…that they are in the “minority” doesn’t mean they are wrong. It doesn’t mean that they haven’t reassessed our risk calculus since 2020 because trust me: we are doing that every fricking day.
Covid, especially in America, has turned into something that will continue to damage primarily marginalised communities. They can’t take time off work sick. And soon they will have to pay for vaccines.
We get it: for the majority of people like you, you are gonna be just fine. But for those that are not, if they want to wear a mask? That’s fine. Just ignore it and go about your day.
I have rethought my poison on covid several times. There was even a brief period, when the vaccines worked well, when i went out with no precautions other than being vaccinated.
Right now i have a couple of friends suffering from long covid. They are about my age, fully vaccinated, and had no special health concerns. If i were exposed to covid every day, as, i imagine, some people are, i might rely on just that exposure to keep up my immunity. I’m not. I don’t work retail, it any other super-high-exposure job. My immunity is going to wane. As i see it, i have a choice of greatly increasing or decreasing my risk. Honestly, decreasing it is easier and safer. I’m lucky enough to have friends who don’t mind masking, many of whom prefer it. So I’ll continue masking or testing when visiting indoors.
I realize I’m in a minority. I think the rest of you are mostly making bad decisions, but that’s okay, i guess. I’ll just pay higher health insurance premiums and higher taxes for it.
For a lot of people it really comes down to how well you can handle such a disruption in your life. If long COVID could make you lose your job, if you have no safety net, if you have kids and nobody to help you out with them, or you’re a caretaker to someone high risk, it makes sense to be extra cautious. It’s not like death is the only negative outcome of this virus.
I can attest that my approach has shifted over the years. At first we were complete hermits. After my son was fully vaccinated we chose to put him in daycare. A lot of people couldn’t even afford the nanny we had for 2.5 years - we barely could. But the health risk in my opinion is worth the developmental benefits of daycare. He’s gone from an anxious kid with multiple developmental concerns to a thriving one and much less anxious in a matter of weeks.
We all have to perform this calculus based on our overall level of risk tolerance. Mine is much higher than my husband’s so that’s been an ongoing issue. But even he is loosening up. We’re even doing family Christmas this year. I feel somewhat like I’ve been imprisoned since my son was born, and I’m really done feeling that way. People who have had to live in complete isolation with a newborn with no support from family have no clue the toll that can take on your mental health, especially if you are prone to mental health issues in the first place. So do I live the rest of my life miserable, or assume some risk? I go for the latter.
It’s not either/or of course. Everyone has to work out their own balance.
My boss had two preschoolers at the start of the pandemic. They had used daycare, but that was closed. He’s the primary backup daycare provider, as his wife’s job is more demanding than his, and more lucrative. I can’t imagine. And then they got the joy of “zoom kindergarten”. What a disaster.
I agree that everyone needs to evaluate their own risks and tolerances. And “stay home” is an extremely expensive option, both financially and for mental health. I just think a lot of people are over-valuing the cost of wearing a mask. If you find masks that fit, there’s very little trouble with fogging glasses or slippage.
I just tried to hire a Japanese guy i know for a gig in the US, about a year from now. He replied
Hope you are doing well!
Me, doing fine, but the corona situation is totally diffferent here in Japan,
we are still wearing face masks and try to keep away from Covid-19,
and not in the mood where we can easily fly abroad for vacation.
I note that the death rate in Japan is less than a fifth of ours, and i don’t think they ever did a hard lockdown. They just were really vigilant about masking. (And to be fair, they had an adequate supply of good quality masks, unlike the US.)
It is certainly “over” for me in the sense of being a major concern for the health of me and my family.
We have the option to be vaccinated and boosted for free (and we are, and will continue to do so, just as we all do for flu) and we are carrying on our lives as if it didn’t exist. We are planning holidays, eating out, going to crowded spaces, no masking and no worries.
If I suspected I had it I would test and act accordingly but that’s the only behavioural change.
I’ve had some fogging glasses issues, but in general I think it’s something that kind of sucks at first, but you get used to quickly. I have PT sessions that last about an hour and they require masks, and by the end of the session I always forget I’m wearing one. I will wear one around anyone who prefers it. I will wear them in busy places. I just don’t find myself reaching for it as often.
My PT was telling me they had to let a client go because she would show up every week and raise hell in the waiting room when they asked her to wear a mask. She started wearing tshirts with anti-mask slogans and masks with holes cut into them. These people just strike me as emotionally stunted, like children. Also this is a clinic where the PT is a small part of the practice - its main function is as a breast cancer center. You know, where people are immunocompromised all over the place. And she couldn’t stop thinking about herself and her preferences for even an hour a day. That’s frustrating, to say the least.
I am mostly living my life as if it didn’t exist - with one ( pretty big, I think ) exception. I will get together indoors without either masking or testing - but only with certain people , those who I trust to cancel if they don’t feel well. Which means that there are some things that I either won’t do or that I will be masked for - and it means I’ve only seen one of my nieces twice in the past two years ( and one of those times was entirely outdoors)
I have a self-contradictory view on this. On the one hand, I know COVID is not over. On the other, I’m doing hardly anything about it. I’m going to dozens of live events, and I have a bunch of international trips coming up.
Normally, live events and worldwide travel is a huge part of my life, so when they were all canceled for over a year I got depressed. As soon as things started opening up I started going out again.
It seems that getting covid multiple times increases your risk of post-covid issues (death, hospitalization, and assorted long covid problems including “pulmonary, cardiovascular, hematological, diabetes, gastrointestinal, kidney, mental health, musculoskeletal and neurological disorders. The risks were evident regardless of vaccination status. The risks were most pronounced in the acute phase but persisted in the postacute phase at 6 months.”
I certainly won’t buy fewer groceries because of a mask mandate. But i suppose if i hated wearing a mask, i might be less likely to attend a movie if the theater required me to wear a mask.
(Of course, last time i saw a movie, i picked the local theater that required masks, as i felt safer there… But i recognize I’m probably a minority on that.)
But yeah, if things are open at all, no place is going to have a mask mandate that actually prevents you from doing business there. Heck, when the local hospital required that i wear the mask they gave me, i was asked to remove it for the dermatologist to look at my skin, and for the ENT doctor to poke a scope up my nose.
I did mention that my church had less attendance with a mask mandate, if that can be considered a business, and I suppose it can.
In church, it’s not just a passive experience, some interaction is required by the audience. My personal experience was that wearing a mask inhibited talking and singing. The preachers and band did not wear masks when they were talking and singing.
My church now has an online option, and it would seem that online or not participating at all was more favored with a mask mandate in place.
People might also interpret a mask mandate as meaning it’s become less safe, and stay home more often.
Masks can at best flatten the curve. Covid is never going away. Once masks are removed cases will come back up.
I don’t think we’re capable of deploying masking in any nuanced way society wide. If mask mandates were reintroduced, there would be a faction that would strive to make them permanent. I think we are best off letting people make their own decisions at this point.