2020 - 2 - You can't be too careful !
by world citizen - 14:25 on 26 July 2020
A couple of days ago, I sat in a meeting of a local committee about the re-opening of a public building after the lockdown. Safety was the all-eclipsing focus of the meeting; safety from the Covid virus as well as safety from pretty much every other conceivable threat. Some of the measures were quite sensible, like flushing-through the water supply of the building in case of any build-up of legionalla bacteria in water that had been stagnant for 4 months. Other ideas were less sensible and rather excessive. Yet a certain amount of overreaction is understandable under the circumstances. So I went along and agreed for peace sake with the repeatedly expressed sentiment "you can't be too careful!"
During the ongoing discussion about Covid safety, my mind wandered off to more pleasurable pastures. At some point I became aware that face masks were being discussed; a topic that irks me for several reasons that I will not go into now. My attention roused, I listened.
The chairman explained how we can all make sure that our face masks give us adequate protection against Covid. The procedure is as follows: While wearing the mask, you try to blow out the flame of a cigarette lighter. If the flame goes out, the mask is no use. If the flame stays on, the mask is o.k. This scientific advice is apparently available through Facebook.
All the masked, suitably distanced people around me nodded in enthusiastic agreement. I wanted to shake my head or scream something at them. Yet I managed to sit absolutely still, thankful that any expression of horror on my face would remain hidden safely behind my mask. When people go into this level of "you can't be too careful!", disagreeing with them is dangerous. Even my failure to nod might still get me burned at the stake.
As for getting burned: What might happen if you hold a flame close to a piece of highly flammable material like paper or muslin covering you mouth, and then you inhale vigourously prior to trying to blow it out? Exactly !
There is a small consolation for Facebook users who are gormless enough to try this at home: Thanks to all of us now having to wear face masks, their burned and horribly disfigured faces will not make them look different in a crowd.
But I suppose I should not judge my fellow committee members too harshly. The lockdown is likely to have fried all our brains to an extent. Who knows what nonsense I will come out with next ?
Add your comment
