I'm pretty sure this won't be your lightbulb comment. 😉

Indiana is not requiring masks, however some individual businesses are requiring them to enter. I am not wearing a mask. I am not a completely low risk healthy young person. I am middle age, overweight, probably medium risk, caring for my husband who is high risk, and trying to make sure my very high risk parents have everything they need in their home. To be truthful, going to the grocery store the last couple months has caused me anxiety because of the empty shelves and zombie-like customers shuffling through in their masks. If I added a mask that made it hard for me to breathe, it might be a full blown panic attack for me. 🙁 So, I am avoiding wearing a mask.

My daughter got her first job a couple weeks ago working in a local cafe, so I have made several masks for her to wear, since they are required for the staff. She is fine with them, and sees them a way to add a fun fashion element. 😉 The only thing she doesn't like is that they make her glasses fog up.

I think that if it makes you more comfortable to wear a mask, then go for it. I believe that requiring them is another overreach of government, but it is what it is, and there are bigger fights to be fought at this point. I am thankful that Indiana is slowly opening up. Elizabeth and I went to Hobby Lobby the day it opened back up in the town near us and it was the best day I had in a long time. 😉

I am resting in the knowledge that God has my days numbered, virus or no, and when it is my time, a mask is not going to stop it. If I do get ill, then hopefully I will have some immunity built up to it later.

@amanda

Oh, you never know where that lightbulb comes from! I've had them come on when someone has made the most mundane, seemingly throw away comment. It's helpful to hear any perspectives because there is really nowhere to discuss this without people melting down one way or the other. I trust my readers enough to ask this question.

Hobby Lobby. Sigh. I've said a couple of times I would love to go to Hobby Lobby.

I really don't know what would make me more comfortable. Honestly. David has done all the grocery shopping so I haven't had to make that choice.

There is something about all of this that simply doesn't add up or make sense.

Sallie

I am staying home, and probably will be for most of the summer, with a new baby due soon.  My husband wears a mask and uses hand sanitizer, but we haven’t been wiping down all our groceries or other things like that.

My state has just opened up enough to allow people back into stores, and is saying to wear masks where social distancing cannot be practiced.  I would wear one if I went to a store, but I would not expect much protection from it.  I’d be wearing it mostly for social reasons.

I think the masks help mostly by slowing down and spreading out the virus particles coming out of a person (who may not know that they are contagious).  But most people who are out in public won’t be contagious.  Also, not everyone has a mask to wear, and the most vulnerable people really should be staying at home still.  So I don’t think masks should be mandatory for casual public interactions.  But I too would very much prefer that my health care providers wear them, for now!  There is more risk of infection there than there is in just walking past someone in a store.

We have dentist appointments coming up, which is going to be a challenge. It takes over two hours to get our whole family through, and this time we’re going to have to minimize waiting room exposure somehow.

I do wear a homemade mask for midwife appointments (in my home), along with the rest of my family, by her request and for practice, while she wears a respirator and gloves. She left a set of monitoring tools here with us.

Posted by: @sallie

I have to be honest. I cannot make up my mind about this entire part of the pandemic. I read and listen to a number of people and am receiving very conflicting messages. I'm curious what your thinking is.

Which of these would best describe you and why?

• My state requires a mask and I'm wearing one.
• My state requires a mask and I'm not wearing one.
• My state doesn't require a mask, but I am wearing one.
• My state doesn't require a mask and I'm not wearing one.
• I am just staying home and avoiding people all the time.

 

I realize there are a lot of issues at play here - health, rights, etc. I'm looking at this from a primarily pragmatic standpoint. For example, I have needed to go to the chiropractor for probably two months. I simply did not want to go and expose myself so I have sucked it up and just dealt with the discomfort. David went last week for the first time in a few months, wearing a mask. The chiropractor and staff were not wearing masks. I was considering going, but now I'm even less inclined to go because the chiro isn't wearing a mask.

