Am I safe?

[docl7878]

Was in a local store, wearing my surgical grade mask. Some guy without a mask literally comes right up behind me in line. He didn't cough nor sneeze, should I be overly concerned?

I'm in a city on the east coast that is very close to entering the green phase.

[mkh9]

I had a similar situation at the hospital. I went in they checked my temp an asked me questions. They were all wearing a mask except the two receptionists. They made me take my gloves off and both didn't have a mask. Scary but I was wearing a mask. So far so good.  So you must be feeling okay now?

[Paxiled]

There's probably no risk from this incident.  You don't say how old you are or whether you have co-factors that make covid more dangerous for you, but the person was behind you, not breathing right at you, and the contact was quite brief.  But you do have the right to tell someone like that to please exercise proper social distancing.  Be polite about it but do insist.  

[AnxiousNoMore]

Anyone who flaunts posted sd rules is someone I put in the class of road-ragers - don't talk to them because their mind is made up that they are right and some of them are violent so they  might create a different health problem for you than the one you were discussing. Imagine conversing with these guys in Florida. https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2020/06/24/mask-mandate-florida-anger-erupts-coronavirus-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/coronavirus/

[Paxiled]

Anxious, I had a problem with distancing rage in a grocery store.  A guy was hogging a refrigerated section, hoarding by buying every one of whatever it was he was buying.  I was not close but needed to get into the same door and was waiting and he turned and started yelling at me and tried to get into a fight with me for being too close, which I wasn't.  I thought it was amusing later, given that had I taken him up on the fight -- of course I didn't -- we would have been very close indeed.  I also had an incident just last Saturday picking up some takeout.  The person in front of me was not wearing a mask.  I stayed far back, but I felt bad for the people working there.  They were all wearing masks, but still.  I find that the young people are out and about again and not wearing masks by and large.  It is very sad this has been made into a demonstration of one's ideological attachments.

[AnxiousNoMore]

paxil, those stories remind me why I have only been in a few stores and all on an emergency basis since March. I willingly accept any substitution that my grocery pickup store makes as a bargain tradeoff to avoid one of these guys entering my space and possibly imposing his rules. Anyone I see who doesn't sd when I saw them doesn't do it any other time they think they can get away with it, so eventually a large % of them will get it and hopefully those who recover will have immunity in which case they can't infect us later.

[Paxiled]

Assuming there is immunity.  Odd that we still don't know the answer to that question.  We also don't know even if there is immunity whether it lasts very long.  The flu has been around forever and we don't have immunity to it.  The common cold is very similar to corona, and we've never become immune to it.  But I've been assuming the virus the longer it's around and the more people it infects may mutate to a much milder disease.  I have no idea, but I'm guessing the common cold was deadly whenever it first appeared in humans and now it's very mild.  Some say covid is already showing this in that although the number of infections are growing more now in the US than ever, many fewer are dying.  But that could be that younger people are getting it now, deaths lag discovery, or lots of other things.  Time will tell the true story.  I'm just not the type of person to sit at home, and I just don't buy and consume the stuff grocery stores sell.  When I eat at home it's almost all organic and things that just aren't delivered even if I could afford that and I will not let someone else pick out my produce for me, and I don't eat much packaged veggies and fruit.  From what I know, the risk is infinitesimal without intimate contact for some period of time.  It isn't spread by surfaces.  Unless it gets deep into the lungs any contamination will be minor.  When I walk outdoors for exercise or do the yardwork, I don't wear a mask, but I stay well away from others.  But I do live near an area full of bars and such and I am irked that none of the young people are wearing masks or social distancing.  I can keep my distance as I don't go to those places, but they just don't seem to care at all about who else they take with them.  And also irked it has become a culture war issue.  That's just bizarre.

[AnxiousNoMore]

It is a bizarre sign of the times, and if you look at the difference between FDR's radio messages to the people every 6 months or so during the Depression and war, then compare it to Trump's daily claims you can see the different direction from the top. Young people acting in defiance of the risks are somewhat like drinkers during Prohibition, except the stakes for them (which is all flaunters care about) are much higher. I am aware that immunity has not been proven, but most scientists believe it will be so I await their findings with muted optimism. I am able to protect myself by sd, so am not concerned by "anti-Prohibitionists of today" as long as they don't overrun the hospital systems. Besides, it is out of my hands because we don't get to vote on this policy for 4 months.  

[AnxiousNoMore]

s/b  (which is all the flaunters care about but are unable to comprehend at all)

[AnnieBrooke]

If he didn't cough or sneeze, your only concern would be him simply breathing out. (If he was even sick, that is. Also, there is a chance that your 'moron without a mask' could be someone who has already had Covid-19 and gotten over it, and is therefore immune for a while.)

Anyway, breathing out the virus could shed a few viruses into the air. This is not like sneezing or coughing in terms of how many, forcefully blown across the room, moist, or large the particles might be. The chance of getting sick and the level of illness a person gets is directly related to how much exposure they have had. You being in line in front of someone for a short time who wasn't coughing or sneezing is not much exposure.

Some people won't wear a mask. Stores don't have bouncers who will throw people out for that reason. All you can do is either assume the risk and go about your (modified) life, or stay in all the time. If your city is close to entering the green phase, your risk is not like a place where the case numbers are rocketing up. While it's annoying when other people don't follow the rules, you wearing your own mask will help you feel more in control. (My dentist even wears her face visor at the grocery store. Everyone has their own comfort level.)

Please take care.