Are you wearing a mask during this crisis for your safety or the safety of others?

Yes. I have no idea if I’m one of those “silent spreaders” or not. I would debate you on the measure of personal safety also.

Well @ARE_you_kidding_me debate away, I’m listening, or should I say reading.

No.
I am not around anyone. Except my husband
I do wear a respirator when I formulate ceramic glazes. As for the N95? It doesn’t do much in that regard and I would not use it.

I have asthma, diabetes, and am recovering from a pulmonary embolism. If I get COVID-19, I’ll die. I’m also penniless, so I’ve constructed my own PPE.

This is my Mark I PPE, which I wear only when there is serious risk of infection, such as when I’m at a hospital. It’s made from two two-litre pop bottles, a plastic bowl, a peanut tin, some plastic tarp, and a whole lot of packing tape and hot glue. The filter contains a cotton fabric pouch filled with activated charcoal.

This is my Mark II PPE, which is my usual everyday protection, such as when I have to go to the drug store for meds, which I wear with a pair of safety goggles. It’s made from a gardening kneepad sculpted with a craft knife, and with a basic construction filter mask hotglued into it, to which I have added a filter made from a paper towel pouch filled with activated charcoal which can be disposed of after every trip. I’ve made the sides more or less airtight by hot gluing cotton makeup removal pads along the edges as required to fill gaps (such as under the eyes).

I do wear one when I go out and into stores. Aside from the point of not being a spreader if I have it, I think it also tells others that I am serious about social distancing. And there are stores that won’t let you in with out one. If I go out in the yard or on the porch, I don’t wear one.

@SQUEEKY2 N95 filters down to .1 micron. That’s pretty good. While it’s true most “cloth” masks won’t do that they will cut down quite a bit of people directly touching their faces. It’s also a better than nothing barrier for larger droplets from a close sneeze or cough.

Yes, though I’ve found it hard to breath through so I can’t wear it for an extended period of time.

Yes, when I go to a store which isn’t often.

For others.

@Dutchess_lll You are the only one that really answered my question thanks.

Yes. I don’t want to expose anybody if I am an asymptomatic carrier, and even a cloth mask with a non-woven filter will do a lot of good stopping droplets, even tiny ones.

At work, we’re made to wear them.

I have N95 and I wore it today for the first time. I do the majority of my shopping in CT and it’s now a law in CT that when you’re in the store, you have to have a cloth covering on your face.

I hope it helps me but I know it is to help not spread the infection to others.

I found it hot and stifling to breathe in. I feel sorry for medical professionals who have to wear it all the time.

Yes. My county is now requiring the use of a mask or some kind of face covering in public.

Neither. Just pleasing people, and blending in. I only have the one used one and a tube scarf that I will wash every week if I use as a face mask.

I wear an N95 that has a respiratory-exchange valve, for the safety of others.

The exchange valve allows me to expel my CO2 from the mask, so that my breathing is fairly comfortable. The valve has a grill that limits the flap opening to about 10º, so that my exhalations are directed downward.

@Brian1946 That’s the kind I’ve been using as well. My parents bought several during the recent California wildfires.

@Demosthenes

I bought mine for basically the same reason- for protection from the smoke of the late 2017 wildfires.

YES. If I go inside where other people are I wear a mask.

It’s very important that we make masks an expectation. We have to assume everyone is sick and contagious.

The more culturally normal it becomes to wear a mask the safer we will all be.

I dug out an old Planet of the Apes mask & wore that to the grocers one time last week.
I of course bought bananas.

I wear one to give others a feeling of safety in my presence. And to make a fashion statement!

I wear them for both. Who knows how much they help who. Better safe than sorry.

On a rare occasion if I out for a long period or depending where I am going. My sister, who is a nurse, gave me a mask, just in case.

Quick questions. Does your grocery store require masks and provide a hand sanitizer washing station? Or any thing else? Like arrows and one way isles?

@RedDeerGuy1 If you are asking me, They don’t require masks for customers, I think most employees seem to be using them. Not sure on their policy. They do have sanitizer if you want it yes. Employees are always wiping down carts after each use. And yes also arrows with one ways isles, with limiting how many can go inside. This just started not long ago. Though getting in lately has been almost instead, not many seem to be shopping at this time. I think most have their stuff now.
The one way isles make it inconvenient for sure, I am not sure how enforced they really are though. I know of a few that mistakenly went the wrong way. Hard to keep track where to walk and have you mind on what you are getting.

Both. Though probably higher utility for reducing lateral dispersion of large droplets.

(N95 with Co2 exchange valve.)

@RedDeerGuy1 None of the places I shop at require the customers to wear masks. Some do require the employees to. One of “my” stores put up plexiglass squares that go between cashiers and customers. Also in the cashier queue there are squares to stand on to be the proper distance apart.

I wear a mask both for my own safety and for others’.

It reduces my ability to respirate out virus, and it reinforces the message that everybody should be wearing them.

Yes we also have the pexiglass. I would assume you are talking of Safeway.

All the stores here have the acrylic or Plexiglass or whatever it is. They’ve had it for a few weeks now (NY/CT).

The store I am talking about with Plexiglass is Kroger.

I do not.

Although to be fair I have been tested.

Other than than catch a few (but not all) of your infected droplets (assuming you are infected) when you cough or sneeze, it is a silly exercise.

Wash your hands, don’t rub your eyes, don’t pick your nose, or pick your teeth with fingernails.

Interesting take on why people don’t.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/06/health/why-people-dont-wear-masks-wellness-trnd/index.html