ve read about is the N95; is that what they’re wearing? If not, what is the very important difference in effectiveness between what they have and what we’re jury-rigging?

Have you even bothered to my comments besides criticizing me when I wrote everyone should wear a mask? That you can sit next to someone on your train and bus and be infected? I was criticized for that. I also specifically wrote surgical masks, not just the N95's, will reduce COVID-19 inhalation from 1.5 to 55 fold, six fold on the average, depending on the manufacturer. Its all about viral load. My previous post said that cloth masks are not as good as surgical masks because of the material.

Feb 24, dave wrote

I would think (hope) any pneumonia patients in hospitals are being tested, but Covid-19 can be asymptomatic for 2-14 days during its incubation period (one outlier was 24 days). That said, who knows how many testing kits there are or where they are?

They now call the asymptomatic incubation patients silent carriers. I guess that's to help the mentally challenged understand the necessity of wearing masks.

I'm sorry but this is sad. Masks are not worn because authority said its not needed. Those of us who said to wear were basically told to f*** off. Now after being told they are urgently needed half here are in panic deciding what kind of mask is needed while others panic because they saw someone in a store not wearing one. Really sheepish behavior.

Don't take it out on me or others like drummerboy who knocked ourselves out wearing masks before "permission" was given. We protected our families.

spontaneous said:

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

galileo said:

Why are you jury-rigging? That’s the whole point. At the beginning no one thought masks were necessary for civilians. Now we jury-rig.Look at every picture of people all over the world and their masks. Those are the proper masks. Our country is not making these available.Most of the homemade masks are not the proper fabric to hold up through many rinses.l

 Them that's jury-rigging are doing so because appropriate masks are not available. Thank you, Gropenfuhrer.

They’re not available AND you can be turned away from the grocery store if you’re not wearing one  

I was at Sams yesterday. 80% were wearing surgical, 20% N95's or industrial paint type masks. Very few wore handmade cloth masks. In Queens, Roosevelt Ave under the El, street vendors are selling surgical masks.

I never criticized you or drummerboy in the past. I agreed with you and certainly Dave. I've been to Hong Kong and have seen many people wearing masks.  I was just watching Trump today. I am so tired of this man and he assured the press that we have more than enough masks,beds,etc

spontaneous said:

They’re not available AND you can be turned away from the grocery store if you’re not wearing one  

Corrected to indicate 8pm Friday 4/10 or masks.

galileo said:

I never criticized you or drummerboy in the past. I agreed with you and certainly Dave. I've been to Hong Kong and have seen many people wearing masks.  I was just watching Trump today. I am so tired of this man and he assured the press that we have more than enough masks,beds,etc

 I did not mean you galileo. The ones who did very well know who they are. I don't watch Trump. He's a waste.

Fauci should resign. He's being used, propped up, to give gravitas to this maladministration.

Where do we buy the proper masks so we can food shop? Perhaps setting up stands outside the markets would be a good idea? Just saying how ridiculous this whole thing is. Aren't we intelligent people?           Sorry BG9 I misunderstood you.

DaveSchmidt said:

What are these proper masks? The only truly protective mask I’ve read about is the N95; is that what they’re wearing? If not, what is the very important difference in effectiveness between what they have and what we’re jury-rigging?

 There's another thing to understand about masks that I've yet to see explained.  Many N95 masks have a one-way air valve on them.  When the wearer breathes in, they are drawing in air through the filter material of the mask which catches the airborne contaminants.   When they exhale that air is going out through the one-way valve unfiltered.  The intent of the mask is meant to protect the wearer only, not others in the vicinity from an infected person wearing a mask.  

Red_Barchetta said:

DaveSchmidt said:

What are these proper masks? The only truly protective mask I’ve read about is the N95; is that what they’re wearing? If not, what is the very important difference in effectiveness between what they have and what we’re jury-rigging?

 There's another thing to understand about masks that I've yet to see explained.  Many N95 masks have a one-way air valve on them.  When the wearer breathes in, they are drawing in air through the filter material of the mask which catches the airborne contaminants.   When they exhale that air is going out through the one-way valve unfiltered.  The intent of the mask is meant to protect the wearer only, not others in the vicinity from an infected person wearing a mask.  

 sheesh this is getting complicated

All this because someone wanted to buy takeout at parkwood, and didn’t see anyone at the restaurant wearing masks! Asking us what should they have done or who should they complain to! Call the police? I am sure they are wearing masks tomorrow, order your food then go pick it up. 

BG9 said:

Don't take it out on me or others like drummerboy who knocked ourselves out wearing masks before "permission" was given. We protected our families.

I’ve tried to tune you out, BG9. If I criticized you, I apologize. 

jimmurphy said:

The Governor’s order does not go into effect until tomorrow night.

Jim, this (at the very end) says 8 tonight:

https://www.nj.gov/governor/news/news/562020/approved/20200408e.shtml

Boy, people are getting testy. The OP was surprised that people exiting a restaurant were not wearing masks and that there were people who seemed to be sitting at the counter and eating. He/she/they asked for advice. 

