Hello, my spouse has CLL (treatment after about 6 years W&W, back on W&W.) I noticed more people on this site are getting COVID than during the worst of the pandemic. Curious if those who've had it recently still wear masks indoors when around people not in their household. I was the only person in the jury waiting room wearing a mask last week, and one of few wearing one in stores. Just wondering if that's enough to keep spouse safe.
Mask question : Hello, my spouse has CLL... - CLL Support
Mask question
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shmbak
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I mask everywhere indoors in public places, and people who come i to our place wear a surgical one. I have air sanitizer and HEPA filter technology cleaning living spaces.
Please remember that the only close to 100% guarantee to*not* catch anything would be to mask up in totally enclosed suits like an astronaut. Non-astronauts who wear these types of things are generally cleaning up suspected infected or otherwise contaminated spaces, like firemen will put on a full face mask with an oxygen supply to go into fire or chemical contaminated areas.
As far as daily wear, a mask and eye protection (enclosed goggles like painters or carpenters wear, some sports glasses have enclosed eye spaces, I have a pair for bicycling). A mask alone is going to stop someone from inhaling the majority of anything in the air. So in terms of "is this enough", there are no guarantees, but it's pretty darn close IMO.
I worked in hospitals for years, and one job was a setup tech in the microbiology lab, handling suspected pathogenic body secretions/tissues. I wore gloves & a mask, and was careful to wash my hands before touching my face afterwards. I never caught anything from mishandling a specimen. Nothing came home on my shoes or clothes. Although, unlike many Americans, we don't wear outside shoes around inside the house. It's barefoot or house shoes/slippers.
I have a hundred relatives in China, when and where everyone wore masks in public, and in one single month (December 2022) 80% of the population caught covid. So don't ever count on masks.
I wear an N95, so hoping for decent protection. Were folks in China able to get good masks in 2022? I don't remember when mask inventory improved here, sometime around then I think.
Isn't it surgical masks what people generally wear, instead of respirators? And of those who do wear respirators, aren't non adjustable KN-95's common, which don't always fit properly? I recall seeing surgical masks in various pictures from the news, for COVID as well as SARS-COV-1. Which helps the wearer from infecting others, but won't protect themselves.
every little bit helps
Just got back from Scotland and brought back Scottish Covid (actually, I think it's the latest variant as it is effecting my eyes, like conjunctivitis). I have never had a bad case of Covid before (had the tiniest little 3 day Covid couple yrs ago), but once I tested and realized Covid, I didn't go anywhere. Today is first day out, and yes, I wore a mask.
Keep wearing the mask, don't worry about them. I've been wearing one since COVID started . Haven't been sick or had Covid.
in reply to Debnurse
I don’t wear mask and never got Covid 🤗
ChristyAnne_UK in reply to
Wow! Your immune system must be rock solid! Long may it continue. With CLL, and other co-morbidities, I would not be prepared to take that risk.
in reply to ChristyAnne_UK
My immune system sucks. Just finished my CLL treatment after got shingles and now trying best with my rheumatism. all because my weak immune. To my knowledge masks help only for bacteria 🦠 because of the size. Virus seeps through the fabric. But if mask makes you feel safer it is fine. 🤗
SofiaDeo in reply to
You have a false assumption, namely, that pathogens are floating freely in the air as an individual unit when we exhale them. They are attached to moisture in the breath we exhale, often in clumps/droplets, which a mask stops. When someone coughs or sneezes, any pathogens come out as part of droplets, not individual, discrete units of a particular disease. So a moisture laden airborne droplet with virus/bacteria attached is largely stopped at the mask level.
This is why surgeons in a sterile operating room don't need to wear respirators; a surgical mask captures most of whatever bacteria or viruses they are exhaling, so as to not infect a patient. They wear eye shields (and sometimes face shields) to protect *themselves* from any pathogens that may be in a patients' body fluids if it spatters into their eyes/nose, etc.
ChristyAnne_UK in reply to
How I "feel" about it is irrelevant, but thank you for your permission.
It seems your knowledge could use a refresh. N95/FFP2 respirators (or better) have various mechanisms in their design to capture particles of various sizes, including Covid particles. There is a very good animation that goes into the physics (in a simple format), included in a recent comment from Aussie Neil, in a post from CLLerinoz.
The post was about a very recent study, published by Prof Trisha Greenhalgh, which goes into the issues in detail. Link below...
I, too, have worn a mask since COVID hit and continue to do so. I work in retail, so all the more reason to be cautious. Better safe than sorry.
A while back I read an article that said people who have a Vitamin D level of 40 ng/Ml are less impacted by Covid than people whose Vitamin D level is less than 40 ng/Ml.
Instead of solely focusing on a mask for protection, we should include other solutions.
I NEVER where a mask and keep my Vitamin D levels between 50 to
75 ng/Ml per my 2 Naturopathic doctors.
My primary doctor is happy with a Vitamin D level above 30 ng/Ml.
So far, my Hematologist has shown no interest in my Vitamin D level.
I started taking extra vit D at the beginning of the pandemic, and was going to stop last year, but asked my primary care doc to add that to my blood work. (Never tested before that.) Turned out I was still on the low end (just above 40 ng/ml even though I was taking a combined amount of vit D of almost 4000 IU (from Ca supplements, multivitamin, and separate D.) I only recently looked at my DNA test results that I got for fun years ago and realized that I'm homozygous for a mutation that affects Vit D receptors, which may explain why I have to take so much. I don't know what my level was when I wasn't taking so much extra D. So I guess the pandemic was good for something.
