Where I live (Southern California) I’d be shocked if 30% of people are even remotely complying with mandates and regulations around COVID-19.

The attitude that seems to prevail here (which I take no position on) seems to be roughly: “it’s time for vulnerable people to segregate”.

Personally I’m both vaccinated and recovered from Delta, and I don’t go maskless anywhere that there isn’t already an unmasked crowd because while I’m not a virologist I don’t like making people uncomfortable needlessly.

But I do think that we probably need a better answer than shouting down a high double digit percentage of the population who have to one degree or another reached their limit on an unbounded state of emergency running into its third year.

> I don’t like making people uncomfortable needlessly

They are feeling uncomfortable needlessly. It's not incumbent on us to indulge in peoples fear or neuroses. Anyone who wants to keep being theatrical about covid is welcome, but it makes no sense to force the rest of us to participate in their play

It's still a minority, and we live in a democratic society.

I don't think you understand "democratic" as its normally used. It does not mean tyranny of the majority. If it did, we would not need a constitution or Senate.

while you can argue about to what degree democracy overlaps with majoritarianism it almost definitely doesn't stand for tyranny of the minority, in this case both of the population and, funnily enough, even of truck drivers.

Respect for the constitution and the senate first and foremost implies that you follow lawfully passed legislation instead of throwing a tantrum, otherwise there's little point in having those institutions in the first place.

Without more context this means nothing, Uighurs are also a minority in China.