Lukki -- You are so kind -- to be thinking about me while you are working so hard to help your DH. Thank you.

I'm not sure which is harder, being the patient with MM or loving and caring for someone with it. You are doing a wonderful job through all this stress. I'm hoping the leukemia meds will help and that the trial chemo regime will prove to be the magic bullet! It's such a fast-moving field of medicine. There was *nothing* to be done when my DM was diagnosed 40 years ago, and nothing for many years. Now, it seems there are new meds discovered every few months.

I'll be keeping you both in my heart.

Lukki, I am so sorry to hear of your husband's set-backs and I am livid about a medical facility that is not modeling best/safest behavior, especially in an oncology area. I hope someone raises cain with them.

I wish you both strength as you deal with this situation and that you have a healing miracle. I will hold onto hope for you!

Lukki, unfortunately not everybody has the resources to find out how to get a mask. Many low income don't have the internet to google & they don't have family, friends, or social networking to help them out. You'd be surprised at how many there are who are in that situation. It's sad and really not their fault.

Lukki, there is nothing more I can add to the outrage -- just know that I concur with all of those who've posted.

My thoughts are with you as you slog through this nightmare.

unfortunately not everybody has the resources to find out how to get a mask.

That may be but the elevator repair employer should have provided masks to the employees, particularly in a State with an order to wear masks in public. There is no excuse for them to be without masks. But they’ll probably get away with it without repercussions since Lukki’s energies need to go to her husband and not tracking down their employer.

Elevator repair is a fairly high tech business.

I personally know a few very, very low income people who all are wearing masks - homemade, but masks. One used a T-shirt to design and make his own mask - no instructions - ingenuity and mind thought as to what would work. One used an already owned bandana to maker a mask for helself; again no instructions, she just figured out what she thought would work and it does. Another used an old bath towel to make his mask. There is honestly no excuse for not having a mask and wearing one IMO. These are just a few examples.

My DD texted me today that she unfriended a long standing acquaintance on Facebook for boasting he has never worn a mask or gloves during this entire episode. This type of aggressively ignorant behavior from younger people makes me worry for the future of our country.

I was out on the balcony and watched a neighbour who I don't know come down the street on his skateboard, jump off and hork a spit-ball on the sidewalk.

He obviously feels he's above everyone else. It p*ssed me off to see the arrogant pig do that.

I also believe in this sign.....

I agree that gloves are unnecessary soong as you wash your hands or use sanitizer after leaving a store or other public area.

I see a lot of people who don’t wear masks at the stores and to be honest it’s my conclusion that a very large majority of them to don’t have much class and/or self respect. They aren’t just out in public without the mask, but a lot of them flaunt it and act obnoxiously as if to draw attention to it. It’s sad that we have so many people who are embeciles in this country, but apparently we do.

But what I’m seeing too much where I live is elderly people and I mean in their 80s out and about at the grocery store etc. with masks on thinking they are safe because of the masks. I live in an area where there is grocery delivery, pharmacy delivery and food delivery. There is no reason for them to be out. I think the mask using is fine where necessary but I think some people are getting a false sense of security while wearing the mask. If you don’t have to go out stay home.

I consider wearing a mask an act of consideration to those I might meet when out. (Not an original thought, but applicable). An act of kindness, because I don’t know if I may be a carrier or who I met may be in a high risk category.

Boston did an antibody test. 10% showed they had antibodies. Many never sick or having been tested before.

Boston test

Before judging too harshly, keep in mind that not everyone is savvy about ordering things online - or even by phone. Some may not have credit cards either, which is usually a requirement to be able to do that. And the older a person is, the less likely they are to be able to easily adapt and change old habits. Delivery often involves extra charges too...

Not judging. I live in an a very expensive zip code. I see these people hopping into their high end cars. Most of the people in my area are very active on Facebook so they are technical savvy enough for that. There are numerous groups on Facebook that are constantly offering to shop etc for people. I do believe that the mask wearing is making some of our elderly population feel as if this will keep them from getting sick. I still believe at least where I live if you are high risk stay home. A few days ago I saw an older man in a wheelchair with some sort of obvious leg wound picking up just two items.

I wonder why whoever made that sign against wearing gloves purports that people wear gloves all over town, picking up germs only to bring them in their store.

Even if someone were to wear gloves into that store, it might be the first and only use of gloves for the day....Or while doing errands, they might use that same hand sanitizer on their gloves that others are using on bare skin. There is no reason to think that a gloved person is acting in any a less sanitary way than a bare handed person.

When I wear gloves I wash them while they are on my hands, just as thoroughly as I would wash hands.

