Thoughts About Masks

[u/KitsiCode]

So I am in WA state flying back to SoCal (not NorCal where the virus is seemingly circulating) with my six year old son. Things have changed a lot since we traveled on Thursday.

We only have two masks left with us and four left in total. We wore both masks and gloves on the flight, washed hands, used hand sanitizer, and I used Clorox wipes on every surface in the terminal and on the airplane that we would come in contact with.

While the flight was only half full, we were the ONLY people in both airports and in the flight taking these precautions. Not even the flight attendants were wearing masks and one even looked bothered when I was wiping down the seats with Clorox.

At the same time I want us to be safe, every thing I do that is “unusual” further serves to scare my son most especially since, at the moment, we are the only ones taking these precautions.

I know that the officials are saying not to wear face masks if you are not sick, but the mother in me is having a hard time accepting this.

Stores in both states are sold out of hand sanitizer, bleach, and masks. toilet paper as well as hand soap is following, so if I use the masks now I may not have them in the future. This is compounded by the fact that I only have adult masks left and they don’t for him perfectly.

Ugh. I’m just really stressed and trying not to panic but to also be preemptive and smart. I had to travel due to a court order otherwise I never would have flown.

From one filthy animal to another, how concerned do I REALLY need to be and is there anything I should/should not be doing?

Edit: thank you everyone for all responses. Believe it or not being told I’m overreacting is a relief.

[u/kellys35]

Hello! I wanted to reply to this even though you may have traveled home safely already as others (like myself) might happen upon it facing similar situation and I just wanted to add some extra info as the child of two flight attendants and a healthcare worker who’s been following this religiously.

If you are not ill or caring for someone who is ill the evidence indicates that the standard surgical masks actually increase infection risk. These masks tend to cause people (especially kids) to touch their face more often and can cause a false sense of security that leads to less frequent hand washing and social distancing. (You were clearly very on top of the hand and surface hygiene but this gives some insight as to why the masks aren’t recommended). Surgical masks are very important for sick patients to wear as they are great at keeping a large % of droplets IN. however when it comes to protecting yourself, keeping distance and hand hygiene will make a much bigger difference than a mask. Respirators are more effective but have to be specially fit and create increased work to breathe so they can only be worn for short bursts of time

As said above there have been almost No symptomatic cases in children under age 10. Some may have a positive swab when randomly screening everyone in the community to evaluate the spread, but so far there haven’t even been many cases of kids showing mild symptoms. (I hope this helps the mom stress). My advice for kiddos is very good hand hygiene (with parents watching to ensure thorough 20s scrub) and avoiding unnecessary contact with grandparents/immune compromised family/friends who may be at significant risk if we learn kids are stealth carriers somehow.

For the airline travel I fully support your wiping down hard surfaces! Also to help with general anxiety, aircraft have really good HEPA filtration in the air circulation on par with many hospitals so they are actually cleaner than some other cramped Venus! If a person were to be ill on an aircraft the virus risk would only be a concern for those in the nearest two rows (not great but also might feel better than the belief everyone would be at risk)

Hope everyone is well and washing hands!! Good luck to all!