It’s said that you only get one opportunity to make a first impression and this is, unfortunately, often true of the corona virus. Much better to avoid it if you can. Many times in our building, I have seen newspapers sitting outside apartment doors as tenants wait until they feel comfortable to read them. The most recent study seems to indicate that the virus can last three to four hours on paper or cardboard but other studies seem to indicate a longer time frame is possible. Searching for a solution to shorten the safe time before reading the paper, the solution seems to be to microwave the newspaper for 25 to 30 seconds. The same can be done for mail in order to disinfect it.
Recent official comments about masks have left significant gaps in communication, especially concerning the N 95 mask. Until this crisis emerged, these masks were not only used in the health care industry, but were widely available and used in construction for the reason that they are structurally strong and the filter holes in the fabric are especially small. This is essential because the covid virus is so tiny that it reguires a high-powered microscope on order to be visible. This explains why health-care workers are so anxious to be able to use these masks. For them, it offers a level of protection to them as well as their patients. Proceeding further on this topic, there must be hundreds if no thousands of trades people in Ontario who have these masks in their basements or tool boxes. Wherever fine dust was created, for instance, by painters, concrete workers, or drywallers, these masks were important. Packaged new ones should be donated to the heroic health care workers, but I am sure that many handy people used one or two, then kept them for future usage. I can’t stress too much that these masks offer a level of two-way protection, far beyond a rudimentary cotton mask. It is my fervent hope that when all the frontline health workers and emergency workers have supplied with N 95 masks, they will be available to the general population so that TTC riders, grocery cashiers, and many others can be safer.
More advice and comments will follow tomorrow. And don’ forget that “it is much better to six feet apart than six feet under”. Joe
Joe‘s Health Tips 