I plan to continue wearing a mask even when not required, not as a political statement but because I’d like some protection from COVID, flu, and colds. I absolutely despise colds, even though they are not likely to cause death.
But I’m not sure how long I will be able to “hold out.” It will be tempting to just say fuck it when most people around me are eschewing masks. It’s already happening. Employer said our area is improving enough that we are no longer required to wear masks in common areas but still can if we want to. Pretty much everyone immediately started going without.
Actually, I do quite enjoy wearing a mask now, and as a fulltime glasses wearer, I’ve overcome that problem by using embedded wire to get a nice snug fit around the bridge of the nose.
Obviously, people behave differently in different places, but to clarify: are you saying that you live in a place where the government mandates and enforces good masks worn correctly, or that you live in a place where the mandate is vague and people wear good masks correctly because they choose to?
The problem is that mask mandates were never particularly focused on “the science”, they were always a balance of various factors. And the balance is way off. An actual science based mandate would be for good masks. It wouldn’t except people sitting in tables at restaurants. It wouldn’t be most rigorously enforced on the lowest-risk people, children in schools.
I’d be in favor of a logical coherent mandate backed up by science. One that said that if it’s so dangerous that we can’t let children who are incredibly low risk go unmasked, then we certainly can’t allow people in bars and restaurants to do so. There is no political will to implement one. What we have is a weird compromise half measure that isn’t enforced and doesn’t really work. Weird compromise unworkable policies that aren’t enforced are really dumb.
Mostly the latter, although medical buildings here make it very clear that bandanas, gaiters, and vented masks are not allowed. At the medical center I go to, there’s someone at the door who checks and a security guard for backup. Early on, there were people wearing bandanas and gaiters, but for whatever reason, that’s stopped.
While I agree that mask mandates should be stricter, I was referring to the science that shows masks are effective, albeit to varying degrees depending on the type of mask.
Masks were never common here, not even during the worse of it. I’d guess we were at 40% compliance once but that was long ago. I love my masks, if I’m going to be around strangers I’m going to wear a mask. I’m old enough that I don’t give a damn about what people think (such a freeing thing) and I feel I personally have already benefited from wearing them.
Besides the not catching colds or other random bugs thing, my skin is so white it’s almost milky blue. Sun burn is a real threat for folks like me and I live in one of the skin cancer capitols of the world. I haven’t owned shorts or short sleeved shirts for over 30 years. Despite always wearing a wide brimmed hat and sun block, my face still gets enough sun to require a yearly dermatologist check. I’m never giving up my masks, COVID will be beaten the same time as cancer and I’m not going to live long enough to see either of those things happening.
Colds are pretty annoying, and I do get a flu shot every year to try to avoid that misery. For the last two years COVID has had me avoiding people when possible and masking up when I had to be out in public, but I’m not excited about the prospect of a culture that normalizes everybody wearing masks all the time to stave off colds and flu even after the pandemic is over. OTOH, I hope for a culture where individuals who choose to continue wearing masks for their own reasons are not ostracized in anyway.
I think Japan had a pretty sensible culture before the pandemic: people generally didn’t wear masks unless they were actually sick or somehow unusually vulnerable (e.g. immunocompromised or allergic).
Last June when I was fully vaxxed and COVID prevalence was the lowest it had been in a year, I enjoyed living life without a mask and eating in restaurants for the first time since the pandemic started. Prevalence now is still 5-15 times higher than it was back then, but it’s headed rapidly in a good direction. When it gets back down near where it was last June, I’ll look forward to eating in restaurants again and browsing stores in person, all without a mask.
Today was day one, and at the grocery store, it was about 80% masked (at the store I expected to be less masked. I haven’t gone to the grocery closest my house, where I expect more masking). My daughter went to school today maskless for the first time since pre-Covid, but she decided to put on her mask as about 80% of her classmates were masked (one of her teachers was masked, the other not.) So, so far, what I’ve been expecting, with maybe a little more continued masking than I expected at that first grocery.
I was surprised to see the kids walking to school in my Chicago suburb were largely masked. (Always struck me as odd how many of them wore masks walking to school, instead of putting them on when they got there.)
Just got an email that the suburb where I play music on weekends ended their mask mandate. Will be interesting to see what the coffee shop says/does on Sat. The people I play w/ are all vaxxed/boosted and we are a ways separated from the customers - who take their masks off when seated anyway. But I’d be comfortable unmasking if allowed.
I’m at work right now. We have 100% mask compliance. One person earlier today told me that the CDC said . . .and I cut him off there. The CDC is not requiring that he be masked while on my property, but I am.
Yeah, we’ve had the kids walking to school with masks on this whole time, too. That said, in the winter it is at least another way to keep your face warm. Today I checked out the other grocery I was talking about. 100% of the customers were masked. About 80% of staff was.
If I’m going somewhere I’ll need a mask, i usually put my mask on in my bathroom, and wear it in the car, even if I’m driving alone. It’s just simpler to wear it than to carry it, worry about not crushing it, keeping it clean, etc. If it were hot and muggy out i might carry a mask while i walked a long distance. But it’s child and dry where i live, and it’s actually more comfortable to walk around with the mask on then off.
I see it as like a tie. Sure, you can tie your tie in the car right before you enter the building. But it’s just simpler to do it at home and not worry about it. At least for me.
My wife and I are working at the moment as well, but in a 100% non-masked environment!
When wearing a jacket, I generally put the mask in a jacket pocket and don it only on entering the place. If no jacket, I believe I used to put it in my pants pocket. Rarely - if ever - have I driven or walked down the street wearing a mask.
Apparently my wife and I are approaching this differently. She went into the store maskless. She does almost all of the shopping, and is fed up w/ being blind due to glass. I waited outside w/ the dog, but said if I had made the shopping run, I probably would have donned a mask inside.
I’m fully vaccinated with two doses of Pfizer and two Pfizer boosters. Despite this, my work environment is in small rooms in a small building and the last thing I want is to be sharing breathing space with the yokels who are my clientele.
I haven’t had a communicable illness since the start of the pandemic and I’d like to keep it that way. That said, I’m 64 years old. If there is enough displeasure with my decision to remain a masked facility such that I begin to lose money, fuckit, I’ll retire.
I think a customer was and is fairly unlikely to pick up Covid or anything in a grocery store anyway. More likely the employees. The customers move around too much and the stores are too big for them to be in harm’s way as much. Plus the ceilings are 20 feet or so. Much more dangerous environments for that sort of thing.
I still have gotten other illnesses during this. I never got that benefit. I have kids and am divorced, with the kids travelling between households there is enough transmission that I never got isolation benefits despite working from home.
Since the start of the pandemic I have not been anywhere near a kid, including my two year old granddaughter in Florida who I’ve never met in person. Although I wish I could meet my granddaughter, other than her I’m fine with avoiding kids.
