Why should you wear a mask during covid-19?

Masks are a must - don't you agree? Not everybody does. An anti-mask writer on Facebook wrote that masks could no more catch a minuscule virus than a tennis net.

Naturally the pro-mask brigade responded.

Firstly, the virus may be tiny, but it is carried from place to place in water or mist when you breathe out.

Secondly, as the advertisements in Singapore say, my mask protects you, your mask protects me.

How? A great diagram shows the effect of two people wearing masks, one person wearing a mask, and nobody wearing a mask.



Finally, the facts speak for themselves. Look at the figures for a country such as Singapore. The government early on provided at last a free disposable paper mask for every household (so one person can go out in a mask).

More recently they provided a new improved fabric washable and reusable mask for every citizen. This has reduced the death rate significantly.

I signed up for their app and I am sent the latest figures on my phone. 27 deaths. Not in a day. Altogether.



Here is a free mask supplied by the government in Singapore. It is re-usable and washable.

In Singapore signs by the lifts (elevators) tell you to wear a mask. 

Now i set off for the swimming pool. But first I have to stand behind the yellow line on the floor. When beckoned forward, I go to have my temperature taken. I write down my temperature in the log book with my phone number in case I need to be contacted.

Useful Websites on Covid-19

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/07/masks-to-be-compulsory-in-shops-in-uk.html

Go.gov.sg/moh

(gov for government, sg for singapore, and moh stands for ministry of health)

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-06/aerosol-transmission-of-covid-19/12425852

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext#%20

https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2020/jun/15/facebook-posts/claim-n95-masks-cant-stop-covid-19-particles-due-s/

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2020/06/21/880832213/yes-wearing-masks-helps-heres-why

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https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/07/why-should-you-wear-mask-during-covid-19.html

About the author, Angela Lansbury

I and my family have lived in the UK, Spain, the USA and Singapore. I am a travel writer and photographer and teacher of English A level and English as a foreign language.Please come to a Toastmasters International Club where the English clubs have a language evaluator or grammarian.  We also have French, German, Mandarin Chinese, Tamil and other language clubs based in Singapore and many more online around the world which because of Covid-19 are now meeting online.

I am Immediate Past President and current PR of Braddell Heights Advanced, meeting the first Wednesday of the month, Usually on Zoom, sometimes on Learncool. But the other Wednesdays have workshops on app learncool.sg

Our other regular meeting date is the third Saturday of the month in the afternoon 2 pm to 5 pm.

The president  is Faith.

For meetings learncool it is quicker to type and easier to remember: 

 tinyurl.com/BHACOOL

Useful Websites On Speaking and Languages

https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
translate.google.com
duolingo.com

https://www.duolingo.com/enroll/vi/en/Learn-Vietnamese

https://www.facebook.com/groups/polygotcommunity/

Other Useful Posts By Angela Lansbury Author

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogs

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/04/how-to-say-thank-you-in-several.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/05/introducing-yourself-in-english-spanish.html
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2020/01/second-set-of-portuguese-words.html 

Please share links to your favourite posts

Interestesting and useful posts on travel and tips on learning languages and recognizing accents

Is Covid-19 like the 1918 flu and WW2?

Seattle, USA, police wearing masks in 1918. Out of copyright photo from Wikipedia.

I was asked, is Covid-19 like the 1918 flu and is it like WW2.

In a few important ways yes, in other imortant ways, totally different.

Personal Story
Let's start with the 1918 flu. I have a personal interest in this. My late mother, living in London, UK, often told me how her mother, Hetty, had phoned her brother, Nat, in South Africa. Nat, newly emigrated, newly married, was upstairs in bed, with the flu.

Nat ran downstairs to answer the phone. He dropped dead.

My mother's lesson from this was, always have a phone by the bed so that when you are ill you don't stress yourself by getting up.

1918 Flu Fatalities
The Spanish flu, also known as the 1918 flu pandemic, was an unusually deadly influenza pandemic caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus. Lasting from spring 1918 through spring or early summer 1919, it infected 500 million people – about a third of the world's population at the time.^[2] The death toll is estimated to have been anywhere from 17 million to 50 million, and possibly as high as 100 million, making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history.^[3]

Now, were the covid-19 and 1918 flue situations in any way alike?

Yes, the 1918 Flu and Covid-19 flu were in some ways alike.
They affected many countries. (Both were classed as a pandemic - pan meaning many)

SAME!
We should learn lessons from the past.
1918 flu
Similarities
1 1918 Coronavirus
It is a coronavirus, same family of viruses.
2 1918 Pandemic
Both pandemics were moved from country to country by people.
(In 1918 by soldiers deployed and returning home).
3 Masks
The public wore masks. (You can see photos.)
4 Killed by Cures & Preventatives
The 1918 had one supposed aid, aspirin. Unfortunately many died from overdoses.
5 Shortages of Coffins, Morgues Burial Plots, Staff

Now, let's see the opposite point of view.
No, Unlike.
1 No vaccine
(Vaccines first appeared in the 1940s.)

Death rate in 2020 Not Yet known - but here's a thought.
In 1918 the world population went down due to deaths - but recovered.

WWII
Yes, Like
1 Censorship
Censorship of casuality figures to maintain morale.
2 Foreigners Segregated, Imprisoned or Attacked
Perceived citizens of enemy countries were attacked or imprisoned and tried to conceal their identity.
3 Food Shortages
Food shortages and ration books.(Rationing in the UK continued until 1952)
Alliances.
4 WWII Communication only by radio.
2020 we can meet on the internet. Work on the internet. Contact family and friend on the internet. Speak to the dying in hospital on the internet.
5 Cnsorship of identities of the dead
UK Postwar newsreels, soon censored when audience members saw dead bodies of loved ones and created disturbance in the audience.

No unlike
1 WW2 countries outside the zone.
Switzerland and Ireland opted out of WW2.
2 Complaints
People in 2020 are complaining about stay home. However usually at least one person can go out to shop or exercise. (In some places not if over 70 years of age. Rules vary from country to country. In WWII in the UK there were curfews at night, no lights, to not attract bombers. Petrol shortages and rationing.
 
Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu#/media/File:Spanish_flu_in_1918,_Police_officers_in_masks,_Seattle_Police_Department_detail,_from-_165-WW-269B-25-police-l_(cropped).jpg

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. (Not related to the actress.)
Author of twenty books including: Quick Quotations; Who Said What When, Wedding Speeches & Toasts.
See books and profiles on Lulu.com and Amazon. Also watch videos on YouTube.
See other posts destinations, online events, singers, songwriters, statues and learning languages.

If you want to learn to speak the Queen's English, or Received Pronunciation. join me at my online toastmasters club,
Braddell Heights Advanced. Wednesdays, 7-9 Singapore time which is seven hours ahead of London, England.
I am also a member of
Singapore Online.9-12 pm, Singapore time, Fridays. In 2019-2020 I am also a member of
Tampines Changkat Advanced.
Harrovians, London. Tiarel, Singapore.
Toastmasters International Find a Club
https://www.toastmasters.org/find-a-club
https://books.google.com.sg/books?id=upSEBwAAQBAJ&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=quick+quotations
lulu.com/shop/angela-lansbury/who-said-what-when/paperback/product-21713991
learncool.sg
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