A friend of mine is a teacher in Arkansas (yeah lol) and they just came out with their guidelines for what could possibly be the most ridiculous and terrible school activity during COVID: School music programs.
This is…absolutely incredible stuff, folks.
Musician group size should be sufficiently limited to maintain at least 6 feet between each person,
including staff. For choral musicians a minimum of 12 feet is required.
Masks are required for all singers.
Wind instrument musicians must wear a mask with a slit or a flap for the mouthpiece. Flutists and piccoloists can slide the instrument in the side of the mask.
Bell covers are highly recommended as “masks” for wind instruments. Bell covers can be made of multi-layered high denier nylon material and provide a barrier for aerosols.
Distance completely around that of flutists, piccoloists and choral musicians should be 12 feet because of the intensity of the airstream.
Trombones should have an additional three feet of distancing making their space 9 feet by 6
feet.
That sucks. I have been putting off going to the dmv. I recently moved to a different state and since my license expired they require me to take a driving test. Probably keep riding dirty as I don’t feel like sitting inside a car next to random person.
Oh sorry about that. Fire ended up going in the opposite direction and we’re safe as can be. It’s up in the mountains now about 40 miles away still burning away from us. It’s called the apple fire.
It’s currently burning away from homes and most evacuations have been lifted. It was stressful for about a day or two but after that it was clear it wasn’t coming our way.
The clouds are way smaller so it looks like the firefighters are doing a great job getting it contained.
Edit: I really appreciate you checking in on me, made me feel good.
That’s good. Assuming you don’t have stubble or a beard it’s likely a good fit. If you take a deep breath and can feel it pressing on your face it has a good seal. Fortunately the efficacy for properly fitted 95s for other airborne viruses is pretty damn good.
I’ve started wearing mine when I go grocery shopping rather than my regular mask. Somehow once masks became mandatory stores stopped regulating how many shoppers were allowed at one time. My normal grocery store is a fucking zoo again.
I have 7 N95s fitted from work. I hang them up on my balcony when I come home (it’s protected from rain and gets the most direct sunlight). So each mask airs out at least a week before I wear it again. I also keep the N95 covered with a cloth or procedure mask. I’ve always changed out of street cloths once I get home. If I didn’t live in a condo I would probably change in a garage for covid, but since that isn’t an option I just chuck my street cloths in the laundry and shower as soon as I walk through the door.
Edit: oh and I don’t wear personal scrubs at work anymore. I’m not sure what I would do if I was wearing almost certainly contaminated scrubs to my house.
Have any of the dipshits proposed that those of us who care should wear two masks, as that would protect us from those who won’t wear one? This feels like the kind of unassailable logic they would embrace.
it’s ridiculous because it’s way too strict* to allow for effective band/choir practice because if you’re ever played a woodwind instrument or sung in a choir, you’re reading these and laughing in disbelief.
*Obviously it’s not too strict in the grand scheme of things…but the real point is, having these classes like this is ridiculous and pointless, and this serves to demonstrate why they shouldn’t be back in school at all.
My friend works for the FL Dept of Transportation as an accountant. Their offices are closed until probably the end of this year, maybe longer. She’s been working remotely since March. But THE SPICE MUST FLOW IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS
Don’t need an n95, and it will be harder than you think to use it for an entire flight. A simple mask you wear properly all the time could be better than an n95.
