I dunno, B.B. “I don’t blame anyone for making a rational masking choice for themselves” comes pretty darn close to that makes sense.
~Max
…if someone finds something personally annoying: there isn’t anything that I can do to change that. That’s a personal thing. I can’t reach into Aeschines’s brain and turn off the “annoying” tap.
…except, they kind of do blame people for that?
Anyone still routinely wearing a mask at this point in time has heard all the arguments for and against masking, and has made their choice. Complaining about it is the exact opposite of respecting their choices.
I think “respecting” is more about actions than thoughts in my head. I’ve never scowled at someone for masking–or anything worse.
I think that’s been walked back, or alternatively clarified, at least to the extent that @Aeschines acknowledges it is rational to wear a mask today if someone in your household is vulnerable. (Such as InternetLegend’s husband.) Right, @Aeschines?
I think it’s obvious that he or she didn’t ask / complain to the Japanese couple about their decision to wear a mask, just because it makes it harder to do his or her job. That would have been obviously inappropriate and disrespectful to business clientelle.
~Max
Right. I think covid also caused people to think about active approaches to infectious disease in general. So people might mask up for other reasons now.
Right, though it did seem a bit stiff and Japanese for them to keep their masks on.
Okay, you have a point. I think I mixed up “annoying” and “absurd”.
~Max
I’m open to the possibility that I’ll tote a mask around with me for the rest of my life and wear it in most public places.
Is that what you’re doing now? If so, why?
Me?
There’s evidence that wearing a mask can reduce the likelihood of spreading COVID. And we’re in the throes of a pandemic at the moment.
I think the “true, medical reason” of “I don’t want to find out just how bad this shit can fuck me up” is more than adequate to keep me socially distant and masked, TYVM. Obviously many people disagree with my position but I, quite frankly, do not care any more than I have EVER cared what demonstrably dumb people think. And I use the word “think” quite loosely.
Yep. My 6’3", fit, 30-something brother is on hardcore immunosuppressants for Crohns, plus he is asthmatic. When he eventually got COVID recently (probably from his wife, who hasn’t been as cautious as he has), it hit him like a brick, and he is lucky it wasn’t much worse. Looks can be deceiving. And we have both been in contact with our 82-year-old father, who has spent the past 8+ months in the hospital, and now in home hospice, after the removal of a 20-pound malignant abdominal tumor.
Needless to say, I get extremely aggravated by people who suggest that young people are neurotic if they continue masking without knowing their individual circumstances.
I wore a mask religiously until about a year ago. I miss masking. It was the longest period I’ve gone without a cold, and I’m still COVID free.
That said, I maintained masking at my business for longer than most businesses in my area and suffered economic consequences.
You mentioned “the rest of my life.” Under what conditions will you stop masking? And where are you now (country)?
I live the US. I tend to think I would stop masking if I become convinced that we are no longer in the grip of a COVID pandemic, or that our species’ relationship to the bug has changed in such a way that it isn’t particularly dangerous.
I tried googling whether the CDC had declared the pandemic over or not, but I couldn’t find a good cite.
So I guess we are talking about personal interpretations at this point. I don’t feel that we’re “in the grip” of a pandemic. Yes, there is risk, but I think we will be at this risk level (or something close to it) for years. So I guess you and Japan will be making up in response to this risk for awhile.
Yup. I expect to wear masks forever.
Why? Because i don’t like catching respiratory bugs. Because I’m still frightened of covid. Because i don’t especially mind wearing a mask. Because high quality masks are now dirt cheap.
And i applaud anyone who wears a mask when they think they might be sick. Honestly, it’s just too expensive to stay home any time you might be coming down with a cold. Maybe you can’t work from home. You can’t pick up cold meds to have RIGHT NOW from home. There are lots of good reasons for people who might be contagious (but aren’t deathly ill) to go out.
If you don’t like my mask, tough luck. I’ll still smile at you, and if you look at my eyes, rather than my mask, you’ll be able to tell.
Here’s info on the unwinding of the official state of emergency:
I mind wearing a mask more than most people, I guess. I don’t mind for a quick trip to the grocery store, but I really don’t want to sit through an MLB game with a mask on, or --even worse–a two-week court trial. So, the risk-benefit analysis is different for me (and I suppose everyone). I have absolutely no problem with other people wearing masks.
Yeah, i get that we all have different risk benefit calculations. We have different risks, and react to masks differently. I don’t mind when healthy young people go bare faced in public. It does make me anxious to see older people do it, but their body, their choice. I really do hope that people will mask up when they feel under the weather, or know they have recent exposure to covid or flu. (Yeah, i know they mostly won’t. But i can hope.)