Coughing

[Ballyhoo789]

I just went to get my blood work done.Thank God it was all in range. But the weirdest thing is that a nurse in the room was coughing it wasn't the one taking my blood but I asked my nurse taking blood what's up with the cough. She said it was a bug . Moral of the story is Wear your Mask.

[LovelyLilyGirl]

Wow. Yes wear your mask 😷 and stay home if your sick. Crazy people

Sally

[nuji]

😡 - people providing healthcare services should be considerate. Hope the nurses was wearing a masks.

[Hazel33]

I agree. After isolating for so long I paid a visit to the hairdressers. She was continuously coughing. I was panicked and asked if she had COVID. The response was it was hayfever. I was completely stressed out. She and I wore masks. Hence I will not be returning. HazelUK

[LeoPa]

Not masks. Respirators. The difference could be life saving.

[blowinginthewind in reply to LeoPa]

How and where would I get a respirator, I am in Greater Manchester UK.

[LeoPa in reply to blowinginthewind]

Hopefully someone from your area can provide an idea. Over here in Slovakia they are ubiquitous. You can buy them in any respectable supermarket chain. They cost around 50 cents. Mostly they are ffp 2 or kn95. I assume that all are made in China. That is not a problem though as long as they conform to the necessary standards. The most important thing is a tight fit. We want to breathe through the fabric not around the edges.

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to LeoPa]

The word ‘respirator’ gets lost in translation here in the UK. It brings to mind a fully sealed, heavy duty, full face perspex mask with an oxygen bottle worn on the back, like a fire fighter would wear. I have learned that you mean the higher quality, well-fitted FFP2 (or 3) fabric mask.

I bought a pack of 5 online from Boots for £10. Not cheap, but worth every penny. They fit very well and feel very secure. I understand you can get them at better prices from other sources, but I’d be surprised (and delighted) if you could find them in any supermarket.

[LeoPa in reply to ChristyAnne_UK]

LOL,thank you. What you mention I came to know as SCBA or CABA

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sel....

I didn't realize that respirators can be called masks.

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to LeoPa]

We learn something new every day. I also did not have occasion previously to learn that respirators could mean something other than the heavy duty breathing apparatus. I think that may be part of the confusion. Of course, it doesn’t help that the word ‘mask’ covers different types! 🙄

[LeoPa in reply to ChristyAnne_UK]

I certainly learned something new today 😊

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to LeoPa]

Excellent! 😄 Trouble is, not everybody in the forum will catch your thread on the subject. You could find yourself doing battle on it again and again! It’s important, though, so keep at it, but as long as you use ‘respirator’ in the UK, even though it may be technically correct, if Brits don’t use the word in common parlance, the confusion will continue.

What is the case in the US? Do you know?

[LeoPa in reply to ChristyAnne_UK]

😊 I'm not sure but I suspect that "masks with vents" in UK parlance are considered to be respirators over there 😁

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to LeoPa]

I doubt we’ll ever be totally singing from the same song sheet! 😜

[janvog]

In public I wear an XL size thick cloth mask (cheerful bright Irish green) which has a second layer near the center section in which optionally a filter could be inserted. The mask only leaves my eyes and forehead uncovered. It is very comfortable to wear because the large cover does not require the rigid tightness needed for a small size mask, because the inner second layer stays close to mouth and nostrils. At least that is what I hope for....

[wizzard166]

Hate to tell you this but wearing a mask protects others from you, as opposed to you from others; at least, that's what I've read and heard from the experts on television throughout the whole pandemic nightmare.

[AussieNeil Partner Administrator in reply to wizzard166]

Obviously it makes more sense to capture the virus at its source, but when others don't wear masks...

[wizzard166 in reply to AussieNeil]

Neil I watched CNN almost every night from the start of the Pandemic through the end of the insane chaos after the change of leadership in our country, and all I kept hearing from almost every physician they interviewed was that masks predominantly protected the wearer from distributing their virus (if infected) to other people. Frankly I've never seen the logic that wearing a mask wouldn't also protect us from those other people. In fact the logic is there that it has to be effective in both directions.

I guess the idea is that once the virus is exhaled by the infected person into the air, the air dilutes it and it doesn't hang in the air for too many minutes and the wind also blows the remaining virus away pretty quickly. So the mask prevents the largest amount of virus from getting in the air when the infected exhales. That is why I've always felt that I can walk outside without a mask, as long as I side step anyone walking toward me as we pass each other. Still if a person not infected wears a mask, it has to help them when in direct communication within a few feet of an infected person. If that infected person also has a mask on, then the uninfected person has a greater chance of avoiding the virus particles to a much greater degree. The truth is that most of those masks we see people wearing are not even close to being as successful as the air filters now being used by the major airlines. I suspect if studies were done testing air immediately beyond the fabric of a mask upon exhalation by the mask wearer, the results regarding virus particle concentration would be quite scary to most of us. Still its wise to wear a mask.

