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Our provincial government has put a Lock-Down Order in effect with very heavy fines if you don't obey them. In my "tuning area" which is in the middle of the lock-down zone called "Orange Zone" no one is allowed to visit another home, not at all, so that "STOPS" you from tuning pianos. It's going to possibly open up at mid-month but not sure. There is a lot of controversy over this and tempers are flaring at times.
What is your situation like? Can you enter homes or are you locked down too? I see where England has introduced a vaccine that they will start distributing as early as next week. Here in this Orange Zone we are "ordered" to wear a mask in all public places. In fact the very moment you are going to get out of your vehicle you are "ordered" to put your mask on "before you get out". There are covid-cops everywhere.
I'm in my 70th year and I used to think it very odd to see the news not that long ago of Chinese and other nationalities wearing masks because of smog etc.....never in my wildest dreams (never ever) did I ever think for one moment that in this great continent of North America that we would be "ordered" to wear the mask....or else....2020 the year of the plague.
Do you have anything to say about the virus and the control of it. Something encouraging.....
Encouraging? Making sure you have a decent mask that fits is such a small, simple, and effective means to slow the spread of not only this virus - but many other airborne diseases...
I may just include wearing a mask in clients' homes during the cold and flu seasons in the future! Has anyone else that has been wearing a mask regularly noticed not getting sniffles or anything else?
Unfortunately it fogs up my glasses, give a me a neck ache, and hurts my ears...but I do it anyway. I've also already had the virus, but since some say you can be re-infected (though I don't understand the biology behind that), and they can't answer whether you can carry it and spread it if you have had it...wearing a mask, etc is minor in comparison to the inconvenience of possibly getting sick. And esp if it keeps me from getting the flu (which usually almost kills me), that's a big plus too.
Used to be only hypochondriacs wore masks...now you're irresponsible if you don't. How cool is that?
For those with glasses, I've found that the thick tape from Nexcare helps reduce fogging when placed on the inside of the mask along the edge over the nose. I use half of the width...
Do you have anything to say about the virus and the control of it. Something encouraging.....
Responses to the coronavirus can be baffling and annoying and nothing authorized by governments will be perfectly on target for every individual in every situation. But it's appropriate for them to try.
Thankfully, I've not been as badly hit as some people -- rebuilding is up and I've been tuning in homes since June. But I've certainly had the reminder that I'm part of the "gig economy".
From my outlook, there are a some key points I try to keep in mind:
1) Remember, the mask is more for other people than yourself (although they are now recognizing benefits for the wearer as well). So... don't make it about politics: Love thy neighbor -- Wear thy mask.
2) When you get served lemons, make lemonade. Music teachers have been hit harder than me. Back in the spring when this started, I offered all my teaching customers (except those on salary at universities, etc) their next tuning -- whenever they scheduled it-- for no charge. I did it because it was a positive thing I could do. I even had one teacher ask me if I could extend the offer to their church since they hadn't been meeting and giving was down and I did that, too. But it has been a goodwill plus for me, as well. Some teachers who perhaps didn't "need" the offer said they would "pay it forward", so that's an example of how doing something positive can multiply.
3) We are professionals and get annoyed/frustrated when piano owners follow the (perhaps well-meaning) off-target advice of friends who "know something about music" in regard to piano care. Let's wear the shoe when it's on the other foot and follow the health professionals recommendations as best we can for our own situations rather than going rogue.
Keith Akins, RPT Piano Technologist USA Distributor for Isaac Cadenza hammers and Profundo Bass Strings Supporting Piano Owners D-I-Y piano tuning and repair editor emeritus of Piano Technicians Journal
Do you have anything to say about the virus and the control of it. Something encouraging.....
Responses to the coronavirus can be baffling and annoying and nothing authorized by governments will be perfectly on target for every individual in every situation. But it's appropriate for them to try.
Thankfully, I've not been as badly hit as some people -- rebuilding is up and I've been tuning in homes since June. But I've certainly had the reminder that I'm part of the "gig economy".
