It doesn’t hurt that, when we had one of those stupid anti-lockdown protests early on, Doug Ford (the right-wing conservative Premier of Ontario, for those who don’t know him) didn’t hesitate to denounce the protestors as “a bunch of yahoos”. I’m not a fan of Doug Ford, but he’s clearly demonstrated the difference between leadership and partisanship during this crisis, and that’s a large part of why we’re doing better than the US.
Compare this to Trump playing footsies with their idiots, and the difference is stark.
Yeah, I thought about saying that in my earlier post in this thread, but then I realized that I don’t really know what running in Brooklyn is like, and for all I know it’s impossible to reliably maintain distance from others. But since then, I’ve seen a Facebook post from one of my colleagues where she was griping about people not wearing masks on our local walking trail – which I KNOW is at least ten feet wide and not crowded. (And it’s Mississippi in the summer – wearing a mask for extended periods of outdoor exercise is uncomfortable!)
I think it’s safe to say that people can honestly be trying to do their best, but have really different ideas about what’s necessary or required – the advice from public health authorities has been really inconsistent to begin with, and even if it hadn’t been, two people can hear the same words and take away totally different messages from them. In this case, some people seem to be hearing “Keeping at least six feet away from other people is ideal, but if you’re going to a place where you might not be able to do that, wear a mask” and other people seem to be hearing “Keeping at least six feet away from other people, but preferably much farther, AND wearing a mask are BOTH required at ALL times.”
None of this, obviously, excuses people who get belligerent when asked to put on a mask, let alone anyone making death threats like the guy the OP mentioned, but I do think the guidelines about what you “should” do in various situations are less clear than people sometimes assume.
Sure. But the sidewalks of this part of Brooklyn are about four feet wide. At best.
And there are precious few spots in NYC where you can count on being six feet or more from everyone else. But if you find a nice isolated spot somewhere, sure, it’s nice to get the mask off for a bit.
My opinion of Ford when he became Conservative leader and during the provincial election was that he was “Trump Lite”, our very own bozo leader. I still don’t like his policies, but he’s really stepped up to the plate for the pandemic, and proven to be capable of listening to his advisors and learning from them, and telling us what we need to hear from our Premier. I likely won’t ever vote for him, but I certainly won’t laugh at him any more.
It actually not that bad to be within a six-foot radius of someone else for a short period of time when outdoors, such as a few seconds while passing them on a trail. Unless they sneeze or cough directly on you, they just aren’t shedding enough virions for you to become infected. Indoors is a bigger risk because the virions have nowhere to go, and accumulate in the environment. I would only wear a mask outdoors if I were in a truly crowded environment where it was difficult to ever be more than six feet from strangers. A crowded sidewalk, maybe. Middle of Prospect Park in Brooklyn, nah…
I’m in a purple city in a red state. Mask usage here during lockdown was up to about 75% but now that we’ve opened up, I’d guess it’s around 40% most places.
Yesterday I stopped at an independent auto parts place to get a bulb for my car. On Amazon I saw a two pack of the bulbs for $14.
Because our county is now “yellow”, apparently masks are no longer required in auto parts stores. I got out of my car, put on my mask, and walked in. I was the only customer, but I was shocked to see the three workers all mask less.
I showed a worker my bulb and he got a replacement. I paid with a twenty, got my change, and left. At home I was surprised when I counted my change and saw I’d been given $19.93 cents change. I’m guessing he charged me seven cents instead of seven dollars, maybe? (They only give receipts if you request one)