Mask or Gloves?

If you had the choice of wearing either a mask or gloves on a necessary and non-trivial trip to the grocery store, pharmacy, doctor, etc., which would you choose?  Ideally, wearing both would be the best situation, but say you had to pick.  Which one would you go with?

I think I'd go with gloves,   For several reasons.  First off, it's a huge reminder and deterrent to touching your face.  We're discovering how much we touch our faces and even when actively trying to avoid it, we can touch our faces without even noticing it.  

Yes, a mask would be best if you were close to someone and they sneezed or coughed in your direction.  If you're appropriately social distancing you can significantly reduce that threat.  Which is why I would pick gloves over a mask.

The main reason, the one that to me makes it far better to go with gloves is something I'm going to call Time Distancing.  Here's an example of Time Distancing:

- COVID 19 positive individual comes into the pharmacy
- COVID 19 positive individual shops for over the counter cold medicines  
- COVID 19 positive individual gets some gum and candy and then checks out at the counter
- COVID 19 positive individual uses the PIN pad to pay with a credit card
- Two hours later I walk into the store.   I get some ibuprofen because we're out,
- I stop and get more cinnamon gum because I've been obsessed with cinnamon gum lately
- I go to the pharmacy to pick up a prescription (the reason I came out in the first place)
- I place my things on the counter and I use the PIN pad to confirm my phone number for the prescription.

Two hours of "Time Distancing" have occurred between when the COVID-19 positive individual entered the store and touched a good number of things.   Transference of the virus could happen on any one of those surfaces to me on my unprotected hands.  I might assiduously plan on not touching my face, but I might slip up and scratch my cheek.   I might completely plan to thoroughly wash my hands with soap and water when I get home—but before I've made it home I've transferred the virus to my door handle, steering wheel, and seat belt.

Time distancing is invisible and I think more dangerous because you can't know when you're coming close to things others have touched.   Which is why I wear gloves.   This doesn't work though unless you do it just so.  The first thing is you have to have gloves you can throw away like latex or notrile.

Get out of your car, put the gloves on.  Go in to the store and do all your shopping or go to the doctor's office, whatever the case may be.   Don't touch your face.  Don't touch too much of the rest of you in the process.   Hell, pay with Apple or Samsung Pay so you can have a contactless transaction.

And then, when you leave the store, take off the gloves and put them in the trash before you go to your car.  That's the key.   If you leave the gloves on you're bringing the virus with you, only this time on the gloves instead of your hands.

And of course wash your hands thoroughly when you get home, sanitize your purchases and anything else necessary to keep you safe.   Wear a mask and gloves.  Better still, stay home.  It's not completely possible for us all to stay home all of the time,   The advice we give to our children is equally applicable to us: do your best.

Vehicular Social Distancing: My children wanted to get one of the exercise elastic bands the other day.   They were doing something with it outside which involved a lot of yelling so I thought I might need to investigate.  They had attached the long wagon handle to the back of my daughter's electric Tesla Model S Radio Flyer that Santa brought her a few years ago thanks to some referrals.  Her "little car" was driving at full speed with the wagon connected via the long exercise rope.   My son told me what they were thinking as he explained, "and then we can social distance the car and the wagon,"