I am one of the only people here that still wears a mask at the doctor. Even most of the doctors stopped wearing them (what the hell! thats where the sick and immunocompromised are most likely to be in the same building!)
It doesn’t make you feel a bit better about not wearing one that most doctors aren’t? If they think the risk is so low, or that continuous mask wearage is more detrimental than covid?
No it does not make me feel better that people that should know better than to not wear a mask in an environment full of sick and immunocompromised people are not wearing masks. And no wearing a mask is not worse than covid holy shit.
There’s nuance there that you’re skipping right over. Continuous mask wearing is detrimental, it has negative consequences.
You can’t hide “masks are worse than covid” anywhere in that slight shade of nuance.
The detriment as a whole, over a lifespan is where the nuance lies. It’s okay though, this kind of actual thinking over knee-jerk response is hard. I understand if you can’t bring yourself to do that.
We’ve got acovid denier here.
Tagged you as such. Thanks.
I didn’t deny covid? Lol. Covid is a thing, it exists. I got vaccinated against it and wore a mask up until it was said they’re no longer needed.
I carry one with me. If I see someone else wearing one, I’ll put it on. I’m not really worried about anything myself, but I’ll gladly wear a mask to give someone else peace of mind.
I love you
On public transit and airplanes, definitely. I used to get colds all the time when traveling; I don’t anymore. I think part of that is down to improvements in air filtration, but part of it is masking.
In some shops, but not all. Mostly in shops that have a lot of people in at once, and shops that request it. I don’t mask if I’m going to the corner store to pick up some beer; I do mask at the grocery store that has a sign requesting it.
Never for outdoor events. This might be different if I lived in a different city; a friend of mine who lives in the LA area does mask for crowded outdoor events.
Also, doctor’s offices and a few other places require it.
(Curious observation: On transit, I’m not usually the only person with a mask on, but I’m often the only non-Asian person with a mask on.)
Yep, airport for sure. I used to get sick everytime I flew. Not anymore and in hindsight it seems stupid that I never masked at the airport before. And doctor’s office if it’s my primary care or urgent care. Not much of a need for a mask at the dermatologist. Basically if I’m somewhere there’s a fuck load of contagious people.
Recently though, the air quality has been so bad from the wild fires up north that I’ve worn a mask while out. I came home one day from coughing like crazy and my throat was sore. I thought I was getting sick until I put two and two together about the thick haze of wildfire smog. Masked up until the AQI went back down and saved myself some discomfort.
I’m in the Bay Area. My house had N95 masks on hand prior to COVID, because we wore them when wildfire smoke made the air yellow.
Yeah, this is pretty much my standard now too. I was in hospital for a day surgery recently and was more than a little taken aback at the fact that I was one of the only people masking.
We all wear masks…metaphorically speaking, we suppress the id, our darkest desires, and adopt a more socially acceptable image.
…the loaner ?
Hold onto yer lug nuts, it’s time for an overhaul!!!
That’s right, Wendy.
metaphorically speakinggggggg
If I feel under the weather and I must go out, I’ll wear a mask. Otherwise, no. Society at large has accepted the less dangerous variants as a fact of life.
During the pandemic I wore them everywhere. A large section of society showed they couldn’t be fucking bothered so here we are.
Indoors in public, all the time.
I don’t want to catch COVID again if I can help it. It’s a shitty, dangerous virus.
TBH, I don’t think most people understand that it’s not just a bad cold–it’s a virus that attacks your vascular system that also does some nasty respiratory stuff. The increased risks of heart attacks and strokes after even a mild infection are not great, and if you’re getting infected every year, you’re permanently carrying that elevated risk.
That’s why I get all the boosters.
It’s LITERALLY a cold.
I do. The number one “complaint” people had with me pre-pandemic was that I should smile more. Not one fucking dumbass person has told me to do that when I have my mask on. That alone is enough reason for me to never take it off when I’m dealing with customers.
I am also still paranoid and I don’t trust the average person out there to be doing safe things.
Yes. I got covid in 2020 and am still a complete wreck. It really did a number on me in so many ways.
I try to do what I can to avoid getting even worse.
I do. I find it helps reduce common cold and cough infections. And i really will never stop wearing it when in a mall or any space with lots of strangers.
I don’t, and I feel super out of place now after reading the comments.
Yeah, this thread cannot be a representative sample of any population. I mean, I guess I would be surprised if “users of an open source, decentralized, federated link aggregator” was a representative sample of anything. Where I live, I see a couple people wearing masks per week, and I work with the public, I’m out all the time with friends, idk. I’d see masks if they existed in my area, so where I live they’re gone.
I still wear a mask but its the fact that others don’t think logically about this stuff still that has me most up in arms. Dad has been sick since weekend, mom says I’m going to come over to your house to see her grandkids. Mom comes over and 4 hours later they call me to tell me they both have covid and tested positive. Mom tells me that dad had been sick since weekend…in my head im fuming.
fingers crossed. Just hoping since she wasn’t sick, that our 1 hour visit will spare my fam somehow.
I wear a mask when I’m on a short plane trip because the odds are high someone will have a airborne illness. And the effort is minimal compared to the probability of exposure. But otherwise I don’t wear one.
the effort is minimal compared to the probability of exposure
This is basically always true with masking. It’s so dang easy.
I do pretty much always. I don’t at the gym or in the (semi rare) instances i eat out. Shit’s not “over” and i have an immunocompromised friend i’d like to continue hanging out with.
I’ve noticed wearing an N95 makes the hard gasoline and diesel smells from the highway less bad when cycling-commuting.
I jog with my mask on everyday. Avoiding breathing in all the dirt on the side of the road as cars go by is not something I want to stop doing.
And not just dirt, the pollution from tires is pretty awful: https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/07/09/tire-brake-tailpipes-emissions-pollution-cars/
I wear one every day with only a few exceptions (lab work for university where it’s impractical and I’m only around a few people anyway). I have seen the effects of long Covid on my loved ones, and i want nothing to do with that. Still haven’t caught COVID this far in, and while I think my vaccinations have been effective it makes me uncomfortable that we aren’t continuing to boost and that most people haven’t had a fresh vaccine in a few years at this point. Waning efficacy is a real thing and many never got boosted at all
Yeah, like, there are plenty of people out there with long COVID. I have relatives with it. I have coworkers who are on leave because of it. About 5% of the US seems to have activity-limiting long COVID at any given time: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/covid19/pulse/long-covid.htm
Shit’s bad.
Yowzers! I assumed 5%was “has ever experienced long COVID” or it would be heavily weighted toward older people or something. No, the numbers are a lot more evenly spread than I would’ve guessed, and the National average for CURRENTLY experiencing long COVID is like 6% or something… Wow…
It surprises me because I can’t think of anybody I know that complains of symptoms of long COVID, and I’m 38. It’s s not like my friends and family are all young , fit people who are too stubborn to show weakness. This data kinda shocks me.
I think that people are really hesitant to talk about when they’re having a hard time, never mind admit that they might be lumped into the ‘disabled’ bucket.
We’re, uh, not great about how we treat people w/disabilities in our society. Having something that is ‘supposed to happen to other people’ happen to you is rough.
