welcome to the organic green doctor blog

i am a family physician who was diagnosed with
early mild cognitive impairment(mci) amnestic type on december 21, 2010
this is a precursor to alzheimers disease
because of this diagnosis i have opted to stop practicing medicine
this blog will be about my journey with this disease
please feel free to follow me along this path
i will continue blogging on organic gardening, green living,
solar power, rainwater collection, and healthy living
i will blog on these plus other things noted to be interesting

Tuesday, May 11, 2021

covid 19-my covid masks

COVID 19-MY COVID MASKS

last year when the pandemic started in march it wasnt recommended that we start wearing masks
i wonder if i had been wearing a mask if i would have gotten sick last march with what i think was covid 19

after my quarantine for 3 weeks until i had been without symptoms for a week they recommended we wear masks
i had left over n95 masks that were given out when the fire ash was so bad around here during the fires a couple of years ago
or
should i say a lifetime ago

masks were hard to come by at that time
i had ordered a couple online but didnt like them plus they didnt have a metal nose thingy to keep my glasses from foggy


it was at that time i accumulated these 6 masks
some like the clothespins i wrote about yesterday are what i call heirloom masks

the top one is a disposable n95 mask
i have several of these
some for mr hudson
some for mr n
some for high risk sites like traders joes pharmacy etc
these n95 are disposed of when they get overused

the others are reusable
mr hudsons nanny made them for me during the time when folks were chipping in and making them
they are 2 layered with an insert area for a filter
so they can be 3 layered
second best to the n95 masks

the blue ones are made from blue jean material
each has a metal nose clip sewn into place
as these clips get wore out i simply remove them from a small slot and replace them with a new metal strip
i ordered these metal strips online

i wear a mask once then hand wash it
the light blue one is my favorite one
i usually wear it from other condo to our garage or other areas
its thicker and probably works better than the others
but
if im hiking or working in the garden i like to use the other blue ones
the light brown one has farm animals on it
i commonly wear that one in the garden

after a year these cloth reusable washable masks are holding up well
i have had to tie a loop in each ear strap to make them tighter
if your glasses are fogging up the mask isnt working like it should 

so 
i am glad i ended up with these heirloom masks
they have done their job

now is the question

when do i give them up 
maybe
never

i realize except for the illness last march 2020 before i started wearing a mask and being better at hand sanitation that i and even my wife she has not gotten ill with any upper respiratory sickness or any gi sickness over this last year

maybe ill just keep on wearing one to be safe
i may live longer if i do

really i shouldnt have to wear a mask at all now 
except
remember none of this vaccine stuff is 100% effective
i always say nothing in medicine is 100%
you dont want to be that 1% person
wearing a mask is icing on the cake
statistically my wife she and i shouldnt catch covid 19
its unlikely we will give it to anyone else

i cant say that if you are unvaccinated
you are at risk if you arent vaccinated 
probably forever

there will probably be an upsurge this fall and winter
a small bump if enough of us get vaccinated
a large surge if enough of yall dont get vaccinated

i wear my n95 in high risk situations like the grocery story pharmacy doctors office etc or if we decide to go out to eat somewhere which we havent done yet

i will continue to wear a n95 around mr hudson or around anyone who could give me something i can transfer to mr hudson

i wear my light blue masks for quirky trips like to the garage or gas station or the bank or to the garden

i wear my other heirloom masks to work in the garden or to the beach or hiking or walking etc

the only time i am unmasked is if i am inside with my wife she or if am gardening by myself or if we are at the beach with no one in sight

one day i wont do all this
ive decided ill do it on my own schedule
maybe i will always mask up

i dont mind wearing a mask
its such a simple thing to do

i volunteer with folks who have no idea what i look like and i have no idea what they look like

here in our county today there are no patients in icu with covid 19
we are headed to the yellow tier
next month the state will be completely open

the state did it right
they followed the science
our state has a huge surplus some of which will be returned back to cities and citizens
many will get a state stimulus check

12 year olds and older will be able to get shots starting probably today
soon by this early fall 2-11 year olds will be added to the list
that covers a lot of those unvaccinated people 

the only ones left to be unvaccinated soon are those who cant get vaccinated and those who wont do it

hopefully
those numbers will be less than 20%
we dont want a another surge next fall 

when the final count of how many died from covid 19 in the us is done
sadly that true number will be almost
1 million americans

please
get your vaccination 
wear a mask per recommendations
wash your hands
follow guidelines for vaccinated folks 

if you are unvaccinated you will always be at risk
make sure those around you if you are unvaccinated have a vaccine and are wearing a mask

for
now
i will stick with my heirloom masks

the organicgreen doctor 

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