Now that I’ve been vaccinated, I did sign up for my first COVID-era race - the Shawshank Hustle in August. I have more ambiguous feelings about participating in an in-person race than I do about my running-alone-without-a-mask stance.
Yeah I have even less contact with other people than that. I might see that number of people, but I don’t pass within 10 or 15 feet of anyone.
And, the “mask” I was wearing was the short-sleeve cut off a stretchy tech shirt. It definitely wasn’t filtering anything, and possibly was turning my droplets into more of an aerosol. Also, I’m 3+ weeks fully vaccinated.
The only thing that gives me pause is that I sometimes see an old woman shuffling along the sidewalk in the dark, and she’s wearing a mask. I just hope me being in the street without a mask doesn’t make her nervous.
1 Like
Wait really? I know the rules are that you have to wear a mask, but at Petco Park they also have you sitting in either socially distant pods or a vaxxed/negative test section. I still should wear a mask during this?
I was offered free tickets to a game on Wednesday and didn’t go because I was 1 week and 6 days after my second vaccination and my roommate who lied about her vaccine eligibility and got one before me went to the game in my place and she ended up meeting Joe Musgrove I hate her lololol jk
3 Likes
https://www.axios.com/johnson-johnson-vaccine-hesitancy-44b21fa2-95ce-4d8e-bce2-13ac78ff018e.html
In the short term, we get a disruption in vaccine supply, primarily in harder-to-reach populations, but in the long run, we damage the reputation of a safe and effective vaccine.
What really makes me made is that the fuckers are going to blame the vaccination downturn that they caused on the vaccine hesitancy that they also caused, and act like it’s all Alex Jones’s fault.
1 Like
I think it’s going to be really challenging to figure out behavior in a post-vaccinated world. It seems obvious to me that if you’re outside sitting in dispersed groups with other vaccinated individuals, there’s no need for masks. At least, if the concern is limiting risk to yourself and limiting the risk of transmission.
At the same time, there’s probably a beneficial social message in wearing masks even if vaccinated. And of course, there’s the >0% risk of infection/transmission that still exists even for vaccinated folks.
I don’t know. I think everyone is going to draw their own personal line differently. And it’s going to be like driving on a highway - people who behave even slightly differently from you are either reckless lunatics or overly-cautious assholes. Everyone should just make exactly the choices that I am making. Then we’d all be fine.
3 Likes
Here (France) the medical messaging I’ve seen about masks outside has always been that it’s about instilling habit and reducing the opportunity/excuse for people to not have one on them if they’re out. This seems sensible to me given the total non inconvenience of wearing one, and clearly none of those reasons go away simply because you happen to be vaccinated.
Now it should be said that France is a bit fucked and they also spent months denying the need for the public to ever wear masks (mandates weren’t till September 2020), so quite possibly it’s the work of idiots.
3 Likes
Yeah it’s widely being reported many parts of the country are now moving on to the much more difficult to convince group.
33.2 Scarramucis ago today
https://twitter.com/Istanbultelaviv/status/1253474801869602818?s=19
2 Likes
I think Americans spent a year failing the mask nuance test, so they should be using masks when there id any question.
1 Like
I think the only thing that will be effective is having unvaccinated people see vaccinated people being allowed to do things that unvaccinated people are prohibited from doing.
3 Likes
One of my friends hasn’t been vaccinated yet. I was telling him how I’ve gone to 2 restaurants, gotten a haircut, and joined a gym since being fully vaccinated. I can tell he’s now thinking about getting a vaccination shot.
6 Likes
So he’s unvaccinated, but voluntarily isolating himself? Seems like an uncommon combination.
5 Likes
That’s what I was thinking. I mean, most anti-vax people I read about are perfectly happy to do all of those things.
He’s one of those guys “waiting to see” if it’s effective. He also won’t admit it, but he hates shots and is worried about getting 2 shots.
There is a decent chance of a consistent air flow pattern and it’s just common courtesy.
I don’t disagree that with good distancing there is not much risk but I bet we will start filling up stands before too much longer.
There are rational individuals decisions and circumstances that don’t fit a simple policy directive.
“Make up your own minds” isn’t not really a good plan.
2 Likes
So what exactly is the end game, when a large % of the population isn’t willing to get vaccinated? I mean, once vaccines are widely available, it seems like we’re heading towards a polarized population of:
Group 1: Vaccinated people, many of whom were already diligent in staying home, distancing, and otherwise reducing risk.
Group 2: Anti-vax people, many of whom were not wearing masks and who were/are unwilling to limit their risks.
If the argument is that even vaccinated people need to continue to mask, distance, etc. even though others around you aren’t doing so (which I think is what some people are saying here) then we’re in a world where the vaccinated people in Group 1 bear all of the costs primarily for Group 2’s benefit. That seems unsustainable.
When I see our neighbors going on vacations or going to restaurants or whatever, do my vaccinated wife and I gain some kind of karmic points for not doing the same thing?
I am two weeks after my 2nd shot today, so I consider myself officially vaccinated. And I’ll continue to wear a mask when I’m indoors in public. (Assuming I can reset myself mentally to voluntarily be around other people indoors again.) But I’m not actually sure that there’s any material benefit to doing so - Dan mentioned upthread that we should wear them because it courteous and signals solidarity. Who exactly am I in solidarity with in this situation? If we start opening up so that stores no longer require masks, and lots of other people are going maskless, it’s hard for me to imagine that I’ll continue wearing a mask solely as some kind of statement towards an audience that I can’t identify.
10 Likes
I empathize with everything you wrote and agree with it. That said, it’s always been every man for themselves, so do whatever you feel is right, because that is literally the only say you get in the behavior of the silly geese.
No. You’re not close enough to somebody to risk transmission. Even if you do it’s for such a short period of time the odds are super slim for anything to happen.
Unless I’m in a crowded area, I don’t wear a mask outside.