Most no longer make eye contact. Or shake hands. I can't tell whether someone is genuinely smiling or laughing. Voices are muffled. They're a distraction.
I miss face to face conversations with strangers. I miss talking fast, getting excited, and not having my glasses fog up because I apparently breath fast when excited.
There's an element of humanity that's simply been lost.
EDIT: This isn't a response to what is the appropriate trade-offs for lives lost.
It's specifically a response to the idea that "nothing" is lost when wearing a mask.
I want my newborn to see her grandmother and my family.
I'm just not willing to trade off a bunch of deaths for that.
5 years? Ten years? The rest of your life?
it’s all a matter of where you draw the line of risk/reward
Folks should be wearing masks when they are or even might be sick with ANY transmissible disease. Its actually pretty insane that pre-covid, folks would go into public and work while endangering who knows how many people (I know a lot of people don't have the option, which is a whole other bag of worms).
I find it extremely depressing that people compare this to other easily preventable deaths (I see it often online and from my own family) and say: "See we handle the seasonal flu pretty horribly, why are we trying so hard with COVID-19?"
Stores, schools, etc. should also really think about circulation, hand sanitizer, and perhaps even nightly UV-C disinfectant.
Company culture needs to change: when sick, people should work from home for a job like programming and companies need give more sick leave for jobs like teaching where telecommuting doesn't work as well. Businesses really need to think about their part to play in protecting their customers.
As a side note, my mother who is older wasn't interested in the flu shot and I always wondered why. Even if it's 60% effective, that's just halving your chances of a sometimes fatal disease for $20 and a fifteen minute visit to a pharmacy. The US in particular needs to figure out how to do public health better.
It's not really "far more" deadly. The main problem is the lack of immunity and everyone getting it at once.
The estimate for this flu season is 24k to 62k deaths.
246k people have died from Covid so far, despite precautions.
Its a substantial difference.
Covid hit after flu season, so those numbers are probably a better case scenario.
Sure, lock yourself in your house until the virus goes away. We are fine with that.
Just don't impose those restrictions on everyone.
We choose a level of precautions (cost) according to the risk. Which is what bugs me about the non-mask crowd cause it costs NOTHING.
Having yourself injected with a newly developed substance is a different thing.
Let's face facts, the long-term effects are unknowable - you trade that for the short-term protection.