Word out of Starbucks, the worldwide coffeehouse of choice for many people, is that of yet another cautionary tale. With the nation coming up on the eight months of living a new normal during the current pandemic, we are still hearing of those who are choosing to roll the dice and remain careless.
The suggestions that the CDC has sent down to help control the spread of COVID-19 are not really that hard to follow, yet many people are failing to take these simple precautions. To put it bluntly, at this point in time, there is no excuse for this.
The first suggestion is that you don a face mask when you are outside of your home or your car. The coronavirus has from the beginning been determined to be airborne and contracted through the respiratory system. As such, any steps you take to protect your respiratory system will minimize the odds of contracting the virus.
There is also the fact that you may not be presenting with any symptoms but can still spread the virus to other unsuspecting individuals. This way, if you don a face mask and are asymptomatic, you will significantly lower the chances of spreading the virus.
You should also practice social distancing of at least six feet at all times and that you frequently wash your hands for a total of twenty seconds. However, it is believed that the wearing of facial masks is the most effective in the fight against coronavirus.
The failure to wear a mask and its results are what leads us up to this story. Earlier this month, an unnamed Korean woman in her 30s was visiting a Starbucks coffee shop in Paju City, North Korea. She reportedly was at the coffeehouse for over two hours, chatting with her friends and drinking cup after cup of coffee.
Most notable is that she was not, at any time during her visit there, wearing a face mask.
She was reported to have sat in the area on the second floor of the coffeehouse, where there were six air conditioners mounted in the ceiling. It was determined that, during this visit, the woman was infected with COVID-19. In the over two hours she was in the coffeehouse, on that second floor, she infected up to 56 others with the COVID-19 virus.
The interesting part of this story is that those individuals who served her the coffee she was drinking did not contract the virus. Why, you ask, were they spared? Because they were all wearing face masks, which protected them from the virus that she had spread to others.
Should patrons have to don face masks when entering an establishment, and if they refuse, be turned away for other’s safety?