I’ll admit that I have not been following this thread, my comments are aimed at the original question.
Because I live in a southern conservative state there is a strong libertarian mindset. Mandates have not been in effect for quite some time. The only time I am asked to mask is when going to a medical establishment.
Other than at the doctor or dentist I do not wear a mask. I have been fully vaccinated and I feel that not wearing a mask is an acceptable risk.
Mandates were a good thing, but the need has greatly diminished.
Needless to say, we have varying experiences and approaches to dealing with this pandemic. As a group with more medical risk than the general population, we sometimes see things in a way that others don’t see. Still, we can look at what we’re all facing and come up with our different perspectives.
This is my perspective - everyone has a right to exercise their perspective on the fact that the number of infections and hospitalizations has been declining in the US, which is good news, indeed. As an expected result, federal agencies and local jurisdictions have reduced and/or eliminated safety requirements, or made them somewhat voluntary. In my area of Florida, the use of masks and social distancing has virtually disappeared, as a result. My concern is that the more we do away with safety measures, the more we enable the virus to propagate and produce new variants (I have a few family members that are medical professionals and this is what they tell me). I will not try to shame anyone over their choice of dealing with the virus, however, in the background I do have a concern that we may have had opportunities to do away with this thing early on and missed the opportunity. We can’t go back in time. Regardless, we’re still progressing and I’m happy for that. I will continue to wear a mask, try to maintain social distancing, and wash my hands, even if it affords me only a minimal amount of protection. The hidden benefit for me will be that I will probably catch less, or spread more, flu, colds. Mandates really don’t work, so we’ll just have exercise what we feel comfortable doing based on our gut convictions.
I will continue to wear a mask and I will avoid crowded places. I ended up in the ICU due to COVID in December 2020. COVID pushed me in ketoacidosis (something I had never experienced in the 11 years I have been diabetic). I have LADA and I was dosing 26 units of Basal insulin daily and it made no difference when I got COVID. COVID just knocked me out. I was on oxygen until February 2021. The recovery was terrible as I had to rehab to walk again. COVID has caused diabetes in people who had no history of the disease and it can cause heart damaged and other internal organ damage even in minor cases. I wouldn’t wish that dirty virus on anyone. But, as people kick, scream and whine over masks and social distancing I prefer to stay safe and minimize the chances of returning to the hospital or worse. I am vaccinated, but the vaccine does not prevent infection. Again, even a minor case can cause serious long term internal organ damage
You were restrained? You cannot be legally restrained (tie you down) in the hospital. I worked in a nursing home and back in 2010 the DON and half the nursing staff and the entire CNA staff were fired when state inspectors found residents restrained (tied down). It is illegal to restrain patients. One resident was bound to a wheelchair to keep her from falling out. I remember the state inspector came up to me and asked “did you tie her arms?” I said “No, one of the nursing assistant did that.” They shut us down immediately for the day.
We will keep masking and sd for the foreseeable future, n95 everywhere. No way I am taking any chances to get covid again. The negligent handling of covid gave me lh covid and murdered my father. It is too early to stop masking.
There is already an uptick in cases since the recent mask changes and a new variation of omicron is already here. People who are fully vaxed are being infected and some severely. Some are dying. Young children still can’t be vaxed.
Protect yourselves and others, do not be a contributor to even more variants developing (and more infections) which could be more deadly. The new omicron variant is more contagious.
Funding was voted down recently for covid so if a new deadlier variant arises it is doubtful many will get the needed treatments or even testing.
People who think they went through a “trauma” because they had to wear a mask, sd etc. went through nothing compared to me and many others who lost loved ones and who had longterm effects. You can have longterm effects even with a mild or asymptomatic case.
This conversation started about masking, but at some point, I diverged and started talking about the things we would keep. Maybe, it is masking, to avoid air pollution, more frequent hand washing, use of delivery services (but maintaining the 30% tip), and certainly remote work, if you can.
I saw this today, and it reminded me of some of my prior posts, but for sure, some things will stay.
The good stuff, a greater appreciation of nature - for urban dwellers anyway, I remember friends getting into birding in and around Manhattan, as well as photography - biking, and consideration of all the important but often invisible work done by others.
I came to this (very long) thread late—the last entry was 16 days ago. I live in a state (AZ) that stopped daily reports of new infections/deaths, so we’re a bit behind on guessing about risk. Yes, people are still dying, hospitals still have patients on ventilators, and most local folk don’t mask in stores, etc. I was wearing a mask long before COVID bloomed because my allergies + asthma=nasty infections. I wear better masks now and pretty much stay home. The new Omicron variant is alive and spreading, so stay tuned for political vs. medical recommendations.
