The virus is already mutating into different strains on its own. I think two rational people can reach different conclusions about this but I’d rather have more people vaccinated and still keep measures like social distance and masks and keep working to develop better vaccines and boost production of said vaccines.
In that case, why take the vaccine if everyone just has to keep wearing a mask and social distancing anyway? (I’ve heard this question asked quite a bit when discussing this topic.)
111,962,826 total cases
2,478,165 dead
87,331,742 recovered
In the US:
28,765,423 total cases
511,133 dead
18,973,190 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
These are pretty good vaccines. I really see no need for a better vaccine than the four or five that are already/nearly approved.
When we reach 60% immunity, it’s going to be really hard to persuade someone to be the last dork seen in public wearing a mask. Responsible citizens need to continue looking like dorks after being immunized, so as to keep irresponsible unvaccinated people from spreading, so as to protect people who can’t be immunized.
It’s sad, I know. Sometimes I think this disease was specifically targeted at the American weak spot of prioritizing one’s trivial personal convenience over someone else’s life. After all, when most people get COVID, the outcome is minor symptoms for them, and a minor chance of killing someone you never met. Some people exult in this state of affairs! Contagion as a Veblen good… conspicuous waste or conspicuous outrage? Take your pick.
I’m having that - you may consider it stolen. BTW, it’s not just an American thing.
j
Huh. I would have stolen “contagion as a Veblen good”. But you’re welcome to any part of it.
Because it’s not only about getting rid of masks, it’s about not dying or sustaining long-term damage. Or, if the vaccine does turn out to prevent or greatly reduce the ability to transmit the infection, doing that to somebody else.
You wear masks, and you social distance, and you wash your hands. Doing one of those things doesn’t mean you don’t need to do the others. Now, for a while, we just add ‘get vaccinated’ to the list. While if enough people do that it may eventually mean we don’t need to do the others, for right now it’s an additional measure, not a replacement.
I think mask usage will drop off when the transmission cases fall very low and there is little that can be done about it.
For now, with very few vaccinated and case transmission rates still high, everyone has to wear masks because you can’t tell who has been vaccinated and who hasn’t. And if you allow an exception for vaccinated, the world is full of liars who will claim to have been vaccinated even if they haven’t.
Also, my personal view is that now, where people who have been vaccinated are the people who society prioritized for the vaccine, the not-vaccinated have every right to expect the vaccinated to wear masks. The only reason the vaccinated have been vaccinated is because the not-vaccinated didn’t get vaccinated. When we get to a point where everyone who wants to be vaccinated can get vaccinated, then I wouldn’t feel the vaccinated have as much obligation to the not-vaccinated.
UK have announced the dates for the easing of lockdown measures all the way into the summer and the full reopening of pubs etc. Though the government is still saying there are likely to be mask mandates through the next winter even if things go well. These are the earliest dates and depend on stats moving in the right direction. That light at the end of the tunnel for people in the UK is beginning to take on a bit of form and colour. Each stage is four weeks long in order to be able to monitor the effects and confirm or delay the go ahead for the next step.
This is all on the back of real-world surveys that show the vaccines are having a positive effect, including amongst older people which countries like France were showing a hesitancy with.
I’ll be the last dork with a mask, so everyone else can rest easy.
No, me! 
112,263,022 total cases
2,485,384 dead
87,788,837 recovered
In the US:
28,826,307 total cases
512,590 dead
19,114,140 recovered
Yesterday’s numbers for comparison:
3 of the source surveys 5 parameters are based on one weeks numbers for 62.5% of the total. Article title states during the pandemic not this past month. Feel good data for a Hawaii newspaper.
Vaccine-resistant strain found? https://www.connexionfrance.com/index.php/French-news/New-Covid-variant-resistant-to-vaccines-found-in-France-as-country-tracks-spread-of-others
Loss of senses continues to confound, confuse and concern:
Here’s some food for thought:
Not a single case of influenza has been detected by public health officials in England for the past seven weeks, with infection rates at historic lows amid the ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.
The social restrictions brought in to curb transmission of coronavirus, combined with increased uptake of the flu vaccine, have both been credited with driving down infections.
Shows what you can do if you put your mind to it. (Those are seven weeks when the country was locked down).
BTW no, I’m not advocating to do this every winter. But interesting, no?
j
I think mask-wearing may linger, not as a blanket thing, but as something one is expected to do if one comes to work sick (which itself ought to decrease as well) and also as something not seen as overly weird for people in vulnerable populations to do during flu season, or when “something is going around.”
To be clear, I was referring to locking the country down rather than wearing a mask; but yes, I take your point. There are also counter-arguments to consider, though.
I posted in another thread about the unintended consequences of the ways we’re dealing with COVID, with respect to flu patterns. The link is to an article in Nature.
TLDR: if you avoid flu for long enough, you lose generalised immunity and bad things can happen.
j
Well, handle that by getting the flu vaccine early in the season. End of problem of lessening immunity.