Mask wearing and sicknesses (I haven't been sick since I started wearing masks)

[TravelingChris]

I have 5 autoimmune diseases and have to be on a number of immunosuppressants because of that.  On top of it, one of my AI diseases greatly increases chances for Upper Respiratory Diseases because my mouth and nose are so dry.  I normally get at least three infections a year.  So far this year I have only had the one infection in February before I started wearing a mask- I started the second week of March.  Since then I have gotten nothing.  I am now thinking I will be wearing masks forever just not to get the bacterial infections I normally get- sinusitis, bronchitis, ear infections,  and sometimes even pneumonia. 

Have some of you who wear masks routinely and have been for many months also seen this affect?

[Scarlett]

3 minutes ago, TravelingChris said:

I have 5 autoimmune diseases and have to be on a number of immunosuppressants because of that.  On top of it, one of my AI diseases greatly increases chances for Upper Respiratory Diseases because my mouth and nose are so dry.  I normally get at least three infections a year.  So far this year I have only had the one infection in February before I started wearing a mask- I started the second week of March.  Since then I have gotten nothing.  I am now thinking I will be wearing masks forever just not to get the bacterial infections I normally get- sinusitis, bronchitis, ear infections,  and sometimes even pneumonia. 

Have some of you who wear masks routinely and have been for many months also seen this affect?

I have struggled with allergies for a couple of years now.  As in constantly, not just seasonal.  I did have one round of sinus infection even though I was faithfully taking allergy meds.  But over all I do agree that mask wearing is a good thing for every sort of communicable sickness.  I remember my mom having to wear masks when she was doing chemo....and my step sister's mother was the same when she was doing chemo for several years...seems like she was always in a mask there toward the end especially.  So obviously it has always been an aid against picking up things out in public.  

[Ali in OR]

Well, I haven't been sick but I never got a cold or anything last school year either. We did have one kid who never leaves the house come down with something like a cold--how? But otherwise we've all been healthy.

I've been wondering if more people might at least wear masks in cold and flu season. Or rethink the activities they do then. We don't eat out in restaurants that often anyway, and never since March, but I can see myself avoiding that activity in winter and enjoying it more in the other 3 seasons (we do take-out once a week--we're just avoiding being in the restaurant).

[fairfarmhand]

Yeah, I have a dd who seems to pick up colds like crazy and this year has been nowhere near as bad as normal.

I think its two things. First, mask wearing likely helps, and the fact that others are masking I believe is just as important.

Second, it has become socially unacceptable to go out sniffing, sneezing and coughing, and that IS A GREAT THING. 

[historically accurate]

I haven't been out and about nearly as much as normal, so that may have a big effect too. I always, always get a cold with every change of season - not this year. This year, a few days of sniffles here and there, but no out and out colds, bronchitis, etc. I also noticed that I was able to work in the garden for much longer than normal if I wore a mask - must filter the allergens as well.

Edited December 8, 2020 by historically accurate

[TravelingChris]

24 minutes ago, historically accurate said:

I haven't been out and about nearly as much as normal, so that may have a big effect too. I always, always get a cold with every change of season - not this year. This year, a few days of sniffles here and there, but no out and out colds, bronchitis, etc. I also noticed that I was able to work in the garden for much longer than normal if I wore a mask - must filter the allergens as well.

Yes, I noticed that my asthma is so much better this fall because it is filtering the mold very well (I have an N95)

[Laura Corin]

I normally get Freshers Flu from the students in the autumn each year.  I haven't had anything this year.  Masking and distancing. 

[Dmmetler]

Yes. Both for not getting colds and for allergy symptoms.

 

In addition, usually I end up having a LOT of my piano kids sick starting in about late fall, on and off. So far, I have had one student miss a lesson, and it was because someone in her class at school had tested positive for COVID, so she had to quarantine for 2 weeks. I am convinced that wearing masks in public places, as is mandatory here, is leading to a drop in colds, flu, and the creeping crud, too. 

[TravelingChris]

36 minutes ago, Ali in OR said:

Well, I haven't been sick but I never got a cold or anything last school year either. We did have one kid who never leaves the house come down with something like a cold--how? But otherwise we've all been healthy.

I've been wondering if more people might at least wear masks in cold and flu season. Or rethink the activities they do then. We don't eat out in restaurants that often anyway, and never since March, but I can see myself avoiding that activity in winter and enjoying it more in the other 3 seasons (we do take-out once a week--we're just avoiding being in the restaurant).

I am specifically thinking I may be doing church online late fall through winter in the future. That is the place I encounter the most sick people because even though I go to a church in a denomination that does not require weekly attendance, some people go even when sick.