I’d like to say that I’m disappointed in my fellow human’s lack of wisdom on this issue but I’ve accepted that I rarely line up in the majority on anything. The fanciful thinking that taking off masks and getting “back to normal” is the right thing to do makes no sense to me at all.
Since the new BA.2 variant is even more contagious than the first Omicron variant but does not pack the damaging effects of previous variants is the saving grace for our socially unwise behavior. Mother Nature appears to be giving us a pass!
It appears that the public health cost of unmasking and other loosening of pandemic policies will not be too much. I’m thankful for that.
I believe that I’m the only tenant in my apartment building who wears a mask on the elevator. Several times in the last week, my neighbors got on the elevator and seeing my mask, proceeded to put on theirs.
This morning I received my second Covid booster; it’s one of the things that I can control. I’m happy it was made available to me.
My spouse has decided to get one, and I will too. It’s too easy a decision to make, but there is a concern of timing, whether it might be better to wait a bit. There is an expectation of a fall surge, so…
There is always a surge or a problem somewhere and we are such a connected world that this crud just varies and morphs from one place to another. My Shanghai staff is totally 100% locked down at home, rationing and still running out of food which is pretty scary in a city of nearly 30 million people. It does not look like the Chinese containment strategy, for many reasons, worked out as planned and expected.
I will definetely continue to wear N95 masks when going out.
Where I live, Brazil, mask mandates were lifted last month. The majority of people still wear masks on the street and specially inside places, which was a relief to me. When I go out for a walk in the morning, I do too, even though I am the only person on the street.
As Covid impacts us more but it is almost like gambling if people will have serious symptoms, my other relief is I am double vaccinated and boosted. I’ll also gladly take a second booster soon, as will the people I know.
Just remember that vaccination does not prevent infection and that even a minor case of COVID can cause long term heart damage and other internal organ damage. COVID is known to cause arthritis and diabetes. I know a handful of people who had minor cases of covid. All have high blood pressure now. Another friend of mine is having a hard time controlling her hashimoto’s post covid. Her doctor is perplexed at how the levothyroxine she has been taking for years now doesn’t stabilize her thyroid numbers.
Her husband never got it and he was around those who were infected? that is one lucky dude. I have worked from home for ten years. I ended up getting covid and it put me in the ICU. Talk about bad luck. I suspect I got it when I went to the market. There were people still going to public places even they were sick. I remember seeing people coughing and sneezing at the store during the first year covid hit. Some people really dodged the bullet with covid. Good for them
That really sucks. I hope you’re feeling better. I don’t know anyone vaxxed + boosted who ended up in the hospital.
She and her husband were both vaccinated and recently boosted. They likely had protection from infection from the booster.
I’m grateful the govt is proactively rolling out a second booster to those whose immunity wanes first. Hopefully they’ll be able to come up with a more long term vaccination solution in the next year or so.
Just to update- if you want to protect yourself and not contribute variants etc. wear n 95 everywhere you go and social distance- that is the only way as well as vaccination obviously. . Make sure you get all of your boosters- I just saw a report on the news two weeks ago that 40% of the deaths currently are in vaccinated but non-boosted people.
I still wear my masks. They don’t feel burdensome to me at all at this stage. It’s really one of the lowest effort actions I take for my own health. Much easier than monitoring my blood sugars and calculating boluses, that’s for sure! At least for me, it’s a “set it and forget it” situation, which is nice. I already have enough medical problems to deal with as it is, and I don’t want any more. I’m used to being the only one who is wearing a mask. People stare, and some get upset, but if I don’t bother them, why bother with me? I understand why some people have decided to stop wearing them. Masks were never very common here, vaccination rate isn’t the best, and cases are rising where I live. Our hospitals are still pretty busy, too. Friends up north report very different local situations, and maybe I’d feel differently if I were still there.
Masks were never really common in my neck of the woods either. I think I wore a mask maybe 25-30 times since the pandemic started. They were mandated for some time while shopping or visiting a medical facility so that is the only place many of us wore them. At work, there are a few hundred people at the facility at any given time and I have never worn a mask at work, but a few people did, especially those that had children or for a one-week period when they did catch Covid. I have had my shots and 2 boosters and have no objections if people around me want to or don’t want to mask up. Whatever makes them comfortable.
It is not different in the north. The pos test rate in my county = 6% now, a 300% jump maybe in 2-3 weeks, everything else is up too. Not wearing masks is pure stupidity and is contributing to more deaths and new variants. As I said 40% of deaths are in vaccinated but not boosted people. Wearing a mask is hard for me as an asthmatic etc. but it is still needed. I found n95 are a lot easier to breath in than kn95.
