It also just sounds kind of miserable. I also avoid catching the flu as much as possible. And if I ever go back to commuting by train, I’ll probably wear masks on the train too. I used to get colds all the time just from riding a completely packed train with sick people coughing and sneezing all over.
Eventually you will come in to contact with a virus, unless you plan to remove all contact with people and animals.
* Much less contact with bacteria, dirt, allergens, due to sterilization
* Much more contact with respiratory viruses, due to enclosed spaces and modern energy efficiency standards
The whole overactive immune system/hygiene hypothesis is much more likely linked to lack of exposure to the first group of pathogens and substances.
Will I need to be like this forever? No. Can I be like this for another year or so? Yes. It's highly unpleasant, but I (and some others like me) can actually isolate to the degree you jokingly suggest.
And why wouldn't I? Because of some primitive need for physical social interaction? Because of my weak will, my inability to place the needs of others before the totally optional needs of my own?
It just seems like anyone who can isolate and doesn't should have a hard time looking themselves in the mirror. It's obviously a different story for those who can't (most people, really).
Is it entirely pleasant? No. Is it temporary? Yes. You will survive without physically being around your buddies for a few years while a global fucking pandemic is resolved...
My threat model is different, everyone around me is healthy and young--with I myself being the only one with a chronic condition leaving me more vulnerable to Covid but still no that much--locking myself would be more unhealthy.
I don't see it as selfish, I'm not forcing anyone who is at risk to take the risks I am taking. They can stay at home for as long as they want, it is their life after all.
I think some people just want to feel like they're in control. Surely if I dance in a circle while beating a drum the rains will come. Surely if I wear the sacred garment and perform the proper cleansing rituals the virus will see my piety and spare my life.
Of course I'll get sick, I've had the cold a few times this year already. That doesn't mean I try to get sick. Don't you wash your hands?
Wearing a mask on a crowded train with people sneezing and coughing seems pretty rational to me. I don't like catching a cold and will take reasonable measures to avoid it. Wearing a mask for an hour is hardly a big deal.
Shouldn’t we move on at this point? What is the end goal here? Why are fully vaccinated adults continuing to freak out about Covid?
We can and are focusing on other things, but hospital capacity is a good one to work on keeping down. Once that's down, I guess we see where we are and probably lift some restrictions.
A friend's father-in-law had to drive 4hrs away to find a hospital with capacity for his cardiac surgery. That's how.
Research demonstrates the same thing.
Why would anyone spend billions and billions on field hospitals when there's an easily available vaccine that prevents all of this? No one expected the uptake to be so bad. I mean even T**p is telling people to get their boosters.
I have no reason to believe COIVD would be bad for me. But what if it is? Then I'd rather get sick when things have calmed down and hospitals are at normal capacity.
Great justification for making 5 year-olds wear masks for 6+ hours 5 days a week in school. This makes even more sense for the 5 year old kids that have ESL or Speech Pathology needs.
By that reasoning you would only wear masks when rates are very high. But a lot of schools require it when case rates are very low.
Plenty of us have off days, or may feel a little sick but don't assume it is Covid because of expecting extreme reactions even when it absolutely could be due to its symptoms overlapping others and many people being affected very little or even being asymptomatic.
The idea that somehow getting or not getting COVID is due to level of diligence is absurd on its face.
I get tested after each exposure and have yet to get it either.
Wearing masks and not catching covid is like wearing a bandana and not getting into a bike accident. It is an extremely contagious aerosolized virus that cloth masks simply aren't sufficient to stop.
Meanwhile, the effects of perpetual masking are obvious- harmful to deaf people, harmful to the development of speech and socialization in children, asthmatics and more.
There's a ton more. I now have tons of facial scars due to continuous breakouts over the past two years due to masks (and, yes, I've spent about $2k trying all sorts of silk and other supposedly "comfortable" masks).
Another thing that hasn't been talked about is cartilage deformities in young children due to the pressure of masks on developing features. My sister is a plastic surgeon and she has talked about this quite a bit, but it hasn't gotten much media attention. The pressure caused by elastic loops around the ear is quite harmful to the correct development of the ear by permanently modifying the cartilage of the concha in growing children[0].
She also mentioned that there may be affects on the shape of the nose if a mask is worn tight enough. A "celestial" nose is a nose shape with an upturned tip, stereotypically considered a sign of attractiveness in many cultures and a common feature of celebrities. It's the most requested shape for those interested in rhinoplasties.
Forcing young children to wear tight masks is quite literally deforming them.
The only way you're getting away with this is either by having some innate immunity, or by simply not noticing you've had it.
I wouldn't have realised if not for a friend saying "get a test", my only symptom was a purple line on a bit of paper. I actually felt better than normal because I went out drinking less.
Or you did and were asymptomatic. Something on the order of 70% of cases are largely asymptomatic IIRC. Unless you're claiming you got a PCR test every 21 days since the beginning of the pandemic?
Point is, a lot of people have been infected so far, but not all people.
I don't think it is possible to avoid Coronavirus at this point. Unless someone had barricaded themselves in for the past 2 years they are likely to have had contact with the virus at this point.
Our school requires masks at all times on campus, inside or outside, vaccinated or not (we're in California). However, prior to omicron we had 0 cases (school has about 500 people at it teachers+staff+kids). With Omicron we've only had 37 cases.
I also personally think of this as well: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/health/coronavirus-mask-p...
Masking may reduce the severity of your covid infection, which would be pretty sweet.
So it's not an all or nothing.
If only the powers that be would take that approach.
I was trying to point out that it is not just industries, its literally life. This is anecdotal, but many of the teachers I personally know are anti-in person learning, but still willing to eat out a restaurant, which makes me question their true motives for remote learning.
My eyes tend to glaze over whenever I hear "because covid" now, it's devoid of meaning and simply means "I don't want to" most of the time.
Today, a teacher now has two realistic options:
a) self-isolate indefinitely, either teaching remotely or quitting their job
b) contract coronavirus at some point
Given that, masks are an irrelevance. A teacher who is clinically vulnerable and unwilling to roll the dice is left only with the option to quit their job, regardless of whether masks are used, or windows are left open, or whatever else.
Coronavirus is too contagious for any sort of avoidance strategy to actually work. It's not like, say, cooking chicken, in which you can basically solve food poisoning.