Coronavirus:

[Rufus T. Firefly]

LA county has over 10 million people.

So, you are implying that LA county can afford to let people die just on the basis of over population?

You're the one that's implying! Shame on you!

50 lbs of whale dreck in a 5 oz bag......

[E7]

So, you are implying that LA county can afford to let people die just on the basis of over population?

You're the one that's implying! Shame on you!

50 lbs of whale dreck in a 5 oz bag......

Pitiful.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The birds have more sense than people..........

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Murph, how are they doing communion these days? Do they fork over a paper cup of sacramental wine and a wafer, and transubstantiate it from afar?

+The Sacrifice of the Mass continues as prescribed traditionally, with The Consecration the same.

+During Communion, only ministering the Host is permitted, not wine. The Eucharistic Minister cannot wear protective gloves when receiving The Eucharist him/herself, nor when ministering it to Communicants.

+Communicants are discouraged from receiving The Host on the tongue/in the mouth, for the time being, though, if they prefer receiving Communion that way, they are asked to step aside from the main procession (each person is 6' away from the next) and wait until the last person; then they can step forward and receive The Host orally. We have a very small table at the foot of the Priest and the EM, and he/she uses the hand-sanitizer kept on it between each person receiving by mouth, and after all of them are completed.

+The Eucharist is not allowed to be touched with/by gloves, not on the hands of the Priest, nor on the Eucharistic Minister, nor by the Communicants. It cannot be "saved" and held until leaving the church. And as we discovered by pleasant happenstance, face-masks must be slid away from the mouth to place the Host in the mouth..

Murph

[Roy]

If the priest doesn't put the wafer on your tongue, how do you get it?

[MurphOnMillerAve]

If the priest doesn't put the wafer on your tongue, how do you get it?

He holds it up in front of you and himself, at eye-level, with thumb and index finger , and says, "The Body of Christ," and at that moment it is just above your upturned hand , likely the left, cupped upward , and the Communicant's other hand creates a kind of protective "roof" over the chapel created by both hands; the reply is. "Amen."

Then you take the Host from its protective bed in your hand, almost a kind of "manger," in my viewpoint, and place it in your mouth, never chewing it, only crushing and dissolving it with your tongue and roof of your mouth, then swallowing .

[Roy]

Thanks for the information, Murph. I hope the priest is wearing a mask during communion, since he has to speak directly at you. I'd feel better if he wore gloves, while handling the wafers. Or, perhaps he could use tongs.

Better still would be online services. You could get your own sacramental bread and wine, and the priest could consecrate it remotely.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Thanks for the information, Murph. I hope the priest is wearing a mask during communion, since he has to speak directly at you. I'd feel better if he wore gloves, while handling the wafers. Or, perhaps he could use tongs.

Better still would be online services. You could get your own sacramental bread and wine, and the priest could consecrate it remotely.

Both the Celebrant and the Eucharistic Minister wear face-masks throughout the Mass. Therefore, I did, even while reading the Epistles as Lector for that Mass, which was difficult, physically, having had my glasses fog-up from the mask's presence on my face. So, I pulled the mask down to my chin while reading into the microphone from the pulpit.

I had gone to my first assigned Mass this month wearing surgical gloves, thinking I needed them especially when ministering Communion, as you mentioned, but was directed not to have them on for that in particular, which surprised me.

[chuck]

Gloves can actually act as concentrators/spreading devices. This is why they are not recommended for shopping.

You also need to learn how to put them on/take them off properly. We had to train on their use for lab work. The gloves were the last thing you put on before entering a hot zone and the first thing you removed when leaving and you had to learn to practice the proper technique for removal. You removed them in a way where they were turned inside out and "nested" and then disposed off into a hazardous waste container. After successfully removing and disposing of the gloves you sanitize your hands and then you would wash up immediately. You would only use gloves if you were in a situation where there is high loading/concentration of a contaminant or if you have an injury to your hand where your skin is broken and you could adsorb the contaminant directly.

The mic at the lectern is probably the thing I would be most concerned about. Wiping it down before dropping your mask (being careful not to touch your face directly) and staying as far a way as possible would be my recommendation for best practice. Having a bottle of hand sanitizer at the lectern might also be prudent.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

Thank you, Chuck.
The microphone at the pulpit is part of a flexible arm attached to the top, where the book of the Gospels sits. Nobody ever really moves it, as it sits approx. 2' from the face and picks-up our voices pretty well. The Book, however, is handled quite a bit, being opened and closed, with pages turned often. At the start of Mass, it is actually carried aloft, at arms length, in procession down the main aisle into the Sanctuary, placed on the altar, and moved again later in the Mass to the pulpit.

