There’s a hotdog stand (they sell many things, but “hot dog stand” is descriptive) in my town, right on the main drag (it’s a small town). It’s one of those trailer/building things, could be hooked up to a truck and moved, save that this one never goes anywhere. This “main drag” is actually one of the those Big Highway Things(1) that run state-to-state and carry a lot of traffic. Cars, SUVs, trucks small and big, deliveries local and long-distance, tankers, RVs, diesels of all sorts, etc, running up and down the highway all day long, not 20 feet from the hot dog stand.
The folks who run the hot dog stand have a rather adamant (and rude) “no smoking” sign on their truck/building. They also were among the first in this town to go totally freak-a-zoid over the CoV outbreak (I’m not saying they were wrong, just saying that suddenly CoV became what their every action was about). Masks, don’t come closer than 6′ to the order desk, disinfecting the beeper fobs they use to let you know your order is ready, handling the beeper fobs in a “clean rag” even while wearing latex gloves and still disinfecting them between customers.
Would almost be hazmat level 2 or 3, save for being right next to (and down-wind from) a total smog, dust and grit cesspool.
That’s what’s wrong with this for me: they are right next to a constant, chronic source of major carcinogens, respiratory irritants and even deadly toxins, breathing them in all day long every single day. Car and vehicle exhaust, that is(2). Then there’s the new added novelty of the toxic “sanitizer” being used with great enthusiasm(3) on hands and every surface, but we don’t need to go there just now.
Carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide. Sulfur dioxide. Unburnt and partially burnt hydrocarbons. Nitrogen monoxide. Nitrogen dioxide. Other sulfur compounds, as well, since diesel is legally allowed to be “dirty,” which means less refined (so costs less to produce). All sorts of garbage could be in that stuff and that “garbage” can create the darndest compounds when burnt or partially burnt(4) along with hydrocarbons or those nifty, crazy “fuel additives” some gas companies put in their consumer offerings.
You sit next to a highway all day long, yet worry about the occasional whiff of 2nd hand cigarette smoke? Your priorities are whacked, to say the least.
By the way, face masks won’t stop car exhaust, nor most pollens. Nor would they stop a truly air-borne pathogen. At this time, the experts argue over whether Corona(5) is actually air borne or just “droplet borne.”
Just saying there’s a contradiction here (or several) that apparently hasn’t been thought about at all, at all. So you might be aware that in some cases at least, CoV might be distracting from a more immediate threat.
What else in our world might be a distraction, maybe even a dangerous one?
Just my thoughts. I make no recommendations here.
(1) Yes, that’s sarcasm. đŸ™‚
(2) Plus bits of rubber that are constantly being cast off, bits so small they stay in the air for a time. Plus oil, plus the general constant stream of disturbed air, which some scientists are finally beginning to study (that is, the effect on global and local weather, and other possible effects, just from cars zipping along faster than the wind does). This also means pollens, insects, dust and rocks being pulled along, zipped along, rocketed out… etc, from a powerful stream of traffic / air . exhaust.
(3) Yes, “sanitizer” is toxic. It kills things, right? Not “harmful to humans,” supposedly, but then cigarettes were once thought not harmful (“more doctors smoke camels than any other cigarette” — not making it up!). Use the sanitizer if you must, but don’t over do it (my opinion only — I’m no credentialed expert, and I freely admit that everything has it’s proper time and place of use). No studies on the long term side-effects have been done on this … stuff, that this author is aware of.
(4) Partially burnt is sometimes the very, very worst sorts of toxins. A perfect engine, burning totally clean fuel, with the right amount of oxygen, puts out nothing but CO2 and water vapor for exhaust (plus heat, of course — lots of heat). But no actual car or truck on the road is that well designed or has access to that quality of fuel. Add to that a car/truck that is badly tuned, is using poor grade fuel (like diesel) or that was never designed all that well to begin with and you’ve got just the nastiest stuff you can think of going into the air right next to your hot dog stand where you and your children are having lunch (next to the toxic hand sanitizer). Then there’s the smell, which bothers me, but — honestly — most folks don’t seem to notice.
(5) Up to this point, I’ve been saying “CoV” in the article, not “SARS-CoV-2,” or “2019 novel corona virus” or what ever the correct technical name is this week (it’s been changing, as understanding of the thing increases, so I’m not really being sarcastic there), not even “corona” because I’m actually (and subtly) referring to the fact that this is an entire family of viruses, and, in fact, the primary strain has mutated already (per several articles reported in DDN News, for instance) since it became a media super-star, and there’s more than one strain out there, anyway. Also, the media has you all programmed to hear “corona” when I say “CoV” and “CoV” is quicker to type… (yes, that’s sarcasm đŸ™‚ ).