The "experts" gave mixed messages on masks for a while. Now Fauci says to cover your nose and mouth with any kind of mask.

Now, when the Governor says that everyone must wear a mask beginning at a certain hour is it not prudent to begin doing that immediately?

BG9 said:

  Fauci should resign. He's being used, propped up, to give gravitas to this maladministration.

 I disagree. Without him it would be worse.

jimmurphy said:

spontaneous said:

They’re not available AND you can be turned away from the grocery store if you’re not wearing one  

I don’t think this is true. The Governor’s order does not go into effect until tomorrow night.

I was at Millburn Shoprite today and there were both customers and staff without masks.

There was also a sign at the entrance indicating the requirement for masks effective tomorrow night.

 WalMart in Flemington was turning people away if they did not have masks on, and were specifically saying that they were not being allowed inside without a mask.  I didn’t hear this from a friend of a cousin’s roommate from college, I witnessed it myself when I was there and they were turning people away.  I don’t know what other stores in the state are doing, maybe waiting until it officially goes into effect, maybe deciding to be rebels and not enforce it at all because apparently it won’t be legally enforceable, but WalMart in Flemington was enforcing this as of yesterday when I went there.  At least I think it was yesterday, might have been the day before, I can’t keep track of time anymore 

Red_Barchetta said:

 There's another thing to understand about masks that I've yet to see explained.  Many N95 masks have a one-way air valve on them.  When the wearer breathes in, they are drawing in air through the filter material of the mask which catches the airborne contaminants.   When they exhale that air is going out through the one-way valve unfiltered.  The intent of the mask is meant to protect the wearer only, not others in the vicinity from an infected person wearing a mask.  

 I was wondering about this.  I have an N95 mask and no surgical masks.  Trying to figure out if I / everyone around me is better off with me wearing an N95 mask or a homemade cloth mask (with no coffee filter as I don’t have any).  Thoughts?

Red_Barchetta said:

The intent of the mask is meant to protect the wearer only, not others in the vicinity from an infected person wearing a mask.  

After you brought this up, I found some websites that said N95 masks with a valve weren’t recommended for general prevention purposes. None of the sites were what I’d call authoritative, but, as you noted, it makes sense because of the unfiltered exhalation.

I would think they’d still be useful, however, to health workers caring for already infected patients.

wendyn said:

I was wondering about this. I have an N95 mask and no surgical masks. Trying to figure out if I / everyone around me is better off with me wearing an N95 mask or a homemade cloth mask (with no coffee filter as I don’t have any). Thoughts?

Thoughts only, because of course I’m not an expert: Does the mask have a valve in the middle? (Not all N95 masks do.) If it does, you’d be better off with the N95, but it sounds like people around you might be better off if the air you breathed out went through cloth instead of an exhalation valve. If it doesn’t have a valve, then the N95 is better all around.

I was at a restaurant today... unnamed. Anyways, there was a guy sitting, without a mask. He was eating. He works there and is not an owner.

Where, or how else, is he 'sposed to eat?

Formerlyjerseyjack said:

I was at a restaurant today... unnamed. Anyways, there was a guy sitting, without a mask. He was eating. He works there and is not an owner.

Where, or how else, is he 'sposed to eat?

 Cheeseburger milkshake, slip the straw under the mask 

I stand corrected DB and Dave.  

Post corrected above.  Guess I misread the sign or it was wrong.

DaveSchmidt said:

Thoughts only, because of course I’m not an expert: Does the mask have a valve in the middle? (Not all N95 masks do.) If it does, you’d be better off with the N95, but it sounds like people around you might be better off if the air you breathed out went through cloth instead of an exhalation valve. If it doesn’t have a valve, then the N95 is better all around.

I didn’t even think of this.  Mine does not have a valve it is completely covered so seems like I am good thanks!

From Monday anyone picking up in the restaurant has to wear a mask. Also all persons inside the restaurant working has to wear masks. Murphy’s order.

Only four new cases in Hong Kong today; all traceable.    #wearmasks

dave said:

Only four new cases in Hong Kong today; all traceable.    #wearmasks

 I'm jealous. You guys seem to be getting it under control. Provided you restrict immigration.

There's lots of pressure to "wake" the economy. My fear is that if done prematurely we will have a start over in the summer.

Another issue is social distancing is not taken seriously in part of the country. Considering travel is not restricted I wonder if we can really end this.

I've decided there's nothing I can do when I see neighbors, shoppers, shopkeepers, etc. without masks or gloves (although I'm not sure I see the value of gloves). Most of the stores I saw on my walk yesterday had signs saying masks must be worn to enter but very little enforcement. I guess I'll stop patronizing stores that don't enforce.

I've also been to ShopRite and BJs during Geezer Hour and they're not enforcing anything -  masks or geezers-only. Although it all seems to change each time I go.