Hear, hear! I was surprised how wonderful and NORMAL it felt to throw off my mask today among my fully-vaccinated co-workers and clients. I will of course respect the requests of businesses or friends that I visit regarding masking, but when it is up to me, I will be happily mask free until it seems necessary again. I agree with LosPer that it is a shame that some may take this to mean that I must be a conservative, but I don't let that stop me from flying my American flag either. Leftists with brains, represent!
Yes, Yascha, fully vaccinated people may appropriately go unmasked in more situations, and, with you, I rejoice in that. However, I don't think it's right to deride all seemingly-not-strictly-necessary mask wearing as signaling hygiene virtue, as you do. [A] You don't know what other people's health and relational situations are. {B] Not all people are up-to-the-minute on the CDC guidelines. [C] CDC guidelines are important, but do not reflect absolute knowledge of how the vaccines and this ever-evolving disease works, and some people are inclined to be more cautious -- nothing wrong with that. [D] Perhaps you have not noticed, but Trumpish COVID skeptics have taken to berating people for wearing masks as a culture war action; this article kind of does that. [E] A small number of people wore masks in public before COVID and probably more will do so into the future -- to protect against OTHER infections, again, for reasons to which you are not privy.
Bottom line: "Needless" mask wearing harms no one, and inconveniences only the mask wearer. Give 'em a break.
"It's time to stop. Over the past year, we have had to make all kinds of adjustments to our everyday lives to combat a deadly pandemic. The reason to take these actions was to save lives, not to adopt a superior lifestyle or show off our virtue"
How are members of your tribe going to ensure people don't think somehow they are (*Darth Vader Music Plays*)Republicans?
I have read several iterations of this perspective. One common objection is that an unvaccinated individual has no way of knowing whether I am maskless because I have been vaccinated or because I don't care about transmitting covid. In this scenario, the only safe approach is to avoid everyone without masks as if they were unvaccinated. However, as the number of maskless vaccinated people rises, avoiding them all becomes untenable. Moreover the number of unvaccinated people who choose not to wear masks seems likely to rise as well.
To be clear, my hypothesis is if everyone followed your recommendation, unvaccinated people would grow tired of avoiding so many maskless potential vectors and ultimately stop trying. This would necessarily increase their odds of bumping into an unvaccinated maskless person and thereby contracting covid.
Personally, then, I can see the appeal of going maskless, but only once everyone who is likely to be vaccinated has been.
There are other considerations. For example, given the diffuse nature of indoor transmission and the near-complete absence of outdoor transmission, one could argue that close proximity to unmasked people was never particularly important. However, it remains valuable for unvaccinated people to wear masks indoors to reduce the amount of virus they release. For this reason, it seems important that e.g. bus drivers or owners of indoor businesses be able to tell who is vaccinated and who is not. I'm not certain this is possible.
Hear, hear! I was surprised how wonderful and NORMAL it felt to throw off my mask today among my fully-vaccinated co-workers and clients. I will of course respect the requests of businesses or friends that I visit regarding masking, but when it is up to me, I will be happily mask free until it seems necessary again. I agree with LosPer that it is a shame that some may take this to mean that I must be a conservative, but I don't let that stop me from flying my American flag either. Leftists with brains, represent!
My husband and I are fully vaccinated and have resumed normal activities - live theater, baseball game, hugging friends, and so on. It's wonderful.
Yes, Yascha, fully vaccinated people may appropriately go unmasked in more situations, and, with you, I rejoice in that. However, I don't think it's right to deride all seemingly-not-strictly-necessary mask wearing as signaling hygiene virtue, as you do. [A] You don't know what other people's health and relational situations are. {B] Not all people are up-to-the-minute on the CDC guidelines. [C] CDC guidelines are important, but do not reflect absolute knowledge of how the vaccines and this ever-evolving disease works, and some people are inclined to be more cautious -- nothing wrong with that. [D] Perhaps you have not noticed, but Trumpish COVID skeptics have taken to berating people for wearing masks as a culture war action; this article kind of does that. [E] A small number of people wore masks in public before COVID and probably more will do so into the future -- to protect against OTHER infections, again, for reasons to which you are not privy.
Bottom line: "Needless" mask wearing harms no one, and inconveniences only the mask wearer. Give 'em a break.
I love this Yascha. Thanks. However...
"It's time to stop. Over the past year, we have had to make all kinds of adjustments to our everyday lives to combat a deadly pandemic. The reason to take these actions was to save lives, not to adopt a superior lifestyle or show off our virtue"
How are members of your tribe going to ensure people don't think somehow they are (*Darth Vader Music Plays*)Republicans?
Maybe Antifa and BLM need to issue lapel pins?
LOL.
I have read several iterations of this perspective. One common objection is that an unvaccinated individual has no way of knowing whether I am maskless because I have been vaccinated or because I don't care about transmitting covid. In this scenario, the only safe approach is to avoid everyone without masks as if they were unvaccinated. However, as the number of maskless vaccinated people rises, avoiding them all becomes untenable. Moreover the number of unvaccinated people who choose not to wear masks seems likely to rise as well.
To be clear, my hypothesis is if everyone followed your recommendation, unvaccinated people would grow tired of avoiding so many maskless potential vectors and ultimately stop trying. This would necessarily increase their odds of bumping into an unvaccinated maskless person and thereby contracting covid.
Personally, then, I can see the appeal of going maskless, but only once everyone who is likely to be vaccinated has been.
There are other considerations. For example, given the diffuse nature of indoor transmission and the near-complete absence of outdoor transmission, one could argue that close proximity to unmasked people was never particularly important. However, it remains valuable for unvaccinated people to wear masks indoors to reduce the amount of virus they release. For this reason, it seems important that e.g. bus drivers or owners of indoor businesses be able to tell who is vaccinated and who is not. I'm not certain this is possible.