![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Jul. 31st, 2020
When I went to do my grocery shopping in freedom today I had an unpleasant surprise. A new sign was at the grocery store entrance: In accordance with the CDC, blah blah blah, all customers must wear a mask, blah, blah, blah.
I did minimal shopping in my shemahg, then did a longer trip at a store I hadn't shopped in since the mask mandate went down in my county.
In both instances I had a headache within 5 minutes of entering the store. In the longer shopping trip, in addition to the headache, I had serious trouble breathing, felt woozy, and my legs started feeling achy and wobbly. I began considering the possibility of my passing out, hitting my head, and having to have them call an ambulance.
I don't know how the girls do it for their jobs. They are rockstars. They deserve hazard pay.
If I were still on Facebook I'd be tempted to blow up some friendships by honestly and profanely responding to the various iterations of, "what's the big deal wearing a mask for twenty minutes, don't be so selfish, it's the least you can do to protect others, do you want people to die." that led me to flee Facebook in the first place.
Theoretically I could claim a health exemption to wearing a mask, and with HIPAA rules, I wouldn't even have to give details or proof. I'd prefer to avoid going that route, though. Seeing as any mask besides a well fitted n95 is basically worthless in filtering out covid-19, I decided to make myself a new, more breathable, mask.
Given that this meets the letter, if not the spirit, of the mandate, I don't expect to run into any trouble. If I do get challenged on the efficacy of the mask design, I may still fall back on compromised health and HIPAA.
I did minimal shopping in my shemahg, then did a longer trip at a store I hadn't shopped in since the mask mandate went down in my county.
In both instances I had a headache within 5 minutes of entering the store. In the longer shopping trip, in addition to the headache, I had serious trouble breathing, felt woozy, and my legs started feeling achy and wobbly. I began considering the possibility of my passing out, hitting my head, and having to have them call an ambulance.
I don't know how the girls do it for their jobs. They are rockstars. They deserve hazard pay.
If I were still on Facebook I'd be tempted to blow up some friendships by honestly and profanely responding to the various iterations of, "what's the big deal wearing a mask for twenty minutes, don't be so selfish, it's the least you can do to protect others, do you want people to die." that led me to flee Facebook in the first place.
Theoretically I could claim a health exemption to wearing a mask, and with HIPAA rules, I wouldn't even have to give details or proof. I'd prefer to avoid going that route, though. Seeing as any mask besides a well fitted n95 is basically worthless in filtering out covid-19, I decided to make myself a new, more breathable, mask.
Given that this meets the letter, if not the spirit, of the mandate, I don't expect to run into any trouble. If I do get challenged on the efficacy of the mask design, I may still fall back on compromised health and HIPAA.