From my outlook, there are a some key points I try to keep in mind:
1) Remember, the mask is more for other people than yourself (although they are now recognizing benefits for the wearer as well). So... don't make it about politics: Love thy neighbor -- Wear thy mask.
2) When you get served lemons, make lemonade. Music teachers have been hit harder than me. Back in the spring when this started, I offered all my teaching customers (except those on salary at universities, etc) their next tuning -- whenever they scheduled it-- for no charge. I did it because it was a positive thing I could do. I even had one teacher ask me if I could extend the offer to their church since they hadn't been meeting and giving was down and I did that, too. But it has been a goodwill plus for me, as well. Some teachers who perhaps didn't "need" the offer said they would "pay it forward", so that's an example of how doing something positive can multiply.
3) We are professionals and get annoyed/frustrated when piano owners follow the (perhaps well-meaning) off-target advice of friends who "know something about music" in regard to piano care. Let's wear the shoe when it's on the other foot and follow the health professionals recommendations as best we can for our own situations rather than going rogue.
For those with glasses, I've found that the thick tape from Nexcare helps reduce fogging when placed on the inside of the mask along the edge over the nose. I use half of the width...
I wear a mask, and ask that my customers do also, at least while they are in the same room as me.
I take mine down once they've left the room (I tell them I'm going to), but immediately put it back on if they come into the room. I bring hand sanitizer with me, and clean cloths.
Thanks for the tip Ron Tuner, I do have a problem with fogging glasses.
My girlfriend is a respiratory therapist at Maine's biggest hospital. She often has to work in a Covid ward where she has to wear a full hazmat type outfit complete with it's own oxygen supply. The stories she tells me are enough to convince me to be careful.
I recently opened a small music store in my place in Cornish Maine (www.MapleStreetMusicShop.com). I require customers to wear a mask (and I provide free ones if they "forgot" theirs), and I wear one whenever anyone comes in. I intended to also open a BNB (it's a 9 bedroom 1850 house, much bigger than I need for me and two dogs), but not until we get a handle on this beast.
Hopefully the vaccines now becoming available will help, but it's going to take time. In the meantime be careful and be safe!
My Keyboards: Estonia L-190, Roland RD88, Yamaha P-80, Bilhorn Telescope Organ c 1880, Antique Pump Organ, 1850 concertina, 3 other digital pianos ------------------------- My original piece on BandCamp: https://frankbaxtermrpianoworld.bandcamp.com/releases
Me banging out some tunes in the Estonia piano booth at the NAMM show...
Myself, I rant and rave. So much does not make "scientific" sense, but does make political sense.
Dozens of studies have been made about the effectiveness of masks in controlling respiratory viruses. NONE of them show they work. However, it seems mask MANDATING correlates with reduced infections. But correlation does not mean causation. If it did, I could say that the sun rises because I get up in the morning.
I am thinking that masks remind us to keep our distance, which of course will reduce the spread of respiratory viruses. But hey, if a politician thinks that by making us wear masks we will bow to them because we see them as a savior, why shouldn't they go for broke and control us as much as possible? Like the first joint is free, so is the first "flattening of the curve." (Hmmm, why would there be a curve at all unless some type of herd resistance was possible? Hmmm....)
Anyhoo, we will be paying for these mitigation efforts for a looooong time, socially, economically, and politically. The dictator led communist countries have already and continue to pay the price that will be ours to pay in the future!
There's my rant and rave - that's how I deal with the situation!
Jeff Deutschle Part-Time Tuner Who taught the first chicken how to peck?
For those with glasses, I've found that the thick tape from Nexcare helps reduce fogging when placed on the inside of the mask along the edge over the nose. I use half of the width...
Just got a roll after dinner and have used it twice this evening. So far, I'd agree there's a definite improvement but not 100%. Maybe 92%? YMMV. I use a KN95 mask. I also find it helps to have the mask just above the tip of my nose rather than up near (and certainly not under!) my glasses, thus preventing ducting warm, humid air directly onto the lens.