 

7 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

I normally get Freshers Flu from the students in the autumn each year.  I haven't had anything this year.  Masking and distancing. 

Yep,  the distancing too.  I am so much happier now going to medical appointments when I am never sitting next to anyone and usually quite distant from them.

[prairiewindmomma]

I normally mask through winter. Had to start several years ago because I kept getting pneumonia. I have found it to be beneficial.

I haven’t been sick since the pandemic started. We have been very, very careful. It’s been a lovely break....especially since my youngest was sick all through last winter up until we pulled her from public school in late February (just before schools shut down).

[TravelingChris]

1 minute ago, prairiewindmomma said:

I normally mask through winter. Had to start several years ago because I kept getting pneumonia. I have found it to be beneficial.

I haven’t been sick since the pandemic started. We have been very, very careful. It’s been a lovely break....especially since my youngest was sick all through last winter up until we pulled her from public school in late February (just before schools shut down).

Have you gotten both pneumonia vaccines?  Altogether, they help protect you against about 35 strains or so.

But I think I will be joining you in masking in the cooler months.

[MoyaPechal]

We haven't caught colds or anything since having covid back in March when everyone was told not to wear masks. Which is great because DD gets croup EVERY TIME she gets a cold and last time I thought we'd have to go to the ER. I'm not sure if I'll mask after the pandemic because DD usually gets sick from other kids and then passes it on to us. I'll probably ask DH to wear one on the metro, though.

[prairiewindmomma]

Yup. I have had both. We also know now that when I start to become ill I need a steroid shot. But....you know how it is with steroids...it’s a two-headed monster.

Fwiw, the respiratory illness curve year to year is fairly consistent. Even the data of Covid infections is following the influenza curve. I mask from Halloween (you want to start before the initial uptick) to about spring break. Some years I can stop by March 1. Just watch the weekly influenza reports CDC puts out. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/weekly/usmap.htm

[TravelingChris]

11 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said:

Yup. I have had both. We also know now that when I start to become ill I need a steroid shot. But....you know how it is with steroids...it’s a two-headed monster.

 

Do you get bad side effects like bad mood?  My dd2 has bad asthma and bad allergies and she hates having to go on steroids.  Me, otoh, love the way I feel on high doses of steroids- they improve my mood and take away pain and generally make me feel great.  But of course, I know I can't be on those kind of doses longterm and do not need to be on them at that rate.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I have masked through cold and flu season for many years.  (Though not the last couple before COVID19 because my immunotherapy made me so much better.)  But I used to go to the grocery store without a mask, come home and my lymph nodes would be all swollen and soon I would be sick.  I averaged one ER visit from severe illness a year and often two during those months.  I have still gotten mild illnesses during COVID - and one not so mild back in Februrary/March that lasted 6 weeks - but not like what I used to get.  The biggest game changer for me and my autoimmune issues was low-dose naltrexone.  (I take other stuff too but that has had the biggest impact.)

[Jean in Newcastle]

One more thing - preCOVID, when I would mask during the flu season people would automatically assume that I had cancer.  I got some strange reactions at times due to that assumption.  I had to just shrug it off, make a joke and go about my business. 

[prairiewindmomma]

I feel really fantastic on steroids. The first time I had a high dose shot (the boost lasts about 3 weeks for me) I took about 3 days to get well....and then I repainted the entire interior of my 2400sq ft home in like a week. And then I decluttered a ton. And then I started working on my landscaping—and it wore off.

I was like my pre-rheumatoid arthritis me, and it was fantastic. I had forgotten what it was to live without pain, and to be free of that briefly reminded me of the burden I carry most days.

But, as you say, steroid use is not without consequences.

Fwiw, my primary care dr at the time told me my experience was not normal (“Normal” people feel awful on them)—-but I think it is very normal in the AI world. Nearly everyone I know with RA feels fantastic on steroids.

[Jean in Newcastle]

Steroids are what my family call my "loopy pills".  I feel fantastic on them but it's like (I imagine) being in a manic state.  I can't take them for long though because they cause my bloodsugars to go into the stratosphere. 

[TravelingChris]

I was talking to my dh about my thread and the responses and specifically the response that said, sick people are not walking around as much.  He said he really hopes that they do away with the idiotic perfect attendance awards which just encourage sick people to go to school, work, etc.

[EKS]

I saw a statistic that there were something like 300 flu cases in Australia this season whereas there are normally like 100,000.  

[Dmmetler]

2 hours ago, TravelingChris said:

I was talking to my dh about my thread and the responses and specifically the response that said, sick people are not walking around as much.  He said he really hopes that they do away with the idiotic perfect attendance awards which just encourage sick people to go to school, work, etc.

