Got my second shot last week, and I’ll keep wearing a mask until the CDC says it’s no longer necessary, and possibly longer. While I do occasionally have fogging issues, I can deal with them. I generally don’t have to wear a mask for more than a few hours at a time while I’m shopping or going to the doctor, and the few times I’ve had any sort of breathing issue I manage to find a way to slip the mask off for the minute or two it takes to relieve them without risking contamination.
I’ve been doing the “stay home except for occasional ventures out masked for 30 minutes in a store” thing for months. Not real bothersome.
I recently worked 5 days straight where I masked up at 5am and stayed that way until about 7pm. Except for a few minutes here and there to inhale meals. Mostly sitting plus some walking; no real exertion.
The mask itself, a generic N95 disposable, didn’t really bother me. But the elastics wore a sore spot on top of both my ears. Here a week later that’s mostly healed up. But I’m glad I didn’t have to keep wearing 12+h/day for another 5 days or I’d have been bleeding.
As so many above have said, I’ll quit wearing when everyone except anti-vaxxers is vaccinated and the authorities have said masks are unnecessary. Right now they’re mandatory wear at work. I’d bet they’ll stay mandatory at least a while after the CDC eases off.
This. Wearing a mask from 9-4, while teaching, is awful. I do it and will do it, but I hate it. It’s absolutely nothing like wearing it a trip to the store.
And honestly, its worse for the students. I get a planning period with an empty room. They don’t.
Yeah, I thought I hated masks until I had to wear one for 8+ hours a day! Not a teacher so I don’t get an empty room but do get a socially distanced break room to eat in. It’s really hard to put the mask back on after a few minutes of relief.
That said, I think I’ll still be wearing one for months more at least. Work will probably still require it until the fall, I’m guessing. Even after I’m “fully vaccinated” that doesn’t mean I don’t still have some risk to catch “regular” COVID or a more contagious/virulent variant. Or couldn’t give it to someone else. I’m thrilled to get my first dose tomorrow and pleased that supply seems to be more available every day, but in my mind we’re not out of the woods by a long shot.
Me too. It’s a pain in the butt. I gave up on wearing my glasses and a mask, fortunately I’m just correctably nearsighted so I only desperately need them for driving.
My biggest issue, though, I never hear anyone talk about: other than cloth masks, they keep riding up my face and poking the bottoms of my eyes. I hate that!
As soon as I’m 2 weeks past vaccination, I’m going back to cloth masks. They don’t cause nearly as much irritation.
This. I’ve been vaccinated since the fall. Still wearing a mask until it’s OK for everyone to stop.
Wait, what Fall?
Same here, and probably beyond. I was already masking on international travel before 2020, I can see extending that in a bunch of ways domestically.
In case @Esprise_Me doesn’t return to this thread, they were in the Moderna trial and once it was completed, were informed that they had been in the non-placebo group.
Yup. I hate the mask, and am ditching it as soon as I can, but it will have to be safe.
Yeah. This.
Yeah. Or shaking hands.
I would love it if all the OTC cold medications that showed people taking a dose of their stuff, and going happily off to work were forced to have disclaimers on the ads saying that their concoctions did not stop you from being contagious and able to pass your disease along to other people.
Those of you saying that they’re uncomfortable to wear for a full workday, you need to find more comfortable masks. They exist. For starters, find some that come in different sizes, not one-size-fits-none.
You may be like me - I have a small head and long eyelashes. If I’m not careful about my mask choice and placement, I get a little mask friction every time I blink. But I’ve curated a set of masks that work.
To answer the OP, I’ll wear a mask like most respondents here - until the CDC says it is universally okay not to, and even then I may wear a mask in certain situations such as travel/flu season/if I need to go out but am experiencing cold or flu symptoms.
I am sympathetic to people with hearing problems and those who really need to read facial cues, for whom masks are cutting off an important part of social interaction. Overall it will be better for society if we can achieve a mostly mask-free world, I suspect.
But, I personally don’t mind masking and it has been a plus in a few situations where I wanted to hide my emotional reaction. I attend monthly board meetings of an organization I’m deeply invested in, and every now and then someone says something to which my immediate reaction is strong and not necessarily positive. More than once I’ve thought how nice it is to be wearing a mask so it is easier to obscure how I feel. I’ll miss that - my “poker face” muscles have atrophied a bit and I’ll need to bring them back.
