Dear "Aunt Lori",

Covid is over; why are you still wearing a mask? Are you so afraid of a LITTLE virus that you're going to stop living life forever?

Sheep Eating Lion

Lion,

You are aware that other infectious diseases exist, right? Infectious diseases have always existed and continue to exist (even covid-19 still exists, just not as rabid). Masks and face coverings have been worn for hundreds of years for various reasons too - sometimes not even for diseases!

For decades, healthcare providers, immune compromised people, and those who visit or live with immune compromised people have worn masks to protect people. It's not new in the slightest.

If you've ever seen a surgeon and a surgical team, you've seen people masking to prevent diseases from spreading. This is helpful to prevent the surgical team from getting saliva or sneezing into the patient's open wounds, having bodily fluids fly into their face - especially nose and mouth (they wear face shields often too), and mask some of the unpleasant odors: ask any surgeon about abscesses and they'll probably tell you about putting lavender oil or something in the masks to prevent them from gagging and vomiting).

If you've seen or been around a person undergoing chemotherapy for cancer, you've seen people masking to protect the immune compromised cancer patient. When you have a serious medical condition that affects your ability to fight diseases, even the common cold or a 2 day "stomach flu" for you could be devastating for them. It could even cause them to be unable to stick to their treatment plan - which could lead to more damage or kill them. This was well known before December 2019 and has been protocol for decades.

As for viruses being little, technically they are: they can't be seen with the naked eye and have to be seen with extremely high powered microscopes (electron scanning microscopes). If we're discussing the effects that viruses have, then it's enormous.

Welcome to advanced biology.

Viruses cannot reproduce or live on their own; this means that they need a host. A virus is only genetic material (DNA or RNA) in a little package of protein. In order to survive and replicate, they get inside the cells of a host and then hijack it to produce more copies of it.

Sometimes masks aren't even worn for disease related reasons! I had organic chemistry (this means chemistry of carbon based molecules) in college and the labs were very smelly. Most of us had a headache after and there was an occasional gag too; to combat this, I wore a mask to labs. If it was especially bad, I'd put a little bit of Vick's on my chin before putting my mask on. Unlike my classmate, I never vomited in the hallway during a lab.

I wish I'd thought to wear a mask before reading this; this submission reeks.

Aunt Lori

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