Masks.

Below is a “poem”, taken off Facebook from a shared post. Not mine.

It’s just a mask.
It’s just two weeks.
It’s just non-essential businesses.
It’s just to keep from overwhelming the hospitals.
It’s just until cases go down more.
It’s just to keep others from being scared.
It’s just for a few more weeks.
It’s just communion or singing. You can still meet.
It’s just until we get a vaccine.
It’s just a few side effects.
It’s just a bracelet.
It’s just to let people know you’re safe to be around.
It’s just an app.
It’s just to let others know who you’ve been in contact with.
It’s just a few more months.
It’s just a video.
It’s just an email account.
It’s just for protecting others from hate speech.
It’s just a few people.
It’s just a credit card company. You can use cash.
It’s just a few places that don’t take cash.
It’s just a little chip.
It’s just for medical information and paying for things.
It’s just so you can travel.
It’s just so you can get your driver’s license.
It’s just so you can vote.
It’s just for a few more years.
It’s just a statue.
It’s just a building.
It’s just a song.
It’s just a few words.
It’s just a piece of paper.
It’s just a book.
It’s just a movie.
It’s just a flag.
It’s just a piece of cloth.
It’s just a blood test.
It’s just a scan.
It’s just a chip.
It’s just a dog.
It’s just a clump of cells.
It’s just the bad people.
It’s just the undesirables.
It’s just the Jews.
It’s just the men.
It’s just the Christians.
It’s just the people that don’t think like we do.
It’s just… wait…

It’s not just a mask.

So I commented on the above shared post as follows –

Maybe surgeons shouldn’t wear “just” masks in theater then, or wash their hands – to protect patients? Why not just chuck masks away then, because Covid19 is “just” another flu? Just another flu that is overwhelming ICU’s in all the hot spots around the country, something which just “just” another flu did not do. While we are at it, why not stop using antibiotics when you’ve got a bad infection, or many other life saving medications, blood pressure tablets, heart tablets, diabetic tablets etc etc. Stop using your smart phone and all it’s lovely apps that you use, which means that big brother has probably been watching you for years anyway. How many of you have used credit cards? Stop using them then if it’s so easy and draw cash then, with your micro chipped cards you’ve been using for years anyway. If it’s “just” another mask and you feel so strongly about it, stop posting about it on Facebook, and walk into a busy shopping center without it, and make your stand when security or the police drag you away. Then again, if wearing masks, all helps us protect each other, during this virus that IS currently overwhelming ICU’s in South Africa, why is that not a sensible thing to do?

Now, a friend of mine, and an old nursing colleague took umbrage at my comment in response to “It’s just a mask”. She doesn’t believe our ICU’s are full of patients with Covid19. She asked me if those patients only had Covid19 and no other underlying issues? Well, as we all know, Covid19 affects mostly those with underlying health problems, such as cardiac disease and diabetes, immune compromised people and the elderly. Previous flu seasons have not seen our ICU’s & hospitals overwhelmed as we have seen around the world in Covid19 hot spots during the last few months and now in South Africa. If it wasn’t for Covid19 those people with those health issues, would very unlikely have become so ill. Still, some people will not believe it and that it’s “just another flu”. She told me weeks ago we are being hysterical about Covid19. As nurses, are we being hysterical now that we are seeing with our own eyes, and knowing first hand that our ICU’s are full of seriously ill people – people who have underlying health problems which has made them more susceptible to Covid19? Well then, is it okay for me when I take umbrage at being called hysterical and a “sheeple”? This friend also told me we are all going to die anyway – and meet our creator (from a Christian perspective) so it’s not how we die, it’s how we live. Well, would it have been okay then for us just to let a virus run rampant, and allow for the deaths of possibly millions of people in a short amount of time? Which is probably what would have happened if no precautions had been taken against the virus. Where would the humanity have been in that?

It’s a highly emotive talking point that’s for sure. Many feel that as healthy people they should not be forced to wear masks. That there’s a communist agenda in getting us all to wear masks, yet evidence has shown that asymptomatic Covid positive people can all spread the virus. People who think they are healthy. Because Governments have done what they can to curb the spread of the virus, many also now believe their personal freedoms are being trampled upon. Which includes mask wearing. Yes, we all know mask wearing alone is not going to slow the spread of the virus, but mask wearing along with other preventative measures will slow it and decrease the spread of it.

Who knows how long this virus will be around for? If it will eventually die out? If humans will become more immune to it and in time will become “just another flu”? If a Covid19 vaccine will be developed? I had all my childhood vaccines growing up Southern Africa. Unfortunately most medications have side effects like antibiotics and chemotherapy drugs – so are we not going to take those and vaccines, just because they have possible side effects? Let’s also remember that vaccines have also saved many lives. Until then though, Covid19 is going to be around and we need to do our best not to let it not run rampant.