Who was that masked woman?

I went to the dentist today for my twice-yearly cleaning. Sandy, who works for my dentist, was wearing her blue uniform with a white mask. Uh oh. “Sandy, are you sick?” I asked.

She replied, with a little sniffle slightly muffled by the mouth and nose mask, “I have a cold. It’s almost gone.”  ‘Almost gone‘ is supposed to make me feel better, as if the germs hiding behind the mask are somehow diminished by age.

How old is a germ before it gets pregnant and begets other germs? How old are germs when they die? Sandy didn’t have an answer. But she had the right idea and wasn’t afraid to use it.

The mask. It’s an idea whose time has come.

No one likes to get sick with cold or flu or whatever else is communicable from mouth to nose contact or hand to mouth to nose contact, so a mask which covers up the mouth and nose and diminishes germ exploration is a very good idea. That’s the longest sentence I’ve written this year, though the year is yet young.

The problem with a mask is simple. Most people don’t want to wear the mask. Those of us without cold or flu but within proximity of those with cold or flu don’t mind if they wear a mask, though I suppose we without cold or flu could just as easily don said mask to help prevent spread of the aforementioned germs to our own mouths and nose. Gloves would suffice to cover the hands and prevent them from spreading the previously mentioned germs.

A mask which covers mouth and nose actually collects germs. Removing the mask requires fingers, which require a hand, and hands and fingers are also contributors to germ travel.

I propose a new law. Mask and gloves. If you have a cold or flu or anything resembling same, you should be required to wear a mask when in public or near anyone else remotely resembling human (covers children, spouses, and old people who claim immunity from everything). And gloves.

The mask and gloves. It’s two ideas whose time has come.