stating what should be obvious

[redbird]

The pandemic is not over. We can't just "declare victory and go home" (a misquote of a senator's suggestion for the Vietnam War*).

People socializing in indoors, unmasked proves only that those people don't think they need to mask, for one reason or another. Some of those people are just tired of masking, some think their vaccines are sufficient protection -- I hope they're right -- some never took covid or masking seriously, and some, I think, are assuming that if their friends do a thing, it's safe.

The reasoning is backwards, because the virus isn't the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal, and if the virus had anything resembling a point of view, I think it would be pleased to have potential hosts when you're playing cards.

*I know this is a misquote because I just googled to get the exact phrasing and attribution.

Comments

[sabotabby]

I just wonder if they don't know or they don't care or whether covid has just shrunk everyone's brain. Almost no one masks at my work. I know it's a pain in the ass, especially when they've been cranking the heat to make it a fetid swamp, but we lost more people in August 2022 than in August 2021 and 2020 combined.

[alexseanchai]

did part of the first paragraph get eaten?

[redbird]

I deleted less than I'd meant to, in rounds of rewriting (for phrasing).

[thistleingrey]

I think it would be pleased to have potential hosts when you're playing cards.

Yes. Meanwhile, my kid says that more than one teacher makes "easy" mistakes, such as in the math homework answer key: "I really like this teacher, but I wish I'd met her before covid ate part of her brain." The pandemic is in the hearts of this set of teens/20s young people, with all their different perspectives, which makes the Vietnam War a pretty fair analogue re: news media and pop culture, I think (though I'm not quite old enough to remember the war itself, only its reception and silences).

[thistleingrey]

I've now offered my kid a quick summary of people's very disparate responses after the Vietnam War. Her reply: "YES. Also ... and then people become activists?" as in, is this sometimes a generative confusion/frustration. Indeed yes.

[snippy]

My employers will be glad to hear it, given that they are making us go back 3 days a week in October. The same three days for the entire firm. I have to assume to maximize the spread so that in case anyone who works there (besides me) hasn't had it yet, they will have an equal opportunity to get it. In spite of the fact that one of the three people I was hired to support believes they have long COVID, after just getting their first case (break-through as we are all fully vaxed) a few months ago.

[dewline]

Homicidal carelessness, I call that. Without hesitation.

[minoanmiss]

Well said and you shouldn't hav to say it.

[otter]

I'm freaking out a bit more lately with all the unmasking going on.

[tarasacon]

yep, me too. Even friends who were really careful for a long time seem to have given up.

[redbird]

Some giving up, I think, and some not-always-conscious modeling our behavior on other people's, including but not only people whose judgment we tend to trust.

[tarasacon]

Yes, I definitely think modeling behavior is a factor.

I certainly struggle with when/how to mask. For example, depending on the time of day I can easily walk from my apartment to the library without seeing anyone, or maybe someone on the other side of the street. But sometimes there are other people about. Again, usually easily avoided.

If I don’t mask I’m indicating that that’s okay.

But wearing a mask can be a ptsd trigger for me, causing extreme anxiety/panic. I can manage in and out of the library wearing one because it’s a discrete task, but when I try to wear one all the way there and home again I’m courting a panic attack, which eats spoons.

I don’t think there’s a Right Answer. I want to be a good example. I need to manage my own health. I make the best choice I can on a given day.

[redbird]

Mental health is also relevant.

I'm not currently masking if I'm walking around outdoors unless there's a crowd, but I sometimes leave my mask on if I'm going from one indoor location to another (e.g., from the dentist's office to the bus), because the more times I take the mask off and put it back on, the sooner it will wear out.

I'm OK signaling "you don't need a mask in the Public Garden" or "it's okay not to put your mask at this outdoor bus stop until the bus arrives."

[ofearthandstars]

I've been struggling with this a lot as my partner teaches, and masks are not required, and my 21 year old does not mask unless I personally hand him one everywhere he goes, which can't always happen. And while I have tried to explain to the people in my life that the pandemic is not over, it feels like...maybe they think it has, probably because the administration here glosses it over, the numbers aren't reported like they used to be, and the news doesn't really speak of it much anymore. It's not an emergency because we have normalized the Right to Not Be Inconvenienced over the right to be safe. *sigh*