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to wizzard166]

The University of Cambridge have been testing the FFP3 masks at Addenbrookes Hospital to assess how effective they are at protecting healthcare workers on ‘Red’ Covid wards, and the results show up to 100% protection. This was reported in the BMJ (British Medical Journal) and on the RCN (Royal College of Nursing) website, on 29th June 2021. (Couldn’t link them here, but you’ll find it on Google, Bing, etc.)

[wizzard166 in reply to ChristyAnne_UK]

Christy I don't know FFP3 and what that means, but i do know that the vast majority of masks worn by individuals any person in the US or UK will come into contact with are simply fabric like anyone's T Shirt. Fact is they don't stop almost anything from passing through from their nasal passages to the outside air. So whether the FFP3 is fantastic at stopping virus transmission or not is kind of irrelevant.

[wizzard166 in reply to wizzard166]

Be that as it may be, I agree that everyone should be wearing FFP3 masks

[wizzard166 in reply to wizzard166]

Have you seen these idiots with their T Shirts pulled up over their noses? That is what the predominant numbers of society are using to claim they are wearing masks. Whoop De Doo, and that is totally worthless. So I'm sure Cambridge and Harvard have dictated masks that meet strict standards; unfortunately, the mass of idiots that make up society in your country or mine are total morons. We are lucky in the US to have about slightly more than half of our country understand that Science rules and masks are important. That is why the complete moron who was President is no longer President; despite, his pathological diatribes about election fraud. Unfortunately there is still a little under half of our country that believe this total moron and they refuse to take Vaccine shots. The only good thing about that is that it will reduce the numbers of fools who accept that idiocy, and in the future things will return to some version of sanity.

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to wizzard166]

I looked it up for you… FFP stands for ‘filtering face piece’. It is a completely different product to the flimsy, makeshift type of mask you’re referring to, but even they will provide some degree of protection to others by reducing the velocity and distance of travel of droplets expelled through coughing/sneezing/talking. Better than nothing, but as I said before, the FFP3 mask has been shown to offer full protection for the wearer. Hardly irrelevant, especially with the removal of mandatory mask-wearing here on Monday.

I believe the Anerican version is called NN99.

[PaulaS Volunteer in reply to ChristyAnne_UK]

Thanks Christy. I hadn't realised that FFP stood for "filtering face piece".

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to PaulaS]

It was at the beginning of the BMJ report. Personally, I don’t think it is any more meaningful than just ‘FFP’! 😂

[PaulaS Volunteer in reply to ChristyAnne_UK]

It was helpful for me to know what FFP stood for, because I find it hard to remember random letters. I found myself calling them PPFs or FPPs etc..

Knowing what letters stand for, gives me more of a chance of remembering them. My poor aging brain...

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to PaulaS]

I see what you mean! That makes sense. My brain is getting up there, too! 😆

[wizzard166 in reply to ChristyAnne_UK]

Thank you Christy, and for what its worth I have always been in favor of everyone wearing masks throughout the early and middle stages of the Pandemic. I hate to wear them, because within a short distance of walking I start to have trouble breathing. The trouble is not so severe as to force me to stop, but just that it makes it very uncomfortable for me. What I've done, regardless of where I was at the time including in doors where it was mandated, is briefly take the mask down and take a few deep breaths. Then I put the mask back on and suffer with it. That is why too that when I have been outdoors, throughout the entire pandemic, I refused to wear a mask and felt totally safe. I live in Florida, which politically is a State that has not exactly tried to do what is necessary throughout the Pandemic. So I'm used to not seeing anyone with a mask on when outdoors, and stores and other places that were closed opened much earlier than other States. One thing that drove home a point to me has been my trips to Boston for my CLL Specialist. When I first went to Boston in Feb 2020, and even recently in April, I noticed that every person in the street out doors had masks on. That was true of much of the New England States that I travelled to also. Isnt it funny that the group of States that had the lowest rates of infection as time went on were the New England States. Hmmm I guess masks and other rules actually work.

Carl

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to wizzard166]

Absolutely, and I saw a map of the US on the news today, showing the states worst hit by the surge of cases over there. I’m sure you know which states were most prominent! 🍊

I am sorry to hear you’re struggling with wearing a mask. I don’t think anyone wears them without wishing they didn’t have to, but some suffer more then others.

I hope you cooe with the current onslaught, and make it through ok. Stay safe! x

[wizzard166 in reply to ChristyAnne_UK]

Hey ChristyAnne

Thank you for your concern and understanding. Its not that I disbelieve in masks, I just hate them because of my breathing. I have had many pneumonias in my long life, with about two of them between 2014 and 2016, and two others I remember in 1995. So I've had minor breathing issues before CLL, and I'm a little heavier than I should be, and of course my red cells continue to drop. It is what it is and things could of course be much worse, so overall I'm happy.

You and others will want to know about something I just made a new Post on our site about. Check it out. Its about the US Government considering permitting a third vaccine shot for Leukemia patients. It was actually for immunocompromised patients, and listed Leukemia in addition to about four other disorders.

Carl

[ChristyAnne_UK in reply to wizzard166]

Gosh! No wonder you’re having difficulies with the masks! 😱

Just off to find your new post…

[kathymac5252 in reply to wizzard166]

totally agree....wearing a mask will dilute the viral load that could come our way....