Before answering that question, I'll start with something really important.    How to use a N95 mask more than once.     I largely provided this information last week, but it doesn't hurt to repeat by indicating my variation to a  Wirecutter   article. Get seven small paper bags, each big enough to hold a N95 mask.   Write a different day of the week on the bags:  Sunday, Monday, etc. Place a N95 mask in each. Wear the mask of that day, and after doing so, place it back into that bag. This virus is supposed to die after three days of exposure. They say four days should be sufficient, so five is safer.  Seven might be more convenient for there are seven days in the week.  A typical box of N95 NIOSH masks holds 20. A few other points: Moisture, especially from vigorous use working out in a gym could wet your mask.  This is why you use a paper bag because it breathes, unlike a ziplock bag. Place the paper bag near a dry sunny window.  But  keep the sun from striking the bag . If y

If you read the entirety of my posting yesterday, this is a repeat ( with minor augmentations ) of a historical tale of relevance that appeared towards the end.  Why am I doing this?  The subject matter is so important that I want you to share it with your family and friends.  What astounded me is that I've written about each of the following pandemics and never realized how they were connected and how quickly even I forgot.  I'll begin with an important transition period for me, the 1957-58 period when I left Hawaii to fly away to college. I've long forgotten this, but there was the  H2N2 Asian Avian Flu Pandemic in 1957-58 .   You absolutely won't believe the following : Up to 4 million were killed, and was a health threat to those UNDER 50 .  Our present pandemic is especially deadly for the elderly.  How can two viral infections be so different? There was no economic upheaval, no one in the U.S. wore masks.  Few even knew there was a pandemic.  I certainly was not a