Keith Akins, RPT Piano Technologist USA Distributor for Isaac Cadenza hammers and Profundo Bass Strings Supporting Piano Owners D-I-Y piano tuning and repair editor emeritus of Piano Technicians Journal
Myself, I rant and rave. So much does not make "scientific" sense, but does make political sense.
Dozens of studies have been made about the effectiveness of masks in controlling respiratory viruses. NONE of them show they work. However, it seems mask MANDATING correlates with reduced infections. But correlation does not mean causation. If it did, I could say that the sun rises because I get up in the morning.
I would appreciate actual evidence of the studies you mention.
As it happens, I have two adult child children and two in-laws of my other married children who are in the medical field in one way or another. These are the facts that I can relate:
1) None of them are "political" in regard to their medical knowledge. 2) They and their reports of knowledge/practice in the medical community as a whole is that these are people who have given their lives to making other people's lives better -- rather than being captive to some "political" philosophy. 3) Almost unanimously, our people who have been on the medical front lines long before COVID came along, understand that wearing masks *does* help to prevent infection. (Want your surgeon not to wear a mask?) There is no real debate or question about it. The mask-wearing recommendations long preceded the politics surrounding the present pandemic. 4) My medical credentials are rather lowly--I was an orderly in Central Sterile Supply at Sparrow Hospital in Lansing MI. While we had zero patient contact, every patient, doctor and nurse depended upon our department to provide sterile materials and equipment, so we had to get it right. That being the case, I also can speak authoritatively about what works and doesn't work to insure that infection is minimized.
As many of us have experienced -- and myself especially because I assist people with DIY piano projects-- there are wild ideas out there on the internet about pianos and piano care procedures that zero professional technicians actually do. We know better than some of that lore. It's the same way in the healthcare world. There is supposedly knowledge out there on the internet but no acceptance of that knowledge by actual practitioners having to treat patients.
Keith Akins, RPT Piano Technologist USA Distributor for Isaac Cadenza hammers and Profundo Bass Strings Supporting Piano Owners D-I-Y piano tuning and repair editor emeritus of Piano Technicians Journal
It's interesting to compare how far medical sceince has come since the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic.
At the time of the First World War, very little was known about viruses. They were mostly known as types of plant diseases. Virus particles were not known as the cause of influenza.
The epidemic that started towards the end of World War One and became pandemic, got the name of Spanish Flu because Spain, neutral in the war, reported accurate figures of deaths, whereas other countries disguised the true numbers. THis made it look as if the flu was worse in Spain.
There were no effective medical treatments. Just bed rest and light nourishment. If you got it, you survived or you died, and medicine could do little to boost your chances.
A puzzling feature was the fact that it seemed to be best at killing young fit adults, rather than infants or the elderly and frail. No-one knew the reason for this until fairly recent times, when the effect called the Cytokine Storm began to be understood. A catastrophic inflammatory response by strong immune systems (which healthy young adults had and elderly people didn't) causing multiple organ failure.
World War One is reckoned to have killed around 17 million soldiers and civilians, over a period of four years. Spanish Flu, in three waves of which the second was the worst, killed somewhere between 50 and 100 million in eighteen months. No-one knows the exact figure. Many decades later, the causative agent was discovered, from preserved tissue samples, to have been an H1N1 virus.
A century later, very much more can be done to help those with viral infections. We have ventilators, and an armoury of strong and effective medications that can control inflammatory responses. Nonetheless, Coronavirus Covid-19 is still an extremely nasty viral infection. The first personal acquaintance of mine to die of it, happened just a few days ago, in London.
In the space of ten months, three vaccines have appeared. It normally takes a decade to develop a brand new vaccine, because funding applications to grant awarding bodies have to be submitted and waited upon, protocols have to go to bodies to be approved, which takes time, and trial parpticipants have to be recruited. With COvid-19, governments have immediately made funding available, protocols have been scrutinised more quickly, and there have been plenty of volunteer trial participants.
On a planet that is now very much more densely populated than a century ago, if we had not had all these medical advances, it seems likely that the death toll would have been extremely much higher than it has been.
