# Unanticipated aspects of a pandemic **URL:** \ **Category:** The Quarantine Zone\ **Tags:** covid-quarantine\ **Created:** [March 8, 2020, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094 "2020-03-08T10:26:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2020, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/141 "2020-04-02T23:20:10Z")
That’s wild about the vibrations. We’re not being such busy bees these days. > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I don’t think it’s any of my business to tell anyone they have to expose parts of their bodies that they don’t want to expose; and I think it’s become pretty clear that the argument that hiding faces poses a public danger wasn’t the real reason for such objections. I never thought that was the primary objection–rather, I thought it was the one I raised, that it demonstrates “Handmaid”-style oppression of women. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/142 "2020-04-03T00:30:38Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > I am vehemently opposed to anyone being forced to wear religious garb,. People like you weren’t forced to wear religious garb in pre-revolution France or Turkey. Quite the opposite: it would have been a “false colors” offense like wearing army medals in the USA. It’s meaningless to try to tease out the difference between “cultural appropriation” and “religion”, but even now, in Australia, the Hijab is used not just as self-identification, but as a negative identifier: a statement about people who don’t wear the hijab that would be subverted it everyone dressed that way. I think this can be (although it not always is) separated from the questions about crime and state security. Those have easy answers: if people and the state are more threatened by disease than by crime and treason, then those objections to masks disappear. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/143 "2020-04-03T02:01:25Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > If/when a vaccine is offered, how will the antivaxers respond? Some of them are ALREADY sounding off. Most of the chatter I’ve seen has been along the lines of, “This will probably be mandatory, and it will be the Mark of the Beast. I won’t take the mark.” ---
**Author:** ![bengangmo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@bengangmo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bengangmo)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/144 "2020-04-03T02:04:23Z")
One of my daughter’s “acquaintances”\* (friend of a friend whom she knows) saw her father die after being knocked off his bike. Father and daughter were out exercising during our enforced lockdown. I guess this falls squarely under “unintended consequences” of a pandemic - I don’t know them, and daughter only knows peripherally ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/145 "2020-04-03T12:46:04Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > People like you What are “people like [me]?” I don’t understand what group you’re assigning me to. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [April 3, 2020, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/146 "2020-04-03T23:32:16Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > What are “people like [me]?” > > I don’t understand what group you’re assigning me to. People who are vehemently apposed to people being forced to wear religious garb. It’s a loose grouping without much value and I apologise if it caused offence. ---
**Author:** ![madsircool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madsircool/32/3432_2.png) [@madsircool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madsircool)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2020, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/147 "2020-04-07T13:39:23Z")
[https://news.yahoo.com/pandas-lockdown-privacy-mate-decade-trying-110913382.html](https://news.yahoo.com/pandas-lockdown-privacy-mate-decade-trying-110913382.html) Zoo Pandas, given privacy, are actually mating. > [@](#): > > Stuck at home with no visitors and not much else to do, a pair of pandas in Hong Kong finally decided to give mating a go after a decade of dodging the issue. > > Like half the planet, Ying Ying and Le Le have only really had each other for company since coronavirus-caused lockdowns shut off the flow of guests to their themepark pad. > > And like couples everywhere, they’ve been making the best of the time on their own. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2020, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/148 "2020-04-07T16:22:41Z")
> [@madsircool](#): > > [https://news.yahoo.com/pandas-lockdown-privacy-mate-decade-trying-110913382.html](https://news.yahoo.com/pandas-lockdown-privacy-mate-decade-trying-110913382.html) > > Zoo Pandas, given privacy, are actually mating. Pandas ain’t got Zoom. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2020, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/149 "2020-04-07T17:25:15Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > You stop that and you realise that, actually, we don’t really have adequate parking space if all of them are on the ground. [This](https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/18343840.bournemouth-airport-unprecedented-amount-planes-parked/) is a photo of Bournemouth Airport, a small regional airport in the UK, which BA is currently using as a plane park. Here’s [Atlanta](https://twitter.com/kimpaquette/status/1241321821305221120?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fd-39954576631793719535.ampproject.net%2F2004012158290%2Fframe.html). ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/150 "2020-05-29T21:31:51Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > [Here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1v9VwC3sWdc) is an unanticipated consequence I don’t think was mentioned previously and which I saw on a late-night chat show; monkeys in Thailand stampeding. The explanation was that normally they’re fed bananas by tourists, but with no tourists, there are no free bananas. Meanwhile, [monkeys in India seem to want to weaponize the virus](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-india-monkey-idUSKBN2351KV). ---
