Cloth masks are said to be nearly useless against Omicron, which is why we now have a supply of N95 masks. Lincoln's mask requirement expired ahead of Christmas while the city's COVID meter is back in the red, but when I was in Walgreens today nearly everybody was wearing a mask, most of them appeared to be cloth.

People are in the 3rd stage of directive exhaustion, confounded by ever-changing and conflicting reports of what's best. The science and the economics and the politics are so co-mingled, confused and conflated that nobody knows who or what to believe. (And all of this was predicted well before the first set of directives came out in early 2020, not that anyone listened to those experts on social behavior.)

While he was here, my son ordered a case of masks from 3M (they only sell them by the case), and he left several bundles of them with us.

Love it, BA!

My cloth masks were custom made so I have elastics around my head. They are 3 layers with a filter fabric (non-woven) as the middle layer. There is a seam, but the maker overlapped the seams inside. They also have nose clips. I would like to get some KN95s but I'm trying to make sure that it is an approved brand with head elastics. In the meantime, mine work as well if not better than other versions.

I was supposed to leave for Atlanta tomorrow for the Retail Market. Needless to say, I told my manager on Tuesday that I was not comfortable going - the hotel where I was going to stay had even reduced the availability of amenities more. Fortunately, she and our director backed me up and then it turned out that the Retail Director and Head Buyer had also cancelled. I have been setting up virtual meetings in lieu of the meetings I had scheduled and a couple of reps will come here to see me in February.

I forgot - one rep said it was going to be one giant Petri dish and she is recovering from a bout over the holidays.

The grocery stores seemed a little short on Orange Juice today and eggs; but they seemed to have a plentiful supply of fruit and vegetables and staple foods. When I first entered the grocery store I was pleased at the number of people with masks, but as I started to leave I noticed more people entering without them. Perhaps the people who are too lazy to wear masks are also too lazy to get up early.

I spent most of yesterday shopping in the nearest large shopping area near me, about 2 hours from here. I know this is not a good time to be out and about, but sometimes you just need more than groceries and meds. I was pleasantly surprised. The shops were not busy, not at all crowded until mid-afternoon at that last stop, a small specialty food shop. However, I would estimate masking was 100%. Wonderful. We felt perfectly safe running our errands.