The masks were made in China. In Guangzhou, to be exact. By a company called ‘Sunrise Nursing’. And they are expiring. Slowly.
A box of 50. Just your basic, disposable, three-ply mask, with “unique elastic material to reduce ear pain and bruising.” The type of mask you’d want to wear, if you want to avoid being bruised. But also, the kind of mask you would not use if they have reached their expiration date.
“It is forbidden to use after expiration. Production date and batch number of the masks are stated in the packing box.”
It is also forbidden to use if the mask is damaged.
During these trying times, I find myself reading product boxes, and labels. Partly because I’m mostly sitting around, doing nothing, and partly because I don’t want to do anything that is forbidden.
Not only do I find myself reading product boxes; I also think deeply about what I am reading. I make an effort to consider, for example, how a three-ply nursing mask would expire after two years. What would it mean, exactly, for a paper mask to expire?
I would never think of eating cottage cheese that had expired, if for no other reason than it’s probably covered in bluish-green mold. But my house is full of various paper products, and as far as I can tell, none of them have expiration dates. (Note: I have read the packages.) I have some paper towels that I bought, maybe five years ago, and they seem to still be working just fine.
It’s possible that, in China, paper products are believed to expire after two years. Or maybe the Chinese government is just trying to keep the wheels of industry turning? Planned obsolescence and so on? Like the way my iPhone 4 became obsolete when Apple stopped offering software updates?
Of course, it’s also possible Sunrise Nursing is constantly improving their disposable masks, and they don’t want customers to be using an outdated product.
I notice the box includes this statement:
[EXECUTIVE STANDARD] YY/T0969-2013
Few people would attempt to use an iPhone that was built back in 2013. But it’s possible the advancements in nursing mask technology are progressing at a slower rate.
Like I said, I think deeply about these things. Another thing I found myself thinking about: the company name, ‘Sunrise Nursing’.
My research into etymology suggests that the word ‘nursing’ derives from norice, nurrice, “wet-nurse, woman who nourishes or suckles an infant; foster-mother to a young child,” from Old French norrice “foster-mother, wet-nurse, nanny.” The word is related to “nourish.” In fact, if you had a mouthful of very cold ice cream, and were simultaneously trying to pronounce the word “nourish”, it would end up sounding like “nurse”.
For some reason, around 1400 AD, the English began using the word “nurse” to refer to the care of sick or infirm people in general, no matter what their age. People who you wouldn’t be suckling, in other words.
So we saw this slow, gradual transformation of the word “nursing” from meaning the provision of nourishment, to the wearing of paper masks that expire after two years.
These are the kinds of remarkable intellectual revelations that have resulted from the global pandemic, and that make me excited about the future.
Assuming I don’t reach my expiration date.