I think we have more than 500 people, but I didn’t know that was a thing! That’s awesome.
We get to code our vaccine time under “CDC” 
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In MA we have high mask compliance and high vaccination rates. I feel very fortunate.
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I work in a very small place and we all went and got our shots, boss included. No questions at all.
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Also:
“ I think the preponderance of the evidence supports the fact that vaccinated individuals are not able to spread the virus.”
From
New Data on COVID-19 Transmission by Vaccinated Individuals
A Q&A WITH AMESH ADALJA | APRIL 8, 2021
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Private room karaoke is opening back up and I 100% want to believe I am comfortable with doing that with vaccinated friends. But my brain is like “DOES NOT COMPUTE?!!”
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I’m in a much smaller town than most of you, (but one of the worst states still) but I’m comfortable being near other vaccinated people without masks if they are. If they wear one, so do I but it’s for their comfort, not mine. Honestly, I’m thrilled to be nearer to taking it off completely, I really hate wearing them. But I do wear them, because it’s the right thing to do. I also got vaccinated because it’s the right thing to do, not out of having any super strong feelings about it.
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Weirdly I’ve always wanted masks - especially on transit, when sick, or at sporting events - to be more common here like they are in Asia. I didn’t want a global pandemic to make that happen though.
I don’t mind wearing them (though I don’t love the mascne) but I miss being able to use smiling to communicate. Like with other road users when I’m at a crosswalk or stop sign. Or at the grocery store. Like I didn’t know how much I use smiling as non-verbal “I have good intentions” or “go ahead” etc.
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I just walked to the community garden and I started with my mask off (but I brought it with me because the garden leaders say we’re still supposed to wear them around others there). I was outdoors so it should be fine but it felt DEEPLY weird and I ended up putting it back on because most everyone was still wearing one. Positive peer pressure? I think it’s going to take a while to be comfortable with naked face.
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I’ve definitely been signing “Thank you” and gesturing more, but I’m also not a pedestrian except in parking lots.
People walking in my suburban neighborhood at 80-90% maskless. There’s enough room that it feels fine. Going to any sort of shopping area, even in the outdoor parts, I prefer to wear a mask though. My county is still high risk.
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I struggle with them to a degree- I never knew how much I relied on lip reading for additional context in settings with background noise, but I definitely do. So I really struggle in banks, grocery checkouts, etc when someone is asking me questions, and that’s really fueled my anxiety about doing new things. I’m having a much harder time navigating stuff like that. It’s weird though, last time I was checked I don’t have hearing loss? So I think it must be a “brain parsing information” issue. Why ever it happens, it’s been a downside for me.
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Same. I don’t believe I have hearing loss, but I definitely ask people to repeat themselves way more with masks on. I usually joke that I can’t hear while wearing a mask.
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Visual cues are incredibly important for language processing. Everything who thinks masks make it harder to understand other people - they do.
If you want a real trip, look up the McGurk effect on YouTube.
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I just watched this. So crazy.
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We were talking at the dinner table about trying to figure this out.
Our general take until Meowlet is vaccinated (hopefully September?) is we’re going to socialize with vaccinated people as normal. We’re going to socialize with unvaccinated people outside or masked inside in limited cases.
Going to opt for outdoor seating at restaurants & enjoy nature fun outside in the good summer weather. Avoiding indoor crowds even with masks.
Will regroup in hopefully vaccinated September??
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I feel like that’s where we’re at for the summer,too.
But I don’t like crowds and in the summer I hate missing any possible outside time. We’ve already planned a full summer of Outdoor Stuff.
Next fall, we’ll see.
However, we’ve started talking about rescheduling the trip we didn’t go on last summer for next summer…
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I wish I could be happy about the CDC’s announcement, but since my state still has a mask mandate really all this did was make it harder for us to enforce it. I won’t be surprised if my state changes its rules to follow soon but for now, ugh.
Apparently I’m at the point of the pandemic where I just want shit to stay the same for a minute. I’m so tired of constantly changing rules and recommendations. So, so tired.
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Saaaame. Even when it’s “good” news.
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YES.
Our mask mandate isn’t over yet but seems likely. Also, I read something today saying that vaxxed people won’t count toward capacity limits in bars? How in fuck are they going to tell who is and who isn’t, check cards at the door while they ID you?
I keep thinking about this postapocalyptic YA fiction novel I read a long time ago, I can’t think of the name but the premise is that in late teen-hood you have to take the “cure” which prevents you from feeling romance and passion. And everyone has a scar behind their ear showing that they’ve had it done. I half-wish we could do that for vaxxed people. Though I imagine that feeds into some sort of “mark of the beast” dogma for evangelicals.
(I’m kidding. MOSTLY. It would be nice to be able to tell by looking.)
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I was talking about this at work yesterday. I don’t think there’s a way for a workplace to implement this without opening a whoooole can of worms when people are in this group/not in that group, but I realized I still have the sticker I got from CVS so whenever we go back into the office (July, gulp) I’ll stick it somewhere on my desk. When I get a desk. Because I never was assigned one since I started during the pandemic.
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