I am planning to leave the option of online makeups and scheduling several weeks for makeups each semester after this. I set my policies so no one had incentive to come sick, and if anything, my parents seem more concerned about taking advantage of my liberal makeup policies than they did in demanding makeups outside of the policy. I haven't had any "oh, I forgot" or "we got caught shopping and lost track of time" type excuses this semester, which is almost as welcome as not having kids come sick. 

[stephanier.1765]

I know I'm an oddball but I've actually been sicker since all this started. I get cold like symptoms approximately every 2 weeks. I'm staying home as much as possible (out for doctor visits, vet visits and groceries), masking when I'm out, using hand sanitizer (so much my hands are extremely dry), wiping down carts, and washing my hands the minute I'm back in the house. I'm careful about not touching my face even when home. And I'm taking vitamins and supplements. Yet I've been sick, sick, sick. I'm so sick of being sick.

[prairiewindmomma]

Any chance you are allergic to something in your home, Stephanier? Pet allergies? Old carpet?

[AmandaVT]

I work in a middle school and was sick from Oct until the end of March (2 weeks after starting remote teaching) last year. This year I haven't even had a sniffle or a trace of a sore throat. I'm still close to kids, but I think the mask is helping and at this point, I'll be happy to wear one through every flu season to avoid colds/flus. The more I wear it, the less I notice it- today, I drove home from school and didn't realize I still had my mask on until I started up my computer for a virtual meeting and saw myself! 

[kristin0713]

I think it has more to do with the fact that we haven't really been going anywhere or seeing many people.  My kids aren't involved in anything where they are with lots of kids at once and we haven't been in a large group setting such as church since March.  

Somehow, I managed to get either a cold or COVID (waiting on results) over the weekend when the only place I have been since mid-November was Home Depot.  Oh and once to the grocery store last week.  We have not seen any friends or done anything else at all since the numbers started spiking around here.  Mask compliance is very high in my area and of course I was masked as well.  So, who really knows.  

[kristin0713]

1 hour ago, stephanier.1765 said:

I know I'm an oddball but I've actually been sicker since all this started. I get cold like symptoms approximately every 2 weeks. I'm staying home as much as possible (out for doctor visits, vet visits and groceries), masking when I'm out, using hand sanitizer (so much my hands are extremely dry), wiping down carts, and washing my hands the minute I'm back in the house. I'm careful about not touching my face even when home. And I'm taking vitamins and supplements. Yet I've been sick, sick, sick. I'm so sick of being sick.

If you are mostly avoiding people and still getting sick all the time, I would definitely look into whether or not there is something in your home making you sick.  Mold, dust, or pets.  If it is dust or pets, an air purifier might help.  If it is mold, well, that will be another thread of advice I think! 

[Not_a_Number]

2 hours ago, stephanier.1765 said:

I know I'm an oddball but I've actually been sicker since all this started. I get cold like symptoms approximately every 2 weeks. I'm staying home as much as possible (out for doctor visits, vet visits and groceries), masking when I'm out, using hand sanitizer (so much my hands are extremely dry), wiping down carts, and washing my hands the minute I'm back in the house. I'm careful about not touching my face even when home. And I'm taking vitamins and supplements. Yet I've been sick, sick, sick. I'm so sick of being sick.

I've had worse allergies since the pandemic, since the one thing I know I'm allergic to is dust mites, and guess what I'm spending a lot of time with when I'm inside? 😛 

But we also haven't had any colds or flus. It's a really refreshing break, because usually my kids are sniffly for much of the year. For us, it's that we've been avoiding people, not the masking. 

[EKS]

2 hours ago, AmandaVT said:

The more I wear it, the less I notice it...

Exactly.  I used to work in an aseptic environment, and we had to wear masks all day every day.  It's really not the huge deal that some people are making it out to be.

[Pippen]

2 hours ago, AmandaVT said:

I work in a middle school and was sick from Oct until the end of March (2 weeks after starting remote teaching) last year. This year I haven't even had a sniffle or a trace of a sore throat. I'm still close to kids, but I think the mask is helping and at this point, I'll be happy to wear one through every flu season to avoid colds/flus. The more I wear it, the less I notice it- today, I drove home from school and didn't realize I still had my mask on until I started up my computer for a virtual meeting and saw myself! 

Except for two weeks around Thanksgiving, we've been in person since August with masks and we've had very low rates of absences due to illness among students and staff.

[MercyA]

Usually we would have had at least two or three blocks of school days missed due to illness by December. We've had none this year. 

[lmrich]

YES! So it dawned on me that I have not had a cold this year when I started wearing my winter coats, vests, sweaters, etc... (no judgement please - I  did not wash them at the end of season - Covid -ya' know) and I stuck my hand in the pocket I found cough drops. IN. EVERY. POCKET. 