Because there are still questions regarding whether either the Pfizer or the Moderna vaccines truly work on people who take immuno suppressant medications, I figure I’ll be wearing a mask for a long time.
I am hoping to obtain an antibody test 3-4 weeks after my second shot just to verify.
I have tried so hard! It has been only the last couple of months that I have been in the position to need to wear a mask all day, so I’m sorta behind in that department. Nothing has helped that much so far, though I have found one that slips on over the head with two back straps to hold it on, as opposed to loops that hurt the ears. Still getting dry eye with it. Got the large, might need the medium.
This is really bugging me as well. I’m in a new position at work with mostly new people whom I have never seen without a mask on their faces. So I don’t feel like I’m making any social connections, I guess. And I do have hearing loss. 
And now smiling doesn’t work so I have to vocalize to acknowledge people. Hate that! 
I don’t doubt that some masks are more comfortable than others. But (unless you’re outside in the cold), any mask is less comfortable to wear all day long than no mask, especially if you have to do a significant amount of talking.
Plus, I have yet to find a place to buy masks that lets you try them on before you buy them.
One thing I’ve been surprised at throughout this pandemic is how hard it is to still acquire masks. Most stores I’ve been in still don’t have many options, and you have to hunt to find them. By now, masks should be as easy to find and buy as underwear or socks. Back when the CDC first started strongly recommending everyone wear one, the givernment should have either sent masks to all Americans, or done something to see that they were readily available for free or cheap in every grocery, drug, and convenience store.
Masks may suck but they’re better than full PPE gear (shield for face, mask, gown and gloves), which I’ve been nearly living in at work for nearly a year. Fortunately thanks to vaccines I’m now able to get by with just wearing a mask 8-9 hours a day, save for gearing up a few times a week for select high risk patients.
Thank you. This was helpful. Thanks too to Esprise for being willing to participate in the trial. Made things better for all of us.
There’s nothing more annoying than unsolicited advice, especially if it’s something you’ve already tried. But, FWIW, a piece of 3M double-sided tape, applied to the top of the mask and then placed over my cheeks and the bridge of my nose, works pretty well to hold the mask close to my face and prevent my glasses from fogging up.
You can’t exactly try them on, and I can’t afford to buy one each of dozens of different choices only in order to trash most of them.
And while some are indeed more comfortable than others, even the better ones are a problem for me in particular in my particular working conditions.
I’ve worn sized N95’s for years for dusty jobs on the farm. I use the exhale-valve versions of those, because the versions with no exhale are almost unbearable for more than a few minutes, especially in hot weather. But exhale-valve versions are no good for covid because they don’t prevent the wearer from spreading it. And even the exhale-valve versions in the proper size are unpleasant to wear for very long when I’m actively working, in a variety of positions, dealing with other headgear, and the weather may be quite hot and/or humid.
It doesn’t help, as I said, that I’ve already got an entirely unrelated condition causing shortness of breath. But that’s only part of the problem.
– as a possible advantage, I’m partly faceblind, and a whole lot less thrown by not seeing all of other people’s faces than many people seem to be. I wasn’t connecting with people by their faces in the first place; I can usually read expressions while I’m looking right at somebody, but apparently I’ve been doing even that at least partly through tone of voice and/or body language (or, of course, just plain getting it wrong.)
Around here, the basic three-layer medical masks are now a good bit easier to find than either underwear or socks. Seems almost every store of any type has a display of them. Wasn’t so last March, of course – and, of course, the fact that I can now find them easily doesn’t mean that’s so everywhere else.
Our load of hay this summer was delivered on the stereotypical hot, humid, August evening. The farmer and his son were masked, as were we. We coughed less afterwards and discussed wearing masks for hay delivery from now on.
I really don’t like the mask. Moreso in summer, definitely. Sweaty face and warm air from my breath aren’t my thing. I wear it because I should, and more out concern for others than myself. I will quit wearing it on a daily basis after both I am fully vaccinated (with waiting time after) and the mask mandate expires. It does matter how many others are vaccinated (as we don’t yet actually know that being vaccinated makes you far, far less likely to spread the disease, though I think that will determined to be the case), but as I am not in any sort of priority group, that’s likely to be the case by time I am vaccinated. If I was getting vaccinated earlier, I’d hang on to the mask longer, so more people were covered.