Cozumel

[DandyDon]

Vaccination is our best and easiest defense. Short of vaccinations, masks are better than nothing.

I think the facts show that masks are a lot more than that, as well as easier than vaccinations. I don't like wearing masks, but I do.

I'm all for the population getting vaccinated. I have four different "I got my vaccination" themed T-shirts that I'll be handwashing and wearing on my uncommon outings the next couple of months hoping to help encourage others to get fully jabbed. Mostly I stay home and avoid people tho. I do see a lot of vaccination resistance. About 40% of Americans have received at least one shot and roughly 1 in 4 are fully vaccinated, according to a recent CDC release.

Masks get contaminated and reusable masks don't get properly sanitized. Masks don't always seal properly. People are human and let their guard down when removing masks and/or by touching their faces. Covid can be transmitted via contact with the eyes. Do you wear a full face shield?

I wear mine as a consideration to others. I think that's the real benefit of a masked population. I'm not coming in contact with higher-risk folks, so I've been rotating the same five KN95s for months: Spray with alcohol, place in a numbered paper bag to sit for days while any virus dries up and dies, and move on to the next mask in rotation. It seems like a futile effort tho as it only works if the population works it, but I'm doing my part.

I wear a mask indoors in public and I was first in line for a vaccine once they were open to the general populace

I drove a hundred miles before sunup on a frigid morning for my first one. A few weeks later I heard that my local clinic was giving shots on Saturdays. I called to complain since I had been on the will-call list for several weeks before my first one, and my property taxes support that farm town hospital and clinic, but got little in the way of an answer. I kept calling and got my second shot locally. I just don't see the needed 70-80% getting both shots tho.

But honestly, if medical facilities aren't being overrun and people aren't falling over dead, what difference does it make for life to go back to normal for people willing to take this risk?

We are in better shape than we were, but a long way from safe. It's way too early for normal, and we'll never make it with as much resistance as we see today.

As for getting a bad bout of covid after being fully vaccinated - Your risk of dying in an auto accident is higher than being admitted to the hospital for covid.

No argument with that statement. People are much safer with the vaccine than not.

 

[ggunn]

As for the mask mandate - I've yet to see anyone arrested or even harassed for wearing a mask.

Arrested for wearing a mask? Did you leave a "not" out of that?

But honestly, if medical facilities aren't being overrun and people aren't falling over dead, what difference does it make for life to go back to normal for people willing to take this risk?

The difference it makes is that if unvaccinated people make that choice they are putting others at risk in addition to themselves, and if enough do, they can bring about the very conditions of which you speak, i.e., medical facilities being overrun and people falling over dead. See India as recently as this morning.

The pandemic is and has been from the start a public health crisis; individual risk is mostly irrelevant.

 

[Jcp2]

The difference it makes is that if unvaccinated people make that choice they are putting others at risk in addition to themselves, and if enough do, they can bring about the very conditions of which you speak, i.e., medical facilities being overrun and people falling over dead. See India as recently as this morning.

The pandemic is and has been from the start a public health crisis; individual risk is mostly irrelevant.

I would be in agreement prior to vaccination being an option, but now that vaccines are on the table and in many areas freely accessible, things are a bit different. In fact, the high initial demand for vaccines with lines and appointments has now evolved into walk in clinics because of a lack of interest in the remaining unvaccinated people, for whatever reason. Let’s assume that vaccination rates will be 60-70% at best, as is the case for most non childhood vaccines in the US. I doubt that masking, social distancing, limits on indoor diving and other activities, will be well tolerated by either vaccinated or unvaccinated people. What you are proposing is very much like an abstinence only policy with regards to sex education, or a just say no approach to recreational drug use. If there is a restaurant with a capacity of 20 diners plus wait staff that’s going to be open and at capacity because of latent demand, rather than being “safe” as a vaccinated individual and stay home, wouldn’t it actually and factually be safer for the population including all diners and staff for a vaccinated person to patronize the restaurant? After all, the least safe is 0 immune diners and 20 nonimmune diners, and the most safe is 20 immune diners and 0 nonimmune diners. I would argue that it might be considered a vaccinated persons public health duty to displace people who have a questionable immune status from being in a place where they could meaningfully transmit COVID.

 

[mcohen1021]

Cozumel is very dangerous - do not go, you have a 99% chance of dying. Your best bet is to perma quarantine and never leave home.

 

[andyhi]

Arrested for wearing a mask? Did you leave a "not" out of that?
The difference it makes is that if unvaccinated people make that choice they are putting others at risk in addition to themselves, and if enough do, they can bring about the very conditions of which you speak, i.e., medical facilities being overrun and people falling over dead. See India as recently as this morning.

The pandemic is and has been from the start a public health crisis; individual risk is mostly irrelevant.

Nope... I chose those words purposely.

The science proves the FDA approved vaccinations are extremely effective. These vaccinations are also widely available (in the US).

Wear a mask if you feel like you need extra protection. Get a vaccine if you feel like you are at risk. But the time of forcing everyone else to wear a mask due to uncertainty and panic is nearly over.

If a person has insecurities about others not wearing a mask; it's their choice to live in fear, choose where they go, and/or who they associate with.

 

[ggunn]

What you are proposing is very much like an abstinence only policy with regards to sex education, or a just say no approach to recreational drug use.

For the record, I did not propose anything. I just said that if unvaccinated people en masse decided just to "take the risk" and go back to "life as usual", the result could be the same sort of health care catastrophe which is presently happening in India for the same reason. The risk they would be taking would not be theirs alone; even vaccinated people would be put at risk. I'd hate to have a heart attack or a stroke in India right now.

 

[ggunn]

Nope... I chose those words purposely.

Why would anyone ever be arrested for wearing a mask?

 

[BRT]

Why would anyone ever be arrested for wearing a mask?

Masking Up: A COVID-19 Face-off between Anti-Mask Laws and Mandatory Mask Orders for Black Americans - California Law Review

 

[Dan G]

For the record, I did not propose anything. I just said that if unvaccinated people en masse decided just to "take the risk" and go back to "life as usual", the result could be the same sort of health care catastrophe which is presently happening in India for the same reason. The risk they would be taking would not be theirs alone; even vaccinated people would be put at risk. I'd hate to have a heart attack or a stroke in India right now.

Exactly this. People who do not get the vaccine are the ones increasing the spread of COVID and its variants. It comes down to this, the people who have been the most resistant to the fundamental strategies for slowing the spread of COVID are the same people, by and large, responsible for the length and depth of the pandemic.