It’s not. Numbers are going down. Still worse than the Summer though atm.
That does not at all sound like what you were talking about in the OP, but fine.
We have mandates in a lot of states that people in public places have to wear masks. If we were to carve out an exception for vaccinated people, how do you enforce that? We come up with vaccine ID badges - sure, maybe. Does every gas station and grocery store and fast food joint need to have a person inspecting your badge to get in? Do we check that everyone got the second badge a couple of weeks ago at least so they’re confidently immune? What about all the anti-maskers that are just looking for bullshit excuses not to wear masks? If it becomes normal for only half the population to be required wear masks, they start to blend in, no one takes mask mandates seriously anymore.
It’s worth the miniscule inconvenience of wearing a mask for a while longer to keep the whole thing from falling apart due to bad actors. We’re so close to getting over this, for the most part, but people are desperately trying to run our car off a cliff at the last minute.
The death toll is coming down but it’s still higher than in Oct/Nov.
I don’t know about that. Around here, the state and local officials always talk about the positivity rate, which has dropped from almost 10% last year to only 3% now. How is that worse?
the rate of infection is down as is the rate of death but overall deaths are still higher than in October and December. From a future projections standpoint we’re on the downward slope vs the upward slope of December/January which I think was the predicted second wave.
the difference is the light at the end of the tunnel is currently daylight. At the end of November it was the headlight of an oncoming train.
This is a vast oversimplification. The issue isn’t masks, it’s social distancing. It’s not seeing your mom. It’s not traveling to let your kids get to know their cousins. It’s continuing the dreary grind of staying in the house 24/7, leaving only for work and hurried shopping. It’s eating lunch at your desk at work every day. It’s trying to coordinate everything at work through inefficient Zoom meetings. It’s never having a conversation with a new person. It’s treating every stranger at the grocery store like they may kill you or you them if you don’t maintain perfect distance.
Wear masks another year? Sure. But it’s a lot to ask me to go another year fully social distanced “just in case”.
In Ohio, at least, the initial messaging at the start of the shutdown was “Oh, it won’t cause any hardship at all, it’s just three weeks, we don’t need to compensate in any way; it’ll be just like an extended spring break”.
And then, at the end of that three weeks, after many schools did not, in fact, attempt to compensate because they did, in fact, treat it as just an extended spring break, and even those who did make an attempt did a slipshod job because they had about two days to plan for it, the messaging changed to “Every school in the state has done such a phenomenal job in compensating for the closures, that there will be no harm at all in extending the shutdown indefinitely, probably forever”.
By now, of course, there’s been enough backlash to the idea of closing schools forever, that the message now is “We want every school in the state to be back in full in-person status by March 1, regardless of case statistics or vaccination status”.
It’s not a matter of the plans changing. It’s a matter of there never having been a plan at all, beyond the plan by the politicians to not get blamed personally for anything.
Both my mother and older sister are vaccinated. Still they won’t allow them to see each other in person. I am confused by this. Now we have to waited for herd immunity? When is that suppose to happen? Even after the vaccine we still have to mask up( which doesn’t bother me) but to hug my Mom would be nice.
Here’s an article about how to hug that I found hopeful.
Even after both parties are vaccinated there is still some small risk, albeit much smaller than before and we’re not sure yet exactly how small, but it is a calculated risk. Hug outside, than step back 6-10 feet and continue your masked visit. Handwashing just before and after.
Thanks…but they still have to let me into her assistant living place😀 . I want her to be protected!
Even before vaccinations were being done at nursing homes and assisted livings, many places were arranging short masked visits outside on a patio, by prearranged appts. Once you are both vaccinated that should be even easier to arrange.
Her doctor could also order that an in person visit is necessary for her mental health.
The mortality rate is going down, not up.
Oh I can see her in a Visiting booth, no touching though.