A woman and her two spawn were in my store the other day, a male and a female child. The male child was coughing as though he were about to expel a lung and momma, in her infinite wisdom told him to cover his mouth, "So that people do not think he has ebola." I'm thinking, you freaking moron, the mouth covering standard is not to keep up appearances. Sure, it has become something of good manners to cover one's mouth when coughing, but the purpose is much more significant. When somebody who has an infection, the cough may expel virulent particles, bacteria or viruses, which in many cases could transfer the disease to a new host, aka the person being coughed on. In this child's case, it is obvious that he did not have ebola, he would need to either travel to Africa and encounter many natives or get very intimate with some African monkeys. My guess was that he has done neither within the last week. What is more likely is that he had a much less virulent diease, known as the common cold. The problem with that is, it may live for some time outside of the human host and is therefore passed by casual contact. The moral of the story: cover your freaking mouth, I do not need to get sick. Prior to leaving, the mother felt it necessary to inform me that the child did not have ebola. It was needless to say, I was aware of that.