I, too, wear gloves when I go out (infrequently) to shop. I have a bunch of them in my car, don a clean pair before getting out of the car. I shop and when I get to my car, I carefully peel off the gloves before I touch my door handle, open the door and drop the inside out gloves into the door well. I sanitize my hands. I do the same thing again if I have another stop, using clean gloves.

I then (without touching them with my hands) put the gloves in the corner of the garage, where they will decontaminate themselves for a couple of weeks 2 or 3 or more. Then I turn them right side out again and put them back in my rotation of gloves. I see no sense in throwing them away, as they are hard to come by and replacements are needed for essential workers.

I don't wear gloves. Instead, when I go out, I grab a sanitizing wipe and keep it with me the whole time I'm shopping, wiping my hands after I grab every item. I wipe them again after checking out. By that time, it usually needs a refresh so I go to the hand sanitizer dispenser and refresh it and wipe my hands again before I get into the car. If they don't have one, I keep a container of them in my car so I grab one before I get in and then wipe off the handles again. I'm also careful about not touching any keypads -- I just put the credit card in the slot and then take it out...and then wipe the credit card. Also very careful about removing my face mask from the ears and not touching the face part.

The other day I had to go out a 2nd time and my face mask was still drying so I borrowed DH's clean one. It does not fit as well and I did find myself messing with it once or twice to adjust it vs. my own which is very comfortable and stays put on my face so I can leave it alone. So fit is important.

We did end up at costco to get DH's hearing aids repaired. I suspect it was from his first mask... it has the elastic over the ears which would get tangled with the wires on his hearing aids. So I made him a new one which ties on the head instead and leaves his ears free.

Bottom line is that the elevator company should require masks be worn by their employees and the facility should require that masks be worn by contractors. Double coverage and therefore no possible way to have unmasked personnel in the vicinity of sick people unless willful negligence is employed. There IS no excuse in this situation.

Matthais - unless you are wearing heavy rubber style gloves you shouldn't be washing your gloves. That's not allowed in hospitals because the chemicals your cleaning with will compromise the glove material.

I don't understand the use of gloves unless: You have cuts/sores on your hands; wearing them reminds you not to touch your face; you can't access soap and water for an extended time. The virus on a surface (including gloves) isn't the problem. The problem is transfering the virus from a surface to your face, where it can easily enter your body.

The biggest danger for me is encountering people who don't wear masks and won't stay away from me -- not any surfaces others may have contaminated with virus. My best defense is wearing an N95 mask in public and washing my hands throughly with soap and water. I clean anything I bring into my house, the surface it sat on, and door handles. Then I carefully remove my mask and wash my hands thoroughly. The mask hangs in sunlight after a short wearing and is only used every two weeks at most.

DH and I don't wash our hands any more than usual when inside our home.

I had been feeling a bit squeamish about having to touch gas pumps again. (Funny how staying home makes your petrol last much longer!) I am ordinarily more than a little germ-phobic when using those things, and was really dreading having to fill up again. The day came that I needed to fill the tanks of two of our vehicles, and I was so pleased to discover that the Valero station I frequent had disposable gloves (tear-off from a display, so very easy to grab and use) for the very purpose of touching the machinery. I wish gas stations would have those available all the time. Grab, slip on, fill the tank, and dispose quickly and easily over the trash can next to the pump. For once while filling up, I didn't not feel skeeved out.

I was thinking of all the examples of times we accept a certain level of discomfort because it is required of us -and nobody seems as overwrought about that. We wear shirts and shoes in restaurants even when we are on vacation in a beach town. We wear seatbelts. We wear stiff, uncomfortable clothing when we are invited to somebody else's dress-up occasion. Employees are required to wear scratchy, tacky, uncomfortable uniforms or 'career clothing' that is far less comfortable than the warmup clothing they'd prefer.

When I think of it this way, it leaves me feeling that not wearing a mask is a hostile act. Not so much because someone can't bear to be uncomfortable for a short amount of time, as an expression of, "You can't make me." Grrrrrrr!

I've always hated touching the gas pumps, I am quite germaphobic, way before "Rona" hit. I haven't run across any gas stations supplying their own disposable gloves. We just use the blue paper towels that are there to clean your windshield, using one hand only, to handle the gas pump.

A couple of weeks ago I purchased gas. There was a large notice that if a person was concerned about pumping their own gas to pull to one of two pumps and request someone come pump. This was in addition to the two pumps for those who already need assistance.

Lukki, I am so sorry to learn of your husband’s relapse, particularly during this pandemic. I wish both of you the very best. Hold on as best you can — as you are doing.

Don’t waste precious energy tilting at the windmills of ignorant selfish people who won’t wear masks. Maybe a friend can register a formal complaint for you. I would do that for you.

Can your husband get hold of an N95 respirator mask and safety glasses? Even sunglasses?

anneliese,

I’m also sorry to hear that your husband is going through ca treatment during this un-nerving pandemic. I wish you both the very best.

