> Wearing a mask is not a small ask.

Of course it is, I have been wearing mask for 2 years now. And I am wearing glasses.

Is washing your hands too much to ask too?

> If it was, attendance at bars, restaurants, shows, etc.

That was due to social distancing and lockdowns, not masks.

The capacity limits were not an issue in the summertime when people could hang out outdoors, especially with the loosening of public drinking laws.

The masks? they made everything worse. They're incredibly bothersome to wear when its hot and humid, they induce psychological pressure on you via the feeling of being "smothered," and make every social interaction much harder to understand making each interaction more tiring to be a part of. It's equivalent to being in a Zoom conversation where you can't read all the subtleties of somebody else.

That's not even mentioning the blue collar labor force which has to wear these for 40 hours a week. My friends who work as waiters, bar staff, etc. still have to wear them during the day. The last thing they want to do when they get off work is to continue wearing them.

(all of this is relative to NYC, which had a ~31% closure rate for small businesses)

I understand some people here, such as yourself, don't think the masks are a big deal. But to the vast majority of the populace, they are a burden so bad its worth _moving cities and states to avoid_.

> Is washing your hands too much to ask too?

For (too) many people washing hands is indeed too much to ask...

>> Is washing your hands too much to ask too?

> For (too) many people washing hands is indeed too much to ask...

This. This is why Covid is here to stay.

COVID-19 spreads via the air, not through physical contact.

It's funny, every time this gets brought up people always say "it's not that bad/inconvenient" as if their experience is the only one that matter. If you live where it's hot and humid climate, a cloth face covering will get extremely uncomfortable (and drenched) very quickly. Or god forbid you have glasses, long hair, and/or ear rings that get tangled constantly. I've smashed a pair of sunglasses on the concrete at least twice in the last year because of masks, and very nearly my prescription glasses (which are far more expensive). Not to mention the psychological harm of (mass) mask wearing.

>Not to mention the psychological harm of (mass) mask wearing.

What is the mechanism for this harm?

Mostly feelings of isolation and depression. For some, seeing faces (in person, not over video call) is super important for socialization. Basically, if you "get" people watching, you probably understand what I'm talking about. There's no studies as far as I know, but I imagine there's certain developmental aspects of interpreting facial expressions that young children are also missing out on to some extent. For me personally, I want to leave my house much less when everyone is wearing masks, both because it presents both a physical (however slight) and psychological burden on myself (it matters more for those with ADHD and other neurological differences). The biggest problem I have with the discussion now is that it borders on religious virtue signaling with how far people take it and you cannot bring up any counterarguments or examples without immediately being demonized.

"The main insight of the present research is that face masks’ use influences emotion inference from faces for all ages and especially for toddlers."

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.6694...

Wearing a mask is one of the least inconvenient inconveniences I've had during this pandemic.

agreed, always maintaining 6 feet is harder as I forget sometimes or just not paying too much attention

Restaurants, bars, and shows as we know them are probably over. Wearing a mask in a bar or restaurant doesn't make any sense. You're going to take the mask off while you're eating.