Even James Bond is Prudent Enough To Wear A Face Mask

I recall watching the 1967 film You Only Live Twice when I was a teenager.

Actor Sean Connery (seen in the above photo) appeared as Ian Fleming's iconic character James Bond in the film. In the beginning of You Only Live Twice, Bond met with his contact in Japan, British intelligence officer Dikko Henderson.

When Henderson is murdered during the meeting, James Bond chased down the murderer and killed him with the murderer's own knife.

Bond then takes the murderer's hat, trench coat and face mask, and pretending to be the wounded murderer, got into the backseat of the car driven by the murderer's criminal partner. The partner then drove Bond to the criminal gang's headquarters.

In 1971, while serving an aircraft carrier during the Vietnam War, we departed "Yankee Station," off the coast of North Vietnam, and sailed to Sasebo, Japan.

While visiting Sasebo and Nagasaki, I saw many Japanese people wearing face masks like James Bond had in You Only Live Twice. I discovered that Japanese people wore face masks as they were concerned about Japan's heavy air pollution and the spread of infectious diseases in an over-populated and crowded country.

As visiting Americans, we thought the face masks were a bit much.

Who knew that one day Americans would also be wearing face masks to guard against the spread of COVID-19?

Today at a local supermarket, I saw several people without face masks. I also saw several people wearing face masks under their exposed noses. I think they missed the point.

I've heard some people say they are willing to risk infection and won't take any precautions, such as wearing a face mask, but perhaps they don't realize that if infected they will no doubt spread the infection to others. This includes their loved ones.

The Center for Disease Control (CDC) advises that we wash our hand frequently, avoid close contact with others in public, and clean and disinfect surfaces. The CDC also advises that we wear non-medical cloth-based face masks (and leave the surgical face masks for medical personnel).

So, like James Bond, I suggest that if one has to venture outside of the house, one should wear a face mask, which will limit the chances one will be infected with COVID-19.