Poll of the Day > Do you still wear a mask in indoor public spaces?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'll be honest, I stopped wearing mine about a month ago. I've told myself since the start of this whole thing that I'd wear one until three conditions have been met:

• I'm fully vaccinated
• Everyone has had plenty of time to be fully vaccinated
• There are no mask mandates in place

I recognize that fully vaccinated people can still catch the virus. Statistics from my province show that a fully vaccinated person has an extremely low risk of serious complications, though.

I've been a firm supporter of masking for well over a year, but I'm done. I'm convinced that this will never go away, and I'm not willing to even mildly inconvenience myself to protect antivaxxers that refuse to do anything to help. I honestly feel no sympathy for unvaccinated people that die from COVID.

If a mask mandate gets put back in place, I'll wear it again because I'm not a total asshole. But I feel we've exhausted all of our options for dealing with this, and it's time for the disease to run its course on those that have accepted the risk. I sort of feel bad about this given that it runs contrary to what I've believed for over a year, but I don't see any other way for this to end.

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I don't wear it at work because it's extremely hot at work (warehouse with no AC) but I started wearing it elsewhere again this week. Got vaccinated as soon as I could.

Lynyrd_Skynyrd posted...

I don't wear it at work because it's extremely hot at work (warehouse with no AC) but I started wearing it elsewhere again this week. Got vaccinated as soon as I could.

I'm happy that you have more patience than I do. I fully support masking. I live in a town where the majority of people never wore one even when it was mandated, so I've become jaded.

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Given that mask mandates are back in place throughout much of the state, I kinda have to. And it's been an adjustment going back to it.

faramir77 posted...

If a mask mandate gets put back in place, I'll wear it again because I'm not a total asshole.

If a mandate is in place, you get kicked out if you don't wear one. That's not really optional.

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Zeus posted...

If a mandate is in place, you get kicked out if you don't wear one. That's not really optional.

Lol no

The only place I ever saw the mandate ACTUALLY enforced was at medical centers (I was at a hospital, dentist, and an xray office). At my school, we weren't even allowed to send antimask kids home, just give them empty warnings. Admin never helped.

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Yep. Fully vaxxed, and provincial case numbers are really good (creeping up slightly, averaging 5 per day instead of 1), plus the province is almost at 70% fully vaxxed (almost 80% of eligible people), but mask mandates are still in effect and I know it's not going to take much for a fourth wave to kick off (our third wave came entirely from one family that came from Ontario went to a gathering instead of isolating properly, and students are coming now), so I'm fine to keep wearing one to manage that risk.

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Is not mandated by law so no. If mandate returns then i will comply but am hoping it doesnt. Am fully vaxxed.

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No. Well, when I dont have to. I have to at the D-fac. Technically, were all suppose to wear it in our work building. But its all over the place. Some people wear them all the time, some never wear them, and some wear them sometimes. Some only wear them when entering or exiting the building, where some only wear them when going to and from the bathroom Some only in their offices, and some everywhere but their offices
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Yes, I wear a mask at work because they went back to wearing masks about 2 weeks ago and I wear one if I go to a store, restaurant, etc.

I have not had the vaccine.

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No, there is a "strong" suggestion that anyone not fully vaccinated wear a mask, but most stores don't care. There are a few exceptions, but you can easily avoid those stores if you don't want to bother (the biggest one being Walmart, they still require masks and have limits on number of people in store)

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Well, since I have to wear a mask to be able to breathe outside with all the smoke, it wouldnt make sense to take it off when I go in a store. I would just have to put it back on when I leave. Keeping it on is easier.

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I am fully vaccinated but whenever I go somewhere I wear a mask. I don't usually go anywhere though. I do my groceries as the grocery pickup and I don't work.

I wear the mask for others. My husband just had his 3rd open heart surgery and even though he too is fully vaccinated the Drs told us that Covid would be very bad for him. We do have many Dr visits we can't avoid so that is worrisome but we take all precautions.

The kids are too young to vaccinate and one has asthma so I am careful for her also. She is being home schooled this year.


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I don't know what stores I go to will suddenly change the rules on mask wearing, so it's easier just to keep one on :(

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i have no idea what stores enforce it and what don't these days. its so damn stupid. i just go in with no mask, even if the sign says wear one, and so far i haven't had a problem. one 711 has like three PLEASE WEAR A MASK signs on the door and the cashiers are masked up, and another three blocks away has nothing at all. i hate this stuff so much.

Yes. Mask mandate is back

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Even if I don't get sick, personally, I have people close to me I do not wish to spread anything toward in the case of carrying.

I also do not trust people in general. Case in point, there is now a delta variant that could have been avoided, or at least minimized, by now had people not been, well, people. For all we know, an epsilon variant could be forming. Back in February, when I was talking to my boss, he mentioned that he was hoping we wouldn't have to wear masks in August and that people would do the right thing with the vaccine, though many seemed to have been anti-vaccine back then. I remarked that some people are also morons, which made him laugh. Fast forward to today, in August, where dumb people continue to refuse the vaccine because they're told it's a good idea to do so, not because they're thinking of it themselves, and we are back to wearing masks for the safety of the weak or elderly.

Yes, I am vaccinated and wearing my mask, even when not at work where they are once again required.

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Not since mask mandates were lifted in my area back in May. Though if an establishment asks for it I have no problem complying.

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Yes. By now I've had enough practice that it's barely an inconvenience. I like not having to worry about what the the current mandate says or which businesses require masks. Wearing one every time I leave the house keeps things simple.

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Iv put the mask back on except when im at the gym. I gotta be able to breathe giving the intensity of my workouts.

I had stopped wearing them for some weeks but with the rise of delta, I decided to go back to masking. I'm vaxxed but masking is such a small thing one can do to help reduce the spread.

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On one note to going back to wearing masks, I had suspected in April or May that we might need to wear them again eventually for more population-dense areas, maybe during flu seasons or the like, until we as a society reached a healthy "normal," but I had hoped it would happen after things cooled down outside a wee bit. Instead, we got to wear masks again while it was still uncomfortably warm outside, making the experience less pleasant.

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I wear them in hospitals but that's it. I'm fully vaccinated.

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It's nice to see so many people willing to forfeit their rights for a "pandemic". Remember when it was 14 days to flatten the curve? Then everyone must isolate and social distance. Then to you need to be vaccinated and things can get back to normal. Now you need to still wear a mask, social distance and be vaccinated. Oh yeah I forgot the final part, you must show your papers"vaccine card" to travel, eat, live and work. I did Nazi that coming.

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Richter1234 posted...

Now you need to still wear a mask, social distance and be vaccinated. Oh yeah I forgot the final part, you must show your papers"vaccine card" to travel, eat, live and work. I did Nazi that coming.

You might but I don't due to restrictions been lifted in England outside of overseas travel. I don't even have a vaccine paper.


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Richter1234 posted...

It's nice to see so many people willing to forfeit their rights for a "pandemic". Remember when it was 14 days to flatten the curve? Then everyone must isolate and social distance. Then to you need to be vaccinated and things can get back to normal. Now you need to still wear a mask, social distance and be vaccinated. Oh yeah I forgot the final part, you must show your papers"vaccine card" to travel, eat, live and work. I did Nazi that coming.

i love how they kept saying just 2 more weeks. just 2 more and we will win

just get a cool mask that you like wearing

I recommend the under armour sports masks

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Never masked, never vaxxed.

No.

I have epilepsy and if a fit starts up even the slight obstruction a mask causes can turn a minor bout into a full-on seizure (and even if not I don't want to risk the mask causing problems). I'm still recovering from my most recent gran mal. It's clear I'm going to either need an exemption or to simply avoid people from now on.

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never stopped, we never removed any mandates, and we're well into the fourth wave now. i'm fully vaccinated but i'd rather not potentially make a scene in public

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work started requiring them again a couple weeks ago.

I don't wear it at the grocery store anymore
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colliding posted...

just get a cool mask that you like wearing

I have some that I like wearing. Im just tired of them
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Unbridled9 posted...

No.

I have epilepsy and if a fit starts up even the slight obstruction a mask causes can turn a minor bout into a full-on seizure (and even if not I don't want to risk the mask causing problems). I'm still recovering from my most recent gran mal. It's clear I'm going to either need an exemption or to simply avoid people from now on.

Probably one of those plastic face shields would be good. They seem to have more air flow and still protect.

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Richter1234 posted...

Remember when it was 14 days to flatten the curve?

14 days was never anything more than an extreme, absolute best case scenario. To achieve that would have taken a complete, absolute lockdown of absolutely everyone in the world for those two weeks (realistically, at least 3-4 to be on the safe side) and subsequent complete isolation of anyone that developed symptoms in that time frame. Obviously, the logistics of making that happen mean that was effectively impossible and therefore nothing more than a fantasy.

Furthermore, "flattening the curve" is a long-term strategy, not a solution that can be achieved. It's a matter of avoiding major spikes that risk overwhelming the health care system (like what's happening right now in much of the southern US). That strategy has seen some amount of success, so characterizing it as something that never happened is just outright wrong.

Richter1234 posted...

Then everyone must isolate and social distance.

Yes, that was part of slowing the spread to keep it from being overwhelming.

Richter1234 posted...

Then to you need to be vaccinated and things can get back to normal. Now you need to still wear a mask, social distance and be vaccinated.

Given that barely over half of Americans have been vaccinated at this point, it stands to reason that things wouldn't be back to normal yet. Not sure why that's supposed to be evidence of any sort of grand plan to erode rights.

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The United States is now 52.6% fully vaccinated and 21.8% fully dewormed.

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Yes there are places where it's required.

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adjl posted...

14 days was never anything more than an extreme, absolute best case scenario. To achieve that would have taken a complete, absolute lockdown of absolutely everyone in the world for those two weeks (realistically, at least 3-4 to be on the safe side) and subsequent complete isolation of anyone that developed symptoms in that time frame. Obviously, the logistics of making that happen mean that was effectively impossible and therefore nothing more than a fantasy.

Furthermore, "flattening the curve" is a long-term strategy, not a solution that can be achieved. It's a matter of avoiding major spikes that risk overwhelming the health care system (like what's happening right now in much of the southern US). That strategy has seen some amount of success, so characterizing it as something that never happened is just outright wrong.

Yes, that was part of slowing the spread to keep it from being overwhelming.

Given that barely over half of Americans have been vaccinated at this point, it stands to reason that things wouldn't be back to normal yet. Not sure why that's supposed to be evidence of any sort of grand plan to erode rights.

So if the vaccinated still have to social distance and isolate what purpose is there of a vaccine? The fact is if the vaccine worked as normal vaccines do then the social distance and isolation wouldn't be required. Yet for what ever reason it still is.

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Richter1234 posted...

So if the vaccinated still have to social distance and isolate what purpose is there of a vaccine?

The vaccinated won't have to isolate and distance once enough of the population is vaccinated to prevent the disease from spreading. That herd immunity threshold was estimated to be around 70-75% before variants entered the mix, but with Delta's vastly greater transmissibility and capacity for breakthrough infections, that's likely to end up being quite a bit higher. Either way, though, the US is nowhere close to having enough people vaccinated to be able to comfortably give up all other infection control measures.

Additionally, the vast majority of hospitalized Covid patients are unvaccinated, even with Delta causing so many breakthrough infections. The more people are vaccinated, the less likely it is that ICU's will reach capacity and have to turn patients away to die (including many patients not suffering from Covid-related problems). Given that that is happening as we speak in many of the states that are being hardest hit by the fourth wave, I think that preventing that qualifies as a pretty good purpose for the vaccine.

Furthermore, even if we accept the premise that vaccinated people shouldn't have to practice other infection control measures (which has its merits, in a vacuum), the simple logistical reality of the matter is that you can't enforce those restrictions exclusively on unvaccinated people without a robust proof of vaccination system, something you explicitly expressed a desire to never see. You can't have it both ways: If you want vaccination to grant people special privileges, you need a reliable system for verifying vaccination status. Otherwise, you just get exactly what happened when the CDC said vaccinated people don't need masks anymore (at a point when a mere 30% of the country was vaccinated), which is everyone ditching the masks and letting this fourth wave go wild. If you don't want a system for verifying vaccination status, vaccination can't grant people special privileges, and restrictions can be lifted only enough people get vaccinated that new cases stop showing up.

Richter1234 posted...

The fact is if the vaccine worked as normal vaccines do then the social distance and isolation wouldn't be required. Yet for what ever reason it still is.

"Normal vaccines" also leave the potential for breakthrough cases and transmission (though those breakthrough cases tend to be significantly less dangerous to vaccinated people, which is exactly what we also see with the Covid vaccines). The existing diseases for which that's a serious concern, however, have already been mostly eradicated through successful vaccination campaigns and maintaining herd immunity, so it's fairly rare for such breakthrough cases to even occur, let alone turn into serious outbreaks (though the growing anti-vaxx movement has led to a number of measles outbreaks in recent years).

Covid, however, is still very much active and herd immunity has not been reached, so breakthrough cases are more likely (due to the increased exposure frequency and viral load) and do comprise a significant public health risk (to say nothing of the aforementioned issue of it being impractical to determine who is and is not vaccinated and the very pressing need for the rest of the population to continue those measures). Toss in that it's an extremely dangerous disease that requires considerable public health measures to control, and you've got you "what ever reason."

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Yeah, I do. Most people around here still do. But there are a fair amount of yo-yos that don't. I don't give a damn about protecting shitty anti-vaxxers from themselves, and I got both shots. I do give a damn about protecting myself and my daughter from them.

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captpackrat posted...

The United States is now 52.6% fully vaccinated and 21.8% fully dewormed.

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I'll be back to yes tomorrow. Mask mandate has returned for Alberta.

I guarantee 90% of people where I live still won't follow it though.

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adjl posted...

The vaccinated won't have to isolate and distance once enough of the population is vaccinated to prevent the disease from spreading. That herd immunity threshold was estimated to be around 70-75% before variants entered the mix, but with Delta's vastly greater transmissibility and capacity for breakthrough infections, that's likely to end up being quite a bit higher. Either way, though, the US is nowhere close to having enough people vaccinated to be able to comfortably give up all other infection control measures.

Additionally, the vast majority of hospitalized Covid patients are unvaccinated, even with Delta causing so many breakthrough infections. The more people are vaccinated, the less likely it is that ICU's will reach capacity and have to turn patients away to die (including many patients not suffering from Covid-related problems). Given that that is happening as we speak in many of the states that are being hardest hit by the fourth wave, I think that preventing that qualifies as a pretty good purpose for the vaccine.

Furthermore, even if we accept the premise that vaccinated people shouldn't have to practice other infection control measures (which has its merits, in a vacuum), the simple logistical reality of the matter is that you can't enforce those restrictions exclusively on unvaccinated people without a robust proof of vaccination system, something you explicitly expressed a desire to never see. You can't have it both ways: If you want vaccination to grant people special privileges, you need a reliable system for verifying vaccination status. Otherwise, you just get exactly what happened when the CDC said vaccinated people don't need masks anymore (at a point when a mere 30% of the country was vaccinated), which is everyone ditching the masks and letting this fourth wave go wild. If you don't want a system for verifying vaccination status, vaccination can't grant people special privileges, and restrictions can be lifted only enough people get vaccinated that new cases stop showing up.

"Normal vaccines" also leave the potential for breakthrough cases and transmission (though those breakthrough cases tend to be significantly less dangerous to vaccinated people, which is exactly what we also see with the Covid vaccines). The existing diseases for which that's a serious concern, however, have already been mostly eradicated through successful vaccination campaigns and maintaining herd immunity, so it's fairly rare for such breakthrough cases to even occur, let alone turn into serious outbreaks (though the growing anti-vaxx movement has led to a number of measles outbreaks in recent years).

Covid, however, is still very much active and herd immunity has not been reached, so breakthrough cases are more likely (due to the increased exposure frequency and viral load) and do comprise a significant public health risk (to say nothing of the aforementioned issue of it being impractical to determine who is and is not vaccinated and the very pressing need for the rest of the population to continue those measures). Toss in that it's an extremely dangerous disease that requires considerable public health measures to control, and you've got you "what ever reason."

Quoting this in case @Richter1234 didn't see it.

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Yes, I'm vaccinated.

Even if I didn't want to, my county mandates it anyway.

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I got my shots (feel like a dog now) and I wear a mask only if there are a lot of people.

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Yes, and I'm fully vaccinated.

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I stopped wearing it in June after I had been fully vaccinated for several weeks. Then around mid-August I started wearing it