Basically, wanted to know where people are at with mask wearing (as it relates to containing covid and all), I know it’s been a while since it started. And I’ve seen people who say covid can still be threatening, like through long covid and such, even if the initial impact doesn’t tend to be as bad. Being in the US, it’s especially hard to tell what makes sense because the gov sorta gave up on containment a while back and only ever half-assed pushing mask wearing. And wearing a mask alone was a controversial thing in some places, even in the very beginning. Then there’s vaccines, which of course help, but seems to be a thing like the flu where you have to get boosters to be fully covered for variant strains.
So in general, I’m wondering stuff like:
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Do you still wear a mask or not and why? And do you have distinctions like large crowds or anything like that?
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How does mask wearing compare by country, from what you know? For example, I’m sure China has a more pro-mask-wearing culture and policy overall, but I’m not clear on where they’re at this late into it.
Partly asking cause I want to re-assess my own position on it, see if it makes sense to change it at all by now. I’ve still been doing it, in part out of inertia, but the US management of it is such a mess, in gov and culture, it’s hard to tell when it makes sense to stop vs. just caving to peer pressure of people who were never acting responsibly to begin with.
I want to preface what im about to say by saying i do wear a mask, and think everyone should.
I think that the focus on masking was a misdirect similar to how the powerful will push personal responsibility about the climate to combat systemic issues. While yes masking is effective and important it means we are relying on the lowest common denominator of dumbasses to do the right thing. Which never works out well.
I think that a much better solution would be to have buildings like stores where large crowds gather indoors with air filtration systems, and UV overhead sanitation lighting. Especially at entrances and exits. Its been proven such measures make a big difference. You could easily incorporate UV lighting into normal light fixtures and effectively sanitize every surface in a building constantly. Air filtration is already in most buildings AC systems and could be retrofitted to filter for viral bodies. Most people would not even notice these things happening. People should still be encouraged to mask especially when they are sick, but solutions that do not rely on an individual doing the proper thing are much more reliable.
The reason they don’t get pushed is that they cost money, and companies and governments do not want to do them. But when Biden was going to campaign events they brought portable air filters to keep the air in the buildings he was in clean so they are clearly aware of these solutions.
Also in this same vein vaccines during the height of covid were made free for those without insurance but i do not think that is the case anymore. Vaccination combined with those other solutions even without proper masking would massively reduce spread, and the fact it hasnt been done is simply a systemic issue.
This community might be of interest as they still talk about it a lot there: !covid@hexbear.net
I still wear a mask. I wouldn’t necessarily wear one or keep one on if I was walking around a lightly populated park or down the sidewalk but I would before going into a store or a crowd (even outdoors) or any enclosed space with people like a train or station.
I’m not sure how mask wearing compares by country. In most of Asia it seems like it’s been normalized for decades for people who are feeling ill or have certain conditions to wear the blue cloth medical masks so I doubt in most of Asia it’s a big deal in most situations compared to the west where you have anti-mask reactionary sentiment and ideology that favors individual recklessness rather than responsibility.
Bookmarking that to read more on later, thanks. And yeah, I’ve wondered about the difference there - like would people in those places in Asia where it’s normal even face any reaction at all for wearing a mask long past public mandates or would they just be viewed as socially responsible people. Part of why I’m curious about that, is because if I only go by what the US is doing as a general thing, it could lead to some very irresponsible decision-making. There’s a lot of science ignorance and the like here. And of course the individualism in the US that goes something like: “if the odds are low that it will inconvenience me, then why should I care if it might kill someone else?” Not that I think people are reasoning it out that consciously, but that’s sort of the implication of the lackadaisical attitude toward it.
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I’m sorry you got long covid. :( I can relate on the getting infected most likely due to others. The family members I was living with was good about it for a while and we’d avoided infection afaik and then another came in who wasn’t so good about it and it was late in, post-vaccine too, so all the harder to argue the importance of it and we all got infected at one point. Don’t think any of us got long covid, but it’s that thing where all it takes sometimes is one person to be selfish about it. It’s very frustrating.
Masks and respirators for prevention of respiratory infections: a state of the science review
You may find this useful as an in-depth look on the topic of masking. It’s pretty long, but I think worth the read.
I do still mask every time I leave my apartment. There’s essentially no reason not to in my opinion. It would obviously be much safer if everyone was still masking, but at least in my experience, diligent masking has been very effective at preventing illness in my household despite the lack of precaution from the public. People can be kind of weird about it sometimes, but it’s mostly limited to staring and the occasional rude statement, which as a trans woman is something I was used to before the pandemic anyways lol. I do worry sometimes about the chance of someone getting violent with me or my wife, but also if the alternative is giving up the mask and destroying our health, and maybe even killing her if we get unlucky, just to please ableist assholes, well, the choice is obvious to me.
I wish I knew more about the masking culture of other countries. All I can say with certainty is that in my community (A large city in the US), nobody gives a fuck about public health at all, and largely refuse to change their lifestyle in any way to help themselves, much less anyone else. Unmasked people outweigh masked people by an enormous amount, and the few maskers are often wearing surgical masks or other insufficient PPE, and I frequently see people still wearing them beneath their nose or taking them off in public. Many people I talk to are well aware that Covid is still around and is destroying everyone’s health, but they either seem to think it doesn’t affect them, or prefer to live in a lie and ignore it.