I don't wear gloves either. I keep a package of santizer wipes in my purse and use those if I have to go in somewhere. At our grocer, they disinfect your buggy as you come in the store and I grab one of their wipes and keep with me in the store. At check-out, I use my card and then wipe it and my hands. We each keep a bottle of hand sanitizer in our vehicles. Once I get to the car, unload groceries, etc. I wash my hands with the sanitizer and wipe down my steering wheel. I take off my mask and once I get home I wash my hands. I've never been worried about the gas pump, as we have always kept hand sanitizer in our vehicles but my husband keeps a pair of work gloves in his truck and now uses one. He often fills my vehicle for me, but when I do get gas, I either use a paper towel to hold the pump or sanitize my hands afterwards. To me, they are not any germier than a door-knob, etc.

Re: gas pump handles and grocery stores.

You can use one of those flimsy baggy like produce bags (we recycle, so always have some, keep some in cars) as a make-shift glove. I have wondered if a bit of gasoline (usually around the pump & handles) might not act as a detergent and dissolve the lipid layer on the virus particles. Gasoline is a solvent.

Grocery Store shopping: you can take with you a clean section or 5” long strip of newspaper or similar and a small roll of masking tape (or, better, bring with you 3 4” strips of masking tape stuck onto a section of waxed paper. Put the section of cleans newspaper over the rounded handle of the grocery cart and secure it with the tape. You can also use cleans newspaper from home to place on the bottom of the cart and small shelf. Dispose of properly when you have finished with the cart. Of course, you’ll still want to follow all the CDC guidelines.

I’m finding many more stores have added Apple Pay acceptance, no need to use your card and touch anything other then your own phone.

If you want to make life easier order these gloves. I already had them before Covid and I keep a bundle in my purse. I use them when I walk down to get the mail and sort it.

This morning I used them while pumping gas & I had to go inside to get something and they protected me from their door handle, and while I paid. I touched nothing outside my car.

What's nice about them is they fit well but are super easy to put on and take off, wrong side out.

They're also great for spray painting. :)

Please do not use gasoline on your hands!!!!!! Your skin absorbs it!

I’m finding many more stores have added Apple Pay acceptance, no need to use your card and touch anything other then your own phone.

Some folk don't use I-phones. Or even smart phones.

Android user here, and I'll note I live in a town with a lot of folk older than me (and some younger) who have barely gotten into the Star Trek flip phone generation. If that.

Re: gas pump handles and grocery stores.

I have a roll of paper towels stashed in the car. I find this is better than gloves for most purposes.

I use some of it for:

Handling gas pumps. (AND every gas station I've ever seen has a trash bin next to the pumps for the finished paper towel)
Handling door knobs and handles.
Handling railings if I have to to up steep steps or down just about any steps (bad knees...)

Someone suggested keeping my cell phone in a zip lock bag, so I don't have to worry about its crevices being fully sanitized. This works. The bag can be tossed out later.

I no longer travel with a purse. I'm weird, I only have ONE purse and it is of a cloth material that cannot be washed in the laundry. So I carry things in a specific pocket - yep, already I only care to wear clothing with pockets! Credit card, house keys, car keys, driver's license. The only other essential I think a purse needs to carry is a hair brush... so I keep an extra one in the car itself.

I wear jackets that can be laundered. When it was a lot colder and I could not wear my (needs to be dry-cleaned) winter jacket, I just let myself get chilly, and stuck with the items I could wash at home.

I travel with a diminishing stash of alcohol sanitary wipes. Use early and often And late, like when pulling into the driveway so the car parts of importance can be wiped down. Yes, wipe down the car keys and the entryway into my own home. Leave shopping shoes by the door and be barefoot inside. (Boots are worn in the back yard for chicken maintenance.)

Gloves... I think people get over-confident with gloves.

EDIT: A box of dusk masks, OF COURSE. Used for whenever around people.

I’m finding many more stores have added Apple Pay acceptance, no need to use your card and touch anything other then your own phone.

Not just Apple Pay. Any terminal that has the ability to accept "contactless" credit cards, as identified by this type of symbol will also accept Google Pay, Samsung Pay, etc. I can even pay with my Fitbit!

I just returned from CVS. I haven't been anywhere in weeks except for home and my office, and was really surprised to see that most people in the store were not masked. (I was.) Even the UPS guy who came in was not masked. I would think they would insist their employees be masked when in uniform in public. I left feeling depressed about our society as a whole. People don't believe the experts, or they don't give a crap. It's appalling.

I keep a supply of the thin grocery bags in my car and use those on gas pump handles. Then peel off and drop in the trash can, or turn inside out and toss in the back for later--depending on how many million are in left the bag drawer at home.