Concerning going shopping, which I have been avoiding for quite a while, nowadays, the markets and the state require that shoppers wear masks and gloves to gain entry into the market. I was wondering if it was a good idea to have them on when touching the fruit, like nectarines, to make my selections (?)
Thanks, again, Chuck,
Murph

[Rufus T. Firefly]

The microphone at the pulpit...........

Noticed at Congress that they have cloth sleeves over the mics that can be removed, cleaned, replaced, etc.

.....the markets and the state require that shoppers wear masks and gloves to gain entry into the market.

Gloves are both good and bad as few actually know how to make proper use of them. Was unaware of any state requiring them until now as proper protective gloves are not only seriously annoying but easy to get wrong as wearing them all the time simply contaminates everything through constant transmission; removing and changing them frequently help but is something not well taught. You need to remove them prior to opening your doors. There's also a little trick to removing gloves to minimize self-contamination; hard to describe but something after taking courses in such stuff I don;t give thought to anymore.

[Neil]

If you are performing surgery, gloves make sense. Or any invasive procedure, including drawing a venous blood sample. It's to protect the patient mostly, and only secondarily to protect the glove wearer from blood exposure. Wearing gloves in the supermarket is probably a waste of time at best and creates another "fomite" at worst. Fomite is an object that can contain infectious material and it can be almost anything from a door knob to a ham sandwich. Hand washing/hand sanitizer before entering and upon leaving the supermarket makes more sense, and frequently during the course of the day, particularly before handling food/eating. You're much more likely to get norovirus from hand contact (diarrheal illness where you are very sick for about 24 hours) than coronavirus, so it's good practice in general.

Hand washing is important. Gloves less so for daily life, since few people know how to put them on and take them off, and hand transferred illness is thought to be uncommon. Food handlers should wear them and not wipe their nose or mouth while wearing them. Good luck with that, I'm afraid.

Masks are what will make the difference with respiratory viruses such as flu and coronavirus. We're not doing very well at convincing people that they could save their life or someone else's life. So we should focus on masks, not gloves as public health measures. Saw a group of 5 teenagers walking closely together in my wealthy, highly educated suburb yesterday. No masks. Deeply stupid and unfortunate. Parents are probably Republicans . Idiot, egomaniac, ignoramus President won't wear a mask. Why should we?

[Rufus T. Firefly]

If you are performing surgery, gloves make sense. Or any invasive procedure, including drawing a venous blood sample. It's to protect the patient mostly, and only secondarily to protect the glove wearer from blood exposure. Wearing gloves in the supermarket is probably a waste of time at best and creates another "fomite" at worst. Fomite is an object that can contain infectious material and it can be almost anything from a door knob to a ham sandwich. Hand washing/hand sanitizer before entering and upon leaving the supermarket makes more sense, and frequently during the course of the day, particularly before handling food/eating. You're much more likely to get norovirus from hand contact (diarrheal illness where you are very sick for about 24 hours) than coronavirus, so it's good practice in general.

In my case the gloves were more to protect me from rather nasty stuff; but again, frequent and proper changing of them prevented transferal of contamination

Hand washing is important. Gloves less so for daily life, since few people know how to put them on and take them off, and hand transferred illness is thought to be uncommon. Food handlers should wear them and not wipe their nose or mouth while wearing them. Good luck with that, I'm afraid.

Yup. Takes a lot of discipline to wear gloves and not compromise everything.

Masks are what will make the difference with respiratory viruses such as flu and coronavirus. We're not doing very well at convincing people that they could save their life or someone else's life. So we should focus on masks, not gloves as public health measures. Saw a group of 5 teenagers walking closely together in my wealthy, highly educated suburb yesterday. No masks. Deeply stupid and unfortunate. Parents are probably Republicans . Idiot, egomaniac, ignoramus President won't wear a mask. Why should we?

We're doing a terrible job.

[MurphOnMillerAve]

You are right , Rufus, about foodmarket customers and gloves in nj . Gloves are required of workers but not of customers. I checked that a moment ago @ NJ.com
Shall I wear them anyway, for extra protection of myself and others? My rationale includes being mindful of how many hands have touched products before I pick them up.
Thanks.

[Neil]

Probably more important to rinse fruit and vegetables off in running water before eating and then washing hands/sanitizing afterwards than wearing gloves in the supermarket. But if it makes you feel safer and you know how to take them off without contaminating yourself, it probably can't hurt. Don't bother myself. Always wash hands or sanitize immediately before eating or after handling materials like soup cans, pizza boxes, etc. is the more important thing.