I mask in public places and never had covid or anything else in the last 5+ years. If what you use is a well fitting N95 or better, you are doing the best you can.
I still mask (kn95) when indoors in public spaces and (knock on wood) have not yet had Covid.
Additionally, my friends and relatives also know to reschedule plans if they feel ill or were knowingly exposed to anything. I also avoid seeing them for at least 5 days after they have been at large gatherings like weddings or have been to an airport, concert, etc. They have all been very respectful of my requests.
Thankfully I also have considerate friends and family. I went to visit some recently for the first time in a few years and they all masked indoors because they wanted to protect my husband. (They've all had COVID in the past year because they don't normally wear masks anymore.) Seven of us were the only ones in masks in a full theater. Successful trip, as I did not bring COVID home.
I personally don't, however, you do as you and your spouse wish
I mask whenever I leave home. I used FFP2 masks initially (N95s), but upgraded 3 years ago to FFP3s, licensed to capture 99% of particles, if worn securely. Consistency is key.
I can't bear the type with head straps, so use ear-loops, but I add in a couple of extra tricks to ensure a good seal... I wear mask tape over the bridge of the nose which deals with any gappage under the corners of the eyes, and pull the ear loops back behind my head with a hairslide. It gives me a very good fit, and prevents any soreness behind the ears. (You can also buy simple devices called 'Maskies' on-line, or you could tie the loops back with a piece of string in a bow! The anchor points for ear-loops are in the same place as headstraps, so what's the difference? For me, I could not have better. In Year 5, and 100% effective. No Covid.
If you are using surgical masks, you could significantly improve your protection by upgrading to a respirator, ie - FFP2 (aka N95), or better.
I do wear N95, and don't mind the head straps. My husband doesn't like them, though, as his head is pretty big and he says the ones I use are not comfortable. He uses Korean KF94s that come in three sizes, so I'm able to get a more customized fit for him. We have also been successful in avoiding COVID, unlike most of the people I know (most caught it in the last year.)
Sounds like you're both doing what works! 👍 Good for you! 😃
FWIW: two years ago, I had to share my house with my husband and son while both had Covid. We did our best to avoid being in the same spaces, but also masked and hand sanitized except when in our respective bedrooms. I was on WW before my second round of treatment, and I didn’t catch it.
I mask (KN 95) and wear plastic gloves, or constantly sanitize my hands, whenever I am out and about or have visitors like grandchildren. I know another strain is circulating in my area, as advised when at my monthly visit yesterday to my cancer center. I am on treatment again, so may be more susceptible than previously, but so far, so good.
Most people don’t wear masks anymore here either.
I'm glad to hear it's possible to avoid COVID if someone in the house has it. I routinely sleep in another room for a few days after any higher-risk outing, to give me a chance to develop symptoms without infecting my husband. If I eventually catch COVID, I guess I'll decide at that time whether to stay in a motel or not until I'm clear.
I have CLL W&W and I still wear a well fitting N95 whenever I'm indoors. I usually as them at the doctor's office to put on a mask as well (though yesterday I didn't). In same situations, my husband always wears a KN95 that doesn't fit as well, but he is not immune compromised. He is only getting one COVID vaccine per year. I seem to be settling into the every 6 months patter.
I am surprised that only I use masks for covid jabs , even the volunteers don't
Hi! I was diagnosed 2020, still W&W, white count at 230,000. My husband and I both wear N95 or KN95 masks when around other people. I actually use an additional cloth mask with a kn95 filter in it over the first mask. While we know that masks cannot prevent the virus from getting through, it can minimize the amount of exposure. We are extremely cautious with the masks also, removing them before we enter car and spraying all sides til saturation with 91% alcohol. We carry mini spray bottles of alcohol with us everywhere, we spray doorknobs, handles etc. anything we touch and spray our hands as well. We also use a nasal spray of colloidal silver before and after exposure to others. We make our own fermented garlic in raw honey and take one clove most days, two if exposed to others. All of our cash gets sprayed with alcohol (money is extremely dirty!) and all of our mail and packages/groceries get sprayed also before entering our home. My husband comes in the side door to laundry room after work and his clothes go directly in the washer if he’s been around anyone that day also. We have kept a very strict hygiene protocol since Covid began and so far have been safe! We also don’t eat inside restaurants, we eat outside or will go at like 3 pm when hardly anyone else is in the restaurant and ask for a table away from others. (I explain my situation and they are always very understanding). We pick up our grocery orders at Walmart and don’t go in, wherever we can do this we do. I do go in some stores but only if they’re not busy ( we get a lot of dirty looks and comments so I ordered us buttons to wear that say “I’m not an idiot, I’m masked because I have leukemia “ and his same with “ my wife has leukemia “. It stops all of the comments and nasty looks). He became a US citizen the other day and we were the only 2 in the entire courthouse with masks on. We don’t care, it has so far worked for us and I’ve only had an occasional cold (strep once) that have all been taken care of with natural remedies and not antibiotics. Our routine is extreme, but it works, take or leave anything I’ve said here. God bless you both!
Ps neither of us is vaxed for Covid
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