I will be the first to admit that I lean way on the side of caution. For example, once Thanksgiving hits we drastically reduce how much we are out and about in crowds so we avoid the flu and all of the other winter crud that proliferates once the holiday season sets in. We cut way back on public stuff from late November through March. So we were already a hand-washing, crowd-avoiding, hand-sanitizer-carrying family. But we don't skip going to the chiropractor during flu season if we really need to go (although we are extra careful about germs while there).

What is your thinking about all this? What is the biggest factor for you personally?

No judgement from me at all, even if you are going against your state's guidelines. I really just want to hear what others are thinking and doing. I'm still looking for that statement that makes the lightbulb go on for me and gives me clarity on this issue because I haven't found it to this point.

I'm in category 4.  Our governor initially mandated masks, but rescinded shortly after.  I don't wear a mask except at work because my employer requires them.  I agree that it doesn't make sense.  I have made masks for myself, my family and for friends and coworkers who ask me to make them.  People have been very kind, and even reimbursed me for them, which is nice.  

                            Cheryl

@sallie Actually, my state strongly encourages a mask.  But my city mandates one outside any retail establishment and inside one otherwise you can be fined $999 per infraction and/or year in jail.  So far the police have not fined anyone, but have gotten plenty of calls from people "snitching" or causing fights over it.  The mandate/fined and snitching really bother me.  I wear one only for myself as I am high risk and around others that are high risk and elsewhere if I am out which is not very often and don't want my family to suffer because I wouldn't wear it.  It is uncomfortable and hot for me and feels like a muzzle.   There are small businesses that will require it and out of respect for them as I don't want them fined either, I will wear it. We do grocery pick up and delivery depending on the store.  My husband will go to Home Depot and Lowes and for volunteer work at church.  Other than that, we might be outside or something else.  

I was a clean freak in my house and with my groceries for a while.  Then felt it wasn't worth it because I have to move on and live my life.  I can't live in fear, only be wisely cautious with what I do and where I go.  It has been freeing to let that go.  Because we still have a teenage at home, I think through my decisions in that lens and what God might want me to do.  I do need to see the chiropractor and need a massage and haven't made a decision on those yet.  We have other doctor appointment we should be taking care of as well.

Despite the restrictions in my state, campgrounds are opening up and we will go camping in a few weeks renting a trailer as that is what they require.  We need to be somewhere else besides at home.  We need to get fresh air, enjoy each other and God's creation!  This helps give us something fun to look forward to seeing as we had to cancel our trip to AZ in March because of COVID.

I feel like mentally being stuck at home has been hard and my "other life" was so long ago.  At times it feels like I am in some other universe.  It does seem like the world has turned on it's head and the are also darker things at play here. Finding the truth in the maze of information is frustrating.  So mentally at times I take a break and try to put my focus elsewhere.  At least we always have the TRUTH and PROMISES of GOD we can always rely on!

Soooo....... the mask thing. That is a giant discussion in my homeschool co-op.

Our state doesn't require them, they're encouraged, but not required in many places.

There is a local strip mall that is attempting to claim requiring masks is required by city ordinance, but it's not. That was a super long discussion last park day.

I have no problem with them requiring a mask in their store, that's their right. I do have a problem with them lying and saying it's a required.

As to me, I'm not really wearing a mask. I carry one to put on if I need to. In my local area, the infection rate for our county has been less than 1% of the population of my city. My city is maybe half of the population of my county.... So, it's not a huge infection rate here. If our area had a bigger infection rate I would probably wear a mask, but at this point it doesn't seem to be needed.

I also feel undecided about this one. My state isn't requiring them, thankfully. I wear one some of the time but not all the time, because honestly it drives me crazy. I can understand the logic behind wearing one inside stores (I don't agree with wearing them outside), but I also am suspicious about a lot of the information currently being touted by the media. My mask is uncomfortable and I don't feel like I can breathe well or fully when wearing it, which makes me paranoid.