**Author:** ![Corry\_El](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@Corry\_El](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Corry_El)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/151 "2020-05-29T22:19:05Z")
> [@Melbourne](#): > > People like you weren’t forced to wear religious garb in pre-revolution France or Turkey. Quite the opposite: it would have been a “false colors” offense like wearing army medals in the USA. I don’t think there’s much of real issue of people ‘forced’ to wear religious garb. The relevant case in recent times is Muslim women non-Muslims claim are being constructively ‘forced’ in the view of the non-Muslims complaining, when the women themselves say ‘it’s what I want to wear’. It’s virtually never a case of a particular person coercing another person by threat of force to wear anything. If so you could just call the police and they could investigate those cases. It’s a concept of ‘oppression’ which means what somebody else says they want to do isn’t ‘really’ what they want to do because they’re ‘oppressed’, IOW it doesn’t meet fairness or ‘make any sense’ tests of somebody else. The devout women’s ‘true selves’ must not want to do it, because that would mean disagreeing with Western aggressive secularists, who have figured out the universe (just ask them if you have any doubt). 🙂 But seriously folks, it really does have pretty little to do with COVID masks with the potentially material exception of recognizing individuals, either with tech or the old fashioned way (mask foils my iphone’s facial recognition feature, not that it’s a huge deal, often doesn’t work in bright sun either). That applies no matter why the person adopts the face covering. Various societies have outlawed facial covering in public where preventing anonymity (in crime or rioting) was the actual motive, not just a smokescreen for something else. But with COVID it would seem obvious that a person’s desire to wear a face covering in public is important enough to put those considerations aside for now. It’s far from certain that face coverings outdoor do anything much for anyone, but in indoor public spaces there’s more chance they protect others from infection by the mask wearer to a significant degree, and anyway no proof they are totally useless even outdoors. As to forcing people _to_ wear them, I think that’s pretty problematic though when it comes to outdoors. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/152 "2020-05-29T22:51:10Z")
But now some businesses are putting up signs saying facemasks are banned on their premises, which is outrageous. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/153 "2020-05-30T00:42:35Z")
> [@RioRico](#): > > **A new kind of patriotism.** Civilian service, not just military. All right – just like _Starship Troopers_! ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [May 30, 2020, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/154 "2020-05-30T15:06:43Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > But now some businesses are putting up signs saying facemasks are banned on their premises, which is outrageous. Outrageous, but useful. Makes it easier to boycott the idiots. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [May 31, 2020, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/155 "2020-05-31T03:51:45Z")
True. ETA: But I still think such businesses should get in trouble for doing this. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2020, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/156 "2020-06-02T23:25:20Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > But now some businesses are putting up signs saying facemasks are banned on their premises, which is outrageous. And some businesses have signs that say “masks required”. So if the sign on the business door says “Masks required” does that mean all other clothes are optional? ---
**Author:** ![D\_Anconia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/67e7ee/32.png) [@D\_Anconia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Anconia)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2020, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/157 "2020-06-03T01:01:16Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > True. > > ETA: But I still think such businesses should get in trouble for doing this. In trouble for what? Posting a sign is not illegal. ---
**Author:** ![SlackerInc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slackerinc/32/275_2.png) [@SlackerInc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlackerInc)\ **Post date:** [June 4, 2020, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/158 "2020-06-04T03:33:22Z")
> [@D\_Anconia](#): > > In trouble for what? Posting a sign is not illegal. It can be, depending on what the sign says. Posting a sign that says “No Negroes Allowed” would be illegal. So would posting a sign in the restroom saying “Employees: Don’t Worry About Washing Your Hands Before Returning to Work”. So why should it not be illegal to post a sign prohibiting people from using the public health practices recommended by the government? ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/159 "2020-06-05T06:17:39Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > And some businesses have signs that say “masks required”. So if the sign on the business door says “Masks required” does that mean all other clothes are optional? Depends on where you put the masks… ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 5, 2020, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094/160 "2020-06-05T06:20:00Z")
> [@SlackerInc](#): > > It can be, depending on what the sign says. Posting a sign that says “No Negroes Allowed” would be illegal. So would posting a sign in the restroom saying “Employees: Don’t Worry About Washing Your Hands Before Returning to Work”. So why should it not be illegal to post a sign prohibiting people from using the public health practices recommended by the government? In some places, like where I live, stores are required to require masks, so such a sign would be illegal. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unanticipated-aspects-of-a-pandemic/849094.md?page=9)