The New Jersey Governor – Murphy - has issued an order requiring all passengers on New Jersey Transit and private carriers to wear a mask beginning at 8pm on April 12th. The order applies to all trains, buses, light rail vehicles and para-transit.
NJT will restrict the number of passengers to 50 percent of capacity to promote social distancing.
NJT, as well as private carriers, will be required to provide each employee with gloves and face coverings.
There are other requirements pertaining to restaurants and bars where patrons are walking into them to pick-up an order as opposed to picking up the order curbside.
The governor admits that there are not enough masks for everyone, so a bandana, towel, etc. will be satisfactory.
The idea is to keep persons that may be pre-symptomatic or asymptomatic from infecting others. Until a week ago the CDC claimed that masks, with the exceptions of N95s, are marginally effective in stopping the spreading of COVID-19. Now they are recommending the wearing of masks on a voluntary basis. If they really work, I wonder why the CDC did not recommend that they be mandatory?
A government that orders people to wear masks when there are not enough to go around is irresponsible. Or just plain stupid!
Maybe the CDC decided that a marginally effective mask was better than nothing. I’m not sure I understand your last sentence. Didn’t you point out that a mask was voluntary?
I was referencing the Governor of New Jersey, who has made the wearing of masks or knock-offs on New Jersey Transit, as well as other places, manditory.
The CDC switched its long held position and is recommending them on a voluntary basis. Although I am not normally a betting man, I would wager a dollar or two that the CDC switched its position because of political pressure.
Here’s the fact people don’t understand about the masks, they aren’t to protect the wearer from getting the virus, they’re to protect the wearer from SPREADING the virus. By not projecting the droplets into the air when you breath if you’re asymptomatic or pre-symptomatic you prevent others around you from potentially getting the virus. It’s also good to remember to not sneeze into the mask you’re wearing, though you can cough into it to prevent projectile expulsion of the droplets.
Was it really that hard to understand why it’s voluntary and why the CDC waited to make the suggestion?
Since it’s been known that people can spread the virus before showing symptoms, it seems to be a no-brainer that wide spread mask wearing could be a big help. Cloth masks are certainly not medical grade, but any reduction in transmission rate early in an epidemic can be a big help.
Makes me wonder how much better NYC/NJ would have been if wearing of masks was strongly encouraged in late February or early March.
I have not left the Yeshiva since 6 days ago, and before that there was a gap of five dqys. When I went to a drugstore and two food stores 6 days ago I wore a face-mask given me a fellow student (married with an apartment on the campus) who is also a health-care worker and still works, wearing a face mask. Today I planned to do the same thing, but anoher married student with car offered to do my shopping, and I took him up on the offer. He wears a face-maks outside the Yeshiva. As of today, it is mandatory.
All the other single students are at their homes. The Yeshiva office is now also my bedroom. The amount of office work now is minimal and does not interfere with my use, and the office has its own John.
I went to the bank to day as I had some checks to deposit and wanted to cash two others, there was a line…if you want to call it that, everyone was standing about 10 feet from each other. Fortunately the ATM didn’t have a line and the two checks I was depositing were from class action settlements, but I never did cash the other two checks because I’m 1: not going to wait in line and 2. not doing “social distancing” or going to wear a mask. If they start mandating masks where I work I’m just going to tell them send me home and pay me, I’ll refuse(it’s my right to refuse to wear one, just like it’s my right to not socially distance[there’s that damned oxymoronic idea again] myself at work). Please don’t tell me to think of others either, I do, if they want to stay away from me, then go for it.
Your employer has the right to require employees to wear protective equipment. If you don’t want to wear one, you have the right to go home, but your employer has no obligation to ever pay you again.
When I was working, I had occasions to drive a fork lift, and I had to wear shoes with steel toe caps–which would have done nothing to protect my toes if they were run over.
With that form of thought - you would have been surprised just how much protection to your toes steel toe boots provide versus regular shoes. However, the steel toes won’t protect the arch of your foot should that be the part you run over.
The best (and heaviest) safety shoes that I ever wore were required in the steel supply warehouse where I worked for a summer. They had steel toes, steel soles and steel instep guards over the laces.
I highly doubt they’ll mandate we wear masks though, it’s to difficult to communicate with customers through them and we have to be precise in our interactions. Also, it’s not like we’re actually interacting with anyone right now anyways so there’s really no need to wear PPE.
They have us cleaning our break room and work area all day and I was assigned to do that once, suggested they might not want to do that again unless they wanted a half ass job.
You see, there’s people out there that worry about getting this virus and there’s people that don’t…I fall under the category of people that don’t care, I wouldn’t be surprised if I already had it and didn’t know, since I worked alongside some that had been exposed.