Before the virus I usually didn't even worry about being exposed to something on a gas pump handle or grocery cart. Now I take my own alcohol wipe in the grocery store, even though there's a sign stating that the buggies have been sanitized. One advantage I've found--when I can't open then thin produce bags, I moisten my finger-tips on the wipe and voilà, the layers slide apart. I used to just touch a shelf where the mister had left a bit of water, but those were the good ol' days. I started using the water trick when the produce guy at Kroger noticed me trying to open one of the bags, and said that was how he stayed amused at work--watching customers. :P

Gloves don't make you confident, not at all. They just make things easier. No wiping down cart handles or anything else when I'm out and about. I do sanitize my hands once I get home even though they've been protected.

From my understanding, wipes only work if the liquid sits on the infected area for a little bit of time before it's disinfected. I don't trust wipes to get everything off a handle or doorknob, hence the gloves. Life is to much easier that way.

If I went to the store which I'm not, one pair of gloves will work from the car to the register, and then use new one's getting my card out to swipe. Unless I need to touch my nose or something, then I get a new glove out.

Wearing gloves also allows me to do specific tasks which requires multiple fingers. Or pick up heavy items using two hands. They come in handy opening big boxes UPS delivers.

For me the only advantage of gloves would be less hand washing and hands that aren’t so dry. I have hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes in the car and clean my hands before I touch anything in the car other than the handle of the car and the disinfectant container. I have become very conscious of what gets touched when and I keep my hands away from my face.

Today I was out at Costco and a couple other places. Some moron was in Costco with mask in hand - thanks lady. I wore my new Johnny Was mask - very comfy. However I had to remove my swiffer filter layer as I was gasping for air. Once I took that thing out it was nice - easier breathing than my N95 construction mask though of course not as much protection for me. I did notice it got a little sweaty under the mask and it’s not even hot and humid yet. Most everywhere I go it’s pretty easy to keep my distance from people so less important that the mask provides little/no protection.

I don't understand how anyone can breath through mask plus filter of some sort. I can barely stand a mask but do wear one when out, of course. My hands sweat in gloves and the weather is still mild. I'm not looking forward to the warmer weather.

I think it may take getting used to but it can be done. Surgeons and other medical personnel have for years worn masks for hours at a time while doing the most exacting types of work.

Remember MASH and all the conversations done through the masks? No one ever commented that was unreasonable or unrealistic.

I have a mask story to add (not a rant , since none of my loved ones were endangered). A few weeks ago, I ran into an old friend. She lives, and works, in the small village where I grocery shop, and we were both there during designated senior hours. She recognized me, although I was wearing a mask, but she wasn't wearing one. I asked if she had a mask, and she said that she had only one, disposable, which she was saving for the days she had to take her father to his medical appointments.

I asked if she'd like me to make her a fabric mask, and she graciously accepted. I dropped it off to her the same day, with some shop towel filters, as I was on my way to drop off my father's groceries. Today, as I was leaving the grocery store, she was arriving--sans mask. I jokingly asked why she wasn't wearing her mask, and she said that she didn't think she needed it unless she was in close quarters with others. When I pointed out that by wearing a mask she was protecting others, she responded that she didn't need it because she's "been good."

I'm disappointed that I gave her one of my nice, 600TC Egyptian cotton face masks, and she doesn't wear it. :[

At least she has it if she changes her mind.

Ugh. That’s terrible, mama goose. It doesn’t sound like she’s been paying attention. It sounds like she has blinders on instead of a mask. Terrible and irresponsible.

As time goes on, maybe the 'special' people will realize that we really are all in this together. I wonder if some of the behavior isn't fear. I had a friend who was very 'Pollyanna'. If she didn't ignored' something, it didn't exist/happen/mean anything to her.

Update from CDC on contracting Covid from solid surfaces:

https://www.today.com/health/new-cdc-guidance-coronavirus-doesn-t-spread-easily-touching-surfaces-t182194

https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/how-covid-spreads.html

I was at Dollar General on Monday, waiting in line at the cashier's, six feet back standing behind the designated blue taped "X" on the floor. I had half a cart full. I had a mask on.

As I waited for the lady in front of me to receive her change and take her bags, a man standing to my right as if in line too, glanced my way and made a face, then went on ahead of me and put his items on the conveyor belt. He wasn't wearing a mask.

I was a little shocked. He either didn't want to wait for me and my cart contents to be rung up or he was teed off on account of I was waiting until the lady in front of me was completely finished and had left the line. I'm sure glad I didn't say anything to him. I believe things could get down right ugly between masked and unmasked people!

Absolutely infuriating. I am so sorry you have to endure the address stress.

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your husband.