The major thing, though, pending further advances, is the same thing as a century ago - controlling the spread by isolation, distancing, increased hygene and track & trace. Prevention is better than cure!
Myself, I rant and rave. So much does not make "scientific" sense, but does make political sense.
Dozens of studies have been made about the effectiveness of masks in controlling respiratory viruses. NONE of them show they work. However, it seems mask MANDATING correlates with reduced infections. But correlation does not mean causation. If it did, I could say that the sun rises because I get up in the morning.
I would appreciate actual evidence of the studies you mention.
As it happens, I have two adult child children and two in-laws of my other married children who are in the medical field in one way or another. These are the facts that I can relate:
1) None of them are "political" in regard to their medical knowledge. 2) They and their reports of knowledge/practice in the medical community as a whole is that these are people who have given their lives to making other people's lives better -- rather than being captive to some "political" philosophy.
This is also my experience with regards to my friends who are in the scientific or medical field. Though I am a "just" an educated musician and educator, I have a few friends from high school who went on to prominent medical careers as physicians, one currently is a professor of Pediatrics at Stanford.
When I think of the character of these friends of mine, they are the finest people I know, with compassion and intelligence far beyond mine. They were and are singularly devoted to the truth and discovering better ways to help peoples' lives. To say that professionals such as the ones that I know have some ulterior motive is confounding for me, to say the least.
I would appreciate actual evidence of the studies you mention.
...
Doesn't work that way. I am ranting. Asking for evidence from a ranter is like taking a knife to a gun fight. Proving something is not the point of ranting, rather it is letting off steam over an injustice. Or to put it plainly, calling BS! The OP asked for encouragement. Mine is to rant: https://poets.org/poem/do-not-go-gentle-good-night
Now Keith, I truly admire and respect you. Feel free to find us a study showing that masks are effective in controlling respiratory viral infections. A real study, not some anecdotal evidence such as the CDC has put out: https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6928e2.htm
"Among 139 clients exposed to two symptomatic hair stylists with confirmed COVID-19 while both the stylists and the clients wore face masks, no symptomatic secondary cases were reported; among 67 clients tested for SARS-CoV-2, all test results were negative. Adherence to the community’s and company’s face-covering policy likely mitigated spread of SARS-CoV-2."
So, half the people they were able to test, tested negative and so they believe masks are effective? That's science??? What if the other half tested positive? Was there a control group? Am I to trust a "scientific" organization that grasps at straws???
But leave that aside. There is something else rather ugly going on. I am being accused of deriding health professionals. That is a Strawman argument. I was deriding Politicians.
The other day I was in a mini-mart. From behind plexiglass the clerk took my money, put it in the drawer, put her hand to her facemask, coughed, adjusted her facemask, got my change out of the drawer and handed it to me. I guess I should have felt ashamed that I was not wearing a mask so as to protect her.
I'll stop there. Surely this Topic will be closed soon anyway. Probably never should have gotten started as it is really politically charged.
Jeff Deutschle Part-Time Tuner Who taught the first chicken how to peck?
Here is a link to Canadian statistics. I find the trend of the black dotted line (2020 data) to be encouraging for as far as it goes, which is until the 3rd week of September, as of the date of this posting.
The CDC in the US has updated the value of mask use for protection of the wearer, so Jeff's info may be more out of date.
More good news? For those of us with colder weather, mask-wearing makes walking outside more comfortable, keeping our faces warm!
Of course there are differences between a properly fitted N95 or level 3 surgical mask and a loose cloth mask in protecting the wearer. Just like any tool in my kit, I've gone through a number of mask designs to find what works best for my face with glasses. Luckily, there are so many available now - if your current design isn't comfortable or leaks out of the sides, chances are there is another design that might work better. Around the ears, over the head, adjustable... there are lots of options!
I use a cloth mask for walking around outside - I live in the city, so there is almost universal mask-wearing as a courtesy to others, though the actual risk while keeping apart from others is almost nothing... For walking into a client's house, the KN95 goes on at the car and stays on until I return to the car.
