How to Safely Wear a Mask: Watch This Video Now
A change of scenery was needed. Limited in what we felt were safe options given the frightening uptick in COVID-19 cases, we decided to head up to see our “cousin” (wink-wink-nudge-nudge) Ralph Lauren at his massive, breathtakingly-beautiful ranch just off the San Juan Skyway. But darn it all, he wasn’t home and being strangers (long, lost cousins?) I doubt we would have been allowed past the carefully maintained main entrance anyway. So we chose instead a lovely VRBO just a few miles down the road, outside of Ridgway, Colorado. It was quiet, with gorgeous views, and we saw absolutely no one else from our log-hewn deck.
Not Ralph’s abode, but it was still fantasti-awesome.
Of course all good things must come to an end, but on the way home, we decided to dip our toes in the world of human interaction by spending a few hours in Telluride. We strolled the main drag, indulged in some al fresco dining with gourmet pizza, and nosed in the local bookstore. Nothing crazy, just some much-needed fun after months of quarantine.
Nothing crazy, of course, except for the hundreds of masked tourists.
Ah, the modern-day “wild west.” Only the masks weren’t bandanas, no one was in chaps and pointy-toed boots, and the baseball cap was more ubiquitous than the ten-gallon hat. In fact the only thing close to resembling a gallon were the massive bottles of hand sanitizer found at every turn. And the most “lethal” weapon, the one that stopped people in their tracks, was the simple but firm statement
You must wear a mask to enter.
There were hundreds of people strolling Colorado Avenue that day. Many dining both inside and out, window shopping or waiting patiently to browse a shop until they were allowed entry. (The small bookstore we perused only allowed 4 patrons inside at a time.) So Telluride was bustling, just like the good ‘ol wild days before COVID-19.
The many restrictions and the mask-wearing didn’t keep anyone from enjoying time in Telluride. In fact, the rules made for a heightened experience. Here were a massive number of people, coming together and accepting what they needed to do to keep their fellow visitors and locals safe, proving that yes, yes we can live with face coverings and pausing to sanitize our hands.
We aren’t being asked to ration food.
Or invest in war bonds.
Or send our children to war.
Wearing facial coverings is really so little to ask of ourselves and others. Many people don’t agree with that sentiment, unfortunately. There are many arguments against the wearing of masks and the best one I’ve heard (which isn’t saying much) is that most people don’t utilize them correctly, so what’s the point? Well, point well-taken. But not as an argument against wearing a mask, it’s an argument for more and better education on how to wear masks effectively and safely. So here’s a great video on how to do so. Note: keep your hand sanitizer “handy.” And the techniques presented not only apply to the basic disposable mask, but to cloth/reusable masks as well.
And remember to wash and dry your reusable masks on “hot” settings to sanitize them. It’s even possible that that hippest-of- COVID-hip rearview mirror decor (your mask) can become sanitized if you leave your vehicle in the hot summer sun for a period of time.
