Mask Chatter

This weekend, the political folks (well, mostly the CDU Party boss....AKK)....got to this new idea.

Federally....mandate that not only in schools would masks be fully required (teachers and kids) but also in work-places.

ARD, public TV, Channel One, did a decent description of the idea.

Right now, if you work in a store, shop, pub, restaurant, bar, or the transportation industry (buses, and trains).....you wear the mask, period.  Beyond that, it's not mandated.

I brought this up with my German wife, who marginally is agreeable to wear a mask for shopping and traveling purposes.  Her 'duty-day' is roughly six hours, and she made it fairly blunt, this would really hype her into being negative about the mask.

Me?  I'm retired, and this discussion doesn't really apply to me.  I will admit....the max I can handle is about 90 consecutive minutes of mask-wear, and then I'd have to take a break of 15 minutes. 

The union folks on this idea?  'Cheap mask solution' was uttered, and it's obvious that they don't see the benefit. 

The far-left view?  They'd like for the ultra-fancy and high-class filtered masks to be handed out (they didn't say free, but usually everything they advocate....is free).

Where this is going to go?  Well....infections are up, and the political folks are hyped up for another ban-period.  So this idea probably would be long-discussed, and probably forced down upon people by the end of September. 

Presently, the anti-Corona and anti-ban crowd numbers around 15-percent of society.  If I were guessing....some implementation like this would throw another 10-percent of the general public onto the anti-ban discussion. 

Having an effect?  Science-wise, the experts will tell you that the cheaper paper-made mask (without the filter) has marginal effect.  They won't say 'zero-effect' but its fairly close to that.  That's my favorite mask because you allows air-flow to occur and you aren't breathing the humid air that much.  Cost?  Roughly 90 cents per mask. 

The KN-95 mask, with the filter?  Roughly 3.5 Euro ($4) each.   The problem with it....while effective, you'd have to use it for a 10-hour day, and then dump it.  Figure five days a week....you'd need almost 20 Euro a week to cover that cost. 

So the next month will be curious on how this discussion comes and goes.