Will take a look at it in more depth at some point, good to have on hand.
There’s essentially no reason not to in my opinion. It would obviously be much safer if everyone was still masking, but at least in my experience, diligent masking has been very effective at preventing illness in my household despite the lack of precaution from the public.
This makes sense to me and I think is generally the sort of reasoning I’ve gone by in the past. Like a percentages thing. Even if you’re living in a household where not everybody is doing it, as I am, reducing the odds of bringing something home is still better than nothing.
you have to get boosters to be fully covered for variant strains.
Speaking of boosters, friendly reminder that at least in the US, 2024 updated Pfizer and Moderna vaccines have been out for a few weeks. If you haven’t already, look into getting your updated booster soon :)
Never stopped masking in clinics. In the last few months I am back to masking in crowded environments. Always wear KN-95 or equivalent quality mask. I don’t live in a high density or high population area.
Wore a mask to the theatre last night, and within ten minutes the stranger next to me started coughing and continued to do so throughout the film.
As far as I know, I have never gotten covid and I plan to keep it that way.
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It depends on what kind of mask. If you’re wearing an N95/KN94 mask then you’re protecting yourself (and if it doesn’t have a valve also others if you happen to have it) by filtering 95/94% of viral particles.
Though I agree it could attract unwanted attention and hassle in some areas. Even in a place like California I’ve been followed around stores for a minute or so for still masking by employees who I guess thought I was there to shoplift but I’ve never been seriously confronted about it. I’ve had a cowardly guy shout from a dozen feet away how I should take it off and some rambling nonsense but I just stared at him and he stormed off, I’ve had a handful of guys tell me it’s a shame I’m wearing it because they’d like to see my “pretty face” (ugh), but most people don’t say anything. I’m sure many anti-maskers resent me but given most of the public has joined them in giving up I think they’re content to just feel smugly superior and say shit behind my back which I can live with.
And here I thought California would at least be a little better about maskers.
It’s sort of a “nobody says anything but almost nobody else is doing it” thing here. I don’t seem to be in an area where people will actively pushback about it, but there’s few still doing it. If you’re actually getting tirades about it, I can understand not wanting to risk drawing the attention.
I don’t mask at work (yanking it down to drink water over and over and over is irritating, but even worse is how fucking hot it gets when doing physical labor) but I think I’ll always mask in public spaces from now on.
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I understand and empathize with this for sure. I’m one of the few who I still see wearing one in my area, so it can def feel like “what’s the point” and “I’m just calling attention to myself.” Luckily, I don’t get anything more than the occasional odd look for it, which could just be odd looks for other reasons, or I’m reading into them too much. So I can keep doing it without concern for people giving me trouble about it, but it does feel weird being so alone in it.
I mask every day; I will stop masking and taking precautions the moment the pandemic is over. I will not risk disability or death for myself or anybody in my life for the acceptance of those who deny science or for the mild convenience of not putting on a mask
Yes I wear a mask when I’m indoors away of my home. I do this for the safety of myself, my family, and others. And you should too. And you should be advocating for others to do the same if they can.
A better world is possible. One where we treat communicable illnesses as something to mitigate/eradicate. It is morally right to protect others, the indigent, the youth, the imfirmed, the vulnerable. Wearing a mask indoors while away from your home when there is an ongoing pandemic, one that causes systematic harm to the body and immune system, is the least you can do. Each COVID infection is a roll of the dice. It’s a chance for mutation in a disease that is known for mutation. If you feel personally inconvenienced by a mask then you should reconsider a lot of things. Accepting disease as simply part of life is uninformed. It denies that we live in a global, interconnected community. It is as fatalistic as accepting the unending supremacy of capital. That myopic view has no place in class consciousness. The pandemic is without question the fault of the owner class. They rely on our complacency, accepting preventable death whether by war, climate, or disease.
Fair point on it. I don’t know that I can budge the immediate people in my life on it, but I will probably continue to do it myself. I think the part that makes it difficult is the normalization of it. This thing of people viewing it like “well it’s just sort of part of the makeup of infections that can happen now, like the flu and I got a vaccine, so now the pandemic is over.” And I don’t know how to counter that to people because what am I supposed to say, ya know, “just keep wearing a mask for the rest of your life”? People want to believe there’s a cutoff point, I’m sure, myself included. But it’s been handled so poorly in some places, it seems almost like the poor handling of it itself is part of what’s making it difficult to have a cut off point for precaution.
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and as a visible minority (Asian) that adds to it.
Can def understand the risk more so in drawing attention under those circumstances.
Yeah. Honestly I actually would normally like wearing the mask (I like hiding my face, admittedly). But the social climate of covid (and that has continued ever since) was honestly incredibly… alienating and strenuous, as an Asian-Canadian.
If people want to forget it some- at least socially it’s a plus for my personal experience, even if it’s a bad thing otherwise. No more funny looks, less hyper-awareness, yellow peril is still going strong in the media and the majority of people here are probably delusional AF if the subject of China gets brought up but they’re not going around with that hate on their minds 24/7.
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