07:10:49 am on
Tuesday 19 Mar 2024

Face Masks in Public
Matt Seinberg

I'll start by repeating myself from an earlier column. My entire family had Covid-19; I'm not afraid of getting it again, but the stories change daily as to whether we are subject to reinfection. My wife heard, on the news, today, that anti-bodies are only good for six months.


Do I need to re-test every six months?

What does that mean? Antibodies last in our own bodies for that long or in a vaccine? Does it mean that every six months we should get anti-body testing to see if we're susceptible to infection again? This is a scary virus.

I wear a mask when I go shopping, at any store, or even in a semi-crowded local park. Should it bother me that others are not wearing masks when they are supposed to according to local regulations? I'm not telling anyone what to or not to do. If they want to get sick, go ahead.

Our idiot president doesn't wear a mask, even when visiting companies that made it mandatory for their employees. Presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden wears a mask and calls the president a fool for not wearing one. I agree with Joe.

I have a mask made by the cousin of my wife, in Raleigh, NC. It fit well, but looked like a yarmulke turned around on my face. Then my mother-in-law made some; the first was to small, the second was okay and the third one fit just right.

Alas, yellow is not my color. I prefer blue. She has said she'll make me another one, but I'm not holding my breath.

In hot weather, wearing a mask is not comfortable, especially when wearing sunglasses, which I do most of the time. Picture me in a New York Mets baseball cap, very dark sunglasses and the mask. I'm almost ready to commit a crime in that outfit.

I'm not a fan of people, whom I don't know, that talk to me while wearing sunglasses. At least take them off when introducing yourself, that's what I do. Now, with our faces mostly covered, am I going to trust you even without the sunglasses?


Staying the length of one moose apart is hard.

Social distancing at six feet is hard enough; now physicians are saying that may not be enough and ten feet may be safer. Oh my god, just double it to twelve feet already and make everyone wear two yardsticks tapes to their shoulders to ward off the micro droplets that carry the virus.

For me, it is now the 72nd of March 2020. I figure this from the day I stopped working on 21 March. Everyday feels as if it were Sunday. Many people are sick and tired of spending every moment of every day with their spouses because we all need our own time and space.

I miss the freedom of going and doing what I want when I want. I dislike being accountable for my own time. I'm tired of the same questions every day: what are you doing, who are you talking to, who's on the phone and what do you want to watch on television?

 

If none of this has happened to you, congratulations. The fact is the above has happened. It will continue to happen until things open, again.

I managed to get many projects out of the way while off work. I'm now hosting a new one hour show on www.hitoldies.net every Sunday from 5 pm to 6 pm Eastern Time. It celebrates the music of "New York's Best Rock." That's the slogan of the late, great AOR rock station WPLJ-FM.

I digress. Are you afraid to talk to someone when she or his is wearing a mask? Are people afraid to talk to you when you are wearing one? Do you smile, by habit, when talking to someone and they can't see it because of that damn mask? Now you must smile with your eyes, which most of us do, anyway.

Long Island, where I live, should be going into Phase 2 of re-opening in two weeks. Does this mean we all go back to work willingly? Heck no. Unless my place of business can completely ensure my safety, clean it from top to bottom including dirty vents, I doubt I'll go.

Where I work, the owner of the premises has not cleaned the vents in ten years. Gawd knows what is lurking inside them. Big, hairy spiders, huge dust balls and Covid-19, probably.


Brown-eyed boy.

I know when retail stores open, both employees and customers must wear a mask to protect everyone. Luckily, my radio trained voice projects enough for people to hear me and they can still see my beautiful dark-brown eyes. All I can say is that when you go outside be mindful of fellow human beings. Stay safe, stay strong and stay sane.

Matt Seinberg lives on Long Island, a few minutes east of New York City. He looks at everything around him and notices much. Somewhat less cynical than dyed in the wool New Yorkers, Seinberg believes those who don't see what he does like reading about what he sees and what it means to him. Seinberg columns revel in the silly little things of life and laughter as well as much well-directed anger at inept, foolish public officials. Mostly, Seinberg writes for those who laugh easily at their own foibles as well as those of others.

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