I usually suck cough drops from October - March. Not one so far this year.  

[rocassie]

We have been fortunate to have minimal illnesses even prior to Covid.  Sometime during the winter (Nov. to March) a cold will pass through the family, and I think it's been five or more years since a stomach bug has hit us.  

The big differerence for us is the less exposure to people in general.  My kids and hubby have barely left to house except when we go hiking, biking, or other outside activity.  Also the few places that we (mostly me)  go, sanitize, sanitize, sanitize.

I think all the washing, santizing, and less people (and sick people staying home) is having the bigger impact.  Masks are probably helping too, but so many are wearing/using them improperly (some purposely, some unthinkingly) the places I go, I don't know how effective they are.

[katilac]

I have had the normal rate of sickness, even back in summer when we were on a much harder lockdown and no one was working out in the world. 

[Farrar]

It hasn't stopped my allergies. I mean, I usually get one cold a year on average. I didn't. But I'm hyper aware that apparently my allergies suck more than I want to admit. And they're weirdly bad in winter, which is making me wonder about mold. Like, I've been very low grade stuffy since September. In the past, it was always like, oh, am I slightly allergic still, is this me getting sick. Well, now I know. Plus, this has not really done anything for my migraines either way, so it's not like I feel healthier overall. Sigh.

[Dmmetler]

12 minutes ago, Farrar said:

It hasn't stopped my allergies. I mean, I usually get one cold a year on average. I didn't. But I'm hyper aware that apparently my allergies suck more than I want to admit. And they're weirdly bad in winter, which is making me wonder about mold. Like, I've been very low grade stuffy since September. In the past, it was always like, oh, am I slightly allergic still, is this me getting sick. Well, now I know. Plus, this has not really done anything for my migraines either way, so it's not like I feel healthier overall. Sigh.

I'm running HEPA/UV air purifiers in my studio, and after noticing that I wasn't getting headaches at work, bought a couple for home as well. Running one in the bedroom at night definitely seems to be helping my allergies. 

[Arcadia]

My kids and I have our usual seasonal allergies.  Whether we stay home or go out, we would still encounter the usual allergens since we keep our patio door open.

My husband had to take Claritin for the first time though as he suffer from indoor allergens for the first time. On the bright side, he finally know what it is like for my teens and I to feel worse indoors than outdoors, and having a nose that is sensitive to how well the air filters are running. Grocery stores have the best HVAC of all the stores we have to step into.

[Drama Llama]

My kid’s medical team was pretty pro mask long before covid.  

We have seen way less germs since covid but it’s hard to tell what’s the mask and what’s the social distancing.  I can’t comment on the allergies thing because our allergic kid really only goes in the yard and he doesn’t mask there.

 

[easypeasy]

Yes! For me, it's allergies. They're usually awful in the fall. I've felt pretty darn great! Now that it *occurs* to me, I even wear a cotton mask when dusting and cleaning or when doing outside chores. One of my kids is much the same way - and feels so much better this year.

In future, during flu season (are we going to have a "Covid season," I wonder?), I'm probably going to break out the masks again when I have to run mundane errands.

It's been nice, I must say, that whenever I am out somewhere, I don't hear the sneezing or the coughing I usually hear. People really are staying home if sick (at least in our area)! If THAT can stay forever, I am ALL for it!

[bookbard]

We've basically been back to normal in my part of Australia since July (mid-Winter). My boy has had 2 mild colds, both brought back from school. My husband caught one and had bad cold symptoms (cough etc). My daughter and I had no symptoms at all. Last year I had at least two bad viruses where I was really sick for a week and then coughing for 6 weeks. So nice not to get that. 

No one masks here, so it's 100% on people not going around coughing if they're sick. Kids aren't allowed at school with even mild symptoms - usually there's a kid with a hacking cough at school or activities - now they're sent home immediately, and no one can really complain about it. 

Flu in Australia just didn't spread. Interestingly rhinovirus (the common cold) kept on keeping on. I guess because symptoms are so mild people can spread it without realising it. 

[Teacher_nyc]

I live in NYC and work at a school. I used to get 2-3 colds or other viruses a year including horrible sinus infections. 

I’m still going to work in person/take the NYC subway occasionally and am amazed that I haven’t been sick since before last March. The masks and distancing seem to be working, and everyone seems WAY more conscious about washing hands. I hope the cleanliness thing continues. I don’t care if anyone looks at me weird when masks can come off. I will probably continue at least during colder months! Especially for subway and those in person meetings crammed into a tiny room with the sick coworker who HAD to come to work. Masks definitely help.