In other words, you will never stop wearing a mask.
Some people are better at reading expressions from only part of a face than others. It’s not something everyone’s universally capable of doing, though some are quite good at it.
I wouldn’t assume that your neighbors can tell that you’re smiling because you can tell by their eyes that they’re smiling at you. I’ve found myself smiling at people from behind a mask from pure reflex. It’s a pretty strong reflex, still there after a year. I have no idea whether they’re smiling or not.
And I’ve heard quite a lot of people complain about large sunglasses; though it occurs to me that I heard most of those complaints some time ago. Maybe that’s become so common that people no longer bother complaining about it.
While I defended @Procrustus’ decision to not wear one, I’ll also defend @skaizun’s decision to wear one as long as they like. I’m only judgmental against people who refuse to wear while unvaccinated and those who have issues with mask wearers in general (Tucker, I’m looking at you). Having a fully vaccinated, unmasked hugging party? Rock on! Wearing a mask outdoors while fully vaccinated and half a mile from the nearest person? Rock on! Giving me dirty looks from your unvaccinated ass-face while I wear a mask in the grocery store for a few more months? Fuck right off!
For me, it’s not just a reflex. I’ve been making a conscious effort to smile at people I see, since we see so few people these days. They usually smile back. Maybe it’s just a reflex on their part, I suppose I have no way to know.
As I’ve said elsewhere, I get the impression that some hear “I will continue to wear a mask” and, depending on wording and reasoning, hear an implied “…and anyone who doesn’t is a selfish, irresponsible asshole who is going to literally kill people. Shame on you. Why are you so willing to kill people for your own personal convenience, murderer?”
Not saying this is true for this particular case, mind. Just saying that this seems to be a big cause of some hostility. You see similar with vegetarian/vegan discussion.
While I hope that my wearing one in the grocery store and similar places has the effect of allowing others to see that we don’t have to drop them all at once, I certainly don’t condemn any vaccinated who choose to forego their usage.
What I mean is we’re never going to get to 95% immunity here or anywhere else in the world if that’s your barometer.
And sadly I think it fits into the narrative of the hard core anti-mask, anti-vax Trump supporters who have claimed throughout that this was just woke theater virtue signaling and/or overreactions against the virus. Even though I am a conservative, I joined you guys into mocking them because we had to go with what our best scientists were telling us.
Now that our best scientists are telling us that if we have the vaccine, we don’t have to wear a mask. It should be a moment of celebration for all but hypochondriacs. When so many continue to do so when it is completely unnecessary for protection against Covid, it fits that anti-mask narrative.
That’s funny-When people eschew the wearing of masks, I think some hear an implied “…and those of you who wear masks are either ignorant dupes of Big Science, or are willing participants in the conspiracy”.
“Just sayin’” right back at you.
Never mind.
Our best scientists are saying that vaccinated people can unmask except in healthcare settings, in nursing homes, or when interacting with immune compromised individuals, it when local regulations indicate otherwise i think. And I’m fine with that as private guidance for people’s personal decisions.
I heard some unfortunate CDC person on the radio saying that the local regulations were supposed to be predicated on local infection rates, not completely wiped out. So i feel the “scientists say” has been a bit overstated.
But what I’m really not fine with is dropping all masking requirements in public places without having anything resembling a vaccination passport. Because that’s really saying “it’s okay for everyone to unmask, including the unvaccinated”. And that’s not what the CDC recommended, even in the simple version.
I wish the CDC had given explicit advice re local infection levels. 
The CDC loses its credibility with that IMHO. They are scientists. How does it become less safe to unmask because the local mayor is like many people in this thread and stubbornly refuses to lift a mask mandate? The virus doesn’t care about who are politicians are.
If all the CDC is saying is that “As a good citizen, you should comply with your local law” then that is fine, but then it doesn’t have the import you are suggesting.
Which isn’t even in the same ballpark as “we shouldn’t wear a mask.”
I considered being vaccinated far more of a moment for celebration, personally, and it’s not particularly close.
It is not completely unnecessary for protection against COVID based on the current science. The vaccination has drastically reduced the chances of COVID-19 contraction as well as the likely severity if it does happen. It happens to reduce both of those to the point where I have no issue with @Procrustus’ decision, and am far more casual about my own situation as well. In fact, if the entire world population followed Procrustus’ lead, we’d be effectively done with this pandemic shortly. If they followed my lead, we’d probably shave a few weeks off of that timeline. That doesn’t change the fact that there is such a thing as breakthrough cases, hospitalizations, and deaths, and those aren’t limited to hypochondriacs.
Please stop saying that vaccines make it unnecessary to observe any caution whatsoever. You’re wrong, and it’s dangerous.
This is my problem, in a nutshell. Wearing a mask occasionally causes me to have a panic attack. I can usually manage a 10 minute trip to the grocery store, but I have had to leave a store on more than one occasion so I could take my mask off and collect myself. I completely understand that it’s psychological and that other people don’t have this problem. It doesn’t make it less real for me, and it’s why I am very happy to not have to wear masks the majority of the time. I have no idea how I’d be able to wear one for hours at a time if I had to go into the office to work.
This is missing the point. Vaccinations reduce the risk of spreading covid. Masks reduce the risk of spreading covid. If the background level of covid is below x, then vaccinations alone are adequate for you to do your part to protect others. But if background levels are above x, the reduction due to vaccination isn’t quite enough to protect those who can’t be vaccinated. (There are actually quite a lot of immune compromised people out there, for whom vaccination probably isn’t much protection.)
That’s why community guidelines were also supposed to play a role.
The whole “all or nothing” narrative that’s all too common on both sides, but especially on the right, is really very counter-science.
It’s a good thing that I said nothing of the sort then.
My remarks were limited to the idea that the CDC has said, with limited exceptions, that if you are vaccinated, you do not need to wear masks indoors. If people want to misread that and see it as “I don’t need to get vaccinated and can now do a line of cocaine in a public sewer” then that is not my fault or the CDC’s fault.
Honestly, there’s probably a fairly large range of background transmission rates where it makes sense for masks to be recommended for those who are comfortable wearing one. I’m happy to keep wearing a mask to make it safer for you to remove yours. It’s much less of a burden on me then it is on you.
Then why don’t you tell me what that top statement means. Are you saying people should stop wearing masks but social distance (or some other less effective method of transmission) instead? If so, that seems rather stupid.
Infection rates may be high in some localities even while infections are low in other areas. It’s not in the least unscientific to say that some places may need to continue mask mandates while others don’t.
But the CDC didn’t say that. It simply said that if you are vaccinated, you don’t need to wear a mask, with exceptions, including if your state or local law requires it. Nothing about background infection rates. Nothing at all. You are reading something into the statement that isn’t there.
There is nothing scientific about the states and localities that are hanging on to mask mandates. No higher rates of background infections–it’s dropping everywhere in the United States. The places that continue to have mask mandates are simply run by people who are left of center politically. People can easily see that there is nothing scientific about that.