in an ideal world, it would be a rolling thing based on local covid weather. case counts stay low, masks aren’t required. when they creep up, we start masking again. i would also be ok with requiring masks on airplanes, or with upping the level of ventilation. as more treatments are developed and become available, it might not be necessary forever.
but i still don’t think we are at the point where letting it rip is the best option. thousands of people are still dying every day and the medical system is burnt. it’s not like a small problem we can just learn to live with. it will be at some point, and hopefully soon, but we are still in an acute phase.
please don’t think that i am judging anyone for hitting the wall. i have hit it several times myself. but it seems to me that, in a co-operative society, we should be able to work together to limit harm to the most vulnerable.
there’s a lot of wiggle room between everyone masking forever everywhere and masking being optional at all times and contexts. but public trust is broken and people are spent so clearly i don’t have any realistic suggestions.
I like this approach to individual decision making. I’ve been trying to come up with my own approach for after everyone in our family is vaxxed and this one looks very reasonable.
I’ve been loosely following my county’s status per the CDC’s site since last May when I started working in person again. Masking was recommended for vaccinated people indoors whenever transmission reached substantial or high transmission levels.
Not once has my country dropped below substantial or high transmission since last May. I’ve lost hope we that we are going to see low case counts any time soon, possibly ever. Kind of like how we don’t try to eradicate the common cold.
I saw an op-ed somewhere arguing that we should stop thinking about covid caseload and start talking about load from all respiratory viruses (flu, colds, covid, whatever).
I would love if we had more (voluntary?) masking everywhere during flu season, especially in “essential” places (doctors offices, the DMV, etc) where vulnerable people still need to go. And more voluntary masking when people have mild symptoms.
I would love for us to keep the expanded telehealth / online / etc services that suddenly became possible during a pandemic. I think this one might actually happen. So many disability accommodations that used to be “impossible” or “unreasonable” exist now.
More than anything I wish we would invest in better air filtration / circulation but it seems like that’s entirely absent from any plans in the US.
I would be really happy if people just start masking when they are ill in general.
I know this doesn’t prevent asymptomatic transmission, but I think it helps with other viruses as well. I don’t want to be coughed on by people.
I’m indifferent to masking on planes, as my experience is most people remove them so much (to eat, to drink, just because they feel like it) that there really isn’t much masking on planes… (Also, I am confused about sleeping on planes- is it safe to sleep in a mask?)
I personally don’t think mask mandates should be dropped until hospitals are less overwhelmed and things like elective surgeries and non-covid emergency care can happen.
Nevertheless, the mandatory masks in schools mandate got overturned in court in IL because someone sued the governor over it… sigh. Though apparently Chicago public schools will still require masks.
I slept in a K95 on a 16 hour flight. But the combo of sleeping mask, k95 and noise cancelling headphones made me feel like I was in a sensory deprivation tank. Without headphones it was fine. Wish I had non-ear straps though.
Cut the straps and tie on extra elastic to make the around the head.
The little boys 5yo floppy little ears just will not support a mask elastic, his glasses and a winter hat, so every morning I turn a fresh mask into an around the head mask for him.
I am getting done with the mask mandate and wish it would be lifted locally. The longer this goes on the fewer people are complying. Until recently everyone was complying. I am hoping it will be lifted by the time I fly to Ireland in June. I am older and higher risk but we are all going to get it and I have done all I can both getting vaccinated and taking care of my health.
i really don’t like the framing of “we are all gonna get it.” because there are millions of people for whom covid will most likely lead to a death sentence. and that framing erases them, both figuratively and literally. my desire to not wear a mask should not outweigh their right to live!
when we have better/more available treatments, when people are able to get elective procedures because the hospitals are not overwhelmed, when we can properly take care of vulnerable people who do get covid, that will be the time to acquiesce to “we’re all gonna get it.” but we are not there yet.
We do have pretty substantial treatments available, now, right, in rich countries? we just don’t have the bedside staffing. Am I wrong?
I also don’t like the framing of “we’re all going to get it” to be clear, but it does seem relatively inevitable given current variant transmissibility. My question is when is the tipping point where we decide that it’s endemic. We’re not there yet apparently in the US but it sure feels like it to me (who is not an epidemiologist)
This. I’m getting tired of living in constant pain day in and day out, losing tons of weight and muscle mass because I haven’t been able to really eat in over a month, waiting for needed but “non-urgent” medical care because people won’t mask or get a vaccine and the hospitals are overwhelmed. But I guess at least it’s unlikely to get worse and push my test date back since no one has ever masked here. At least not until the next variant.
From what I understand (from the Kaiser Health News podcast, since that’s where I get most of my news), we have plenty of treatments available, but no staff to administer them. Part of the reason we’re so low in staffing is so many nurses were out with asymptomatic covid. It seems like a complex nut to crack.
As someone in a high-risk pregnancy with well-controlled asthma, I will personally feel more comfortable moving in the world when the hospitals are better staffed, the caseload is not causing massive social disruption* and the Paxloid is flowing like wine. Those are my metrics where maybe I will eat my hot dog inside the Costco rather than in my car.
*Eg, school closures because of inadequate staffing.
Masking inside seems like such a little inconvenience to me, I do hard cardio for 2+ hours in a k95 several days a week. But I understand it’s much more wearing to have to
enforce it
if you work in a low-paying field where you’re now required to wear PPE when you weren’t previously.
clearly i don’t have any realistic suggestions.