Ever since face masks became obligatory in public spaces in Guatemala back in March, people have complied nearly 99.99% of the time. So, it seems odd for people in Guatemala to read or watch news of people fighting its usage in other parts of the world. Honestly, unless a vaccine is developed in the next few months, face coverings will be, and should be mandatory, as normal as seat belts in cars or security checks at airports and bus terminals while traveling. So, in Guatemala we don’t fight face mask usage, on the contrary, we embrace it as we need to open up the country and start living the new normality as soon as possible.
How is mask usage where you live?
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Here in the UK mask use is increasing as people go back to work and use public transport more. The consensus seems to be that masks do not protect the wearer, but can reduce an infected person from passing the virus on through coughing and saliva droplets. Ultimately, it will not provide a safe solution.
Maybe what we have to get used to is the fact that we cannot control such events and cannot afford to “buy our way out of them” (at least in wealthier countries) or put whole economies on hold while these subside. Here, as a result of the health service giving complete priority to Covid 19, they expect an additional 35,000 cancer cases, many fatal, because screening, preventative and curative measures have not been taking place.
We’ve all done the best we know to do, but there are times you don’t win, except by luck. On the plus side, over 80% of cases here are asymptomatic.
Thanks for sharing how are things in the UK. I guess the world over we are just going to have to learn with Sars-Cov-2 as it doesn’t be going away any time soon. For now, we can only do these preventive measures to keep the infection rate lower: Use face coverings, keep a healthy physical distance of 1.5 meter to 2 meters, wash and sanitize our hands constantly through day and stay home as much as possible.