If we're doing masks permanently I am going to invest in some bespoke Darth Vader style of head dress or a space suit, because I am completely done with masks.

I've made and used home sewn masks using one of the recommended sewing patterns for the past two years, and I've managed to get a good fit that only fogged up my glasses partly, but since last week these masks have been banned here in the Netherlands. Not because they are proven to be worse than the type II surgical masks that are recommended now, but because the government wants to standardize. So now I wear disposable masks that mean my glasses fog up every damn time I enter a building. Great.

Then there is that constant feeling of not getting enough oxygen, all while being confronted with the 5% who simply refuse to wear a mask in the shops, and shop staff refusing to remark on it for fear of getting into an altercation. I'm thoroughly through with masks. I'll wear them where and when mandatory, but certainly not indefinitely.

Motorcyclists have a great trick to eliminate fogging- after cleaning, rub a little shaving cream onto the lens. It's simple, cheap, and effective. Add a proper-fitting KN95 mask and the difference will be like night and day. There's no need to dress up like Darth Vader (though that might be fun, regardless).

Masks can be uncomfortable. My biggest gripe is actually the awkwardness that sometimes accompanies taking them off and putting them on again. Especially when also wearing glasses, a hat, and/or a helmet. But given my girlfriend wears full PPE for her 12-hour shifts treating COVID patients without ever complaining about getting enough oxygen, I hope the rest of us will bear masking up while we're in the AH or on public transport. Compared to the shit she deals with, it's a minor inconvenience, at best.

Also, maybe I'm wrong but my feeling is the fear of altercation over mask wearing is overblown. I live in a semi-rural part of the United States where masks are a very political and contentious issue (probably more so than in NL). I regularly interact with people strongly opposed to them, and am often in crowds where few if any other people are wearing one, but in the past two years have never experienced any kind of confrontation. Perhaps I'm lucky and my size and physical appearance is intimidating to those who would otherwise pick a fight.

Trust me; I've tried all of the remedies and solutions. Only a really good fit seems to help a little bit, but not completely. Better fitting N95 or FFP2 masks may bring some relieve, but they're relatively expensive and barely available in supermarkets as it is. There is also the feeling that it seems statistically pointless to wear these as long as the majority of people use surgical masks; many not even bothering to cover their noses.

I don't know why, but while I can wear a mask for up to half an hour, anything beyond that becomes torture (doubly so when you are travelling with a toddler who needs you as a parent, which means talking through a mask increasing the out-of-breath feeling). This has made travelling longer distances fairly impossible for me, which again adds to the 'so fucking done' feeling that is gaining the upper hand.

Then we should adapt to it in ways that preserve life? Cholera didn't go away either we just have sewers and wash our hands a lot now.

I'm not a medical or public health expert, it's not up to me to figure it out.

But to start with, the idea that you can be "done" because you've already done "enough" and experienced inconvenience and made sacrifices needs to go. People need more from each other still, sorry!

> I'm not a medical or public health expert, it's not up to me to figure it out.

Those people don't have the right to tell you what to do. They are not politicians and they aren't elected. They can tell me to wear a mask for the rest of my life, but it is my right to say "nope".

The idea of cooking food stayed. Sanitation stayed. The practice of washing hands stayed. Refrigeration of food stayed. Why the heck shouldn't the use masks stay?

Last I checked, people generally enjoy cooked food more, there isn't a washing hands mandate (outside of certain workplace), no fridge mandate (and it comes with strict benefits of longer lasting food).

I don't understand this position. Are you honestly proposing that we permanently require masks in all public, indoor environments? For the rest of our lives?

I don't see how you can flippantly propose this as an option. How can you be ok with wearing masks for the rest of your life—if it can at all be avoided?

I'd appreciate if you point me to a study showing that vaccinated spread COVID at a lesser rate. As far as i know, currently the findings are inconclusive at best. Lower risk of serious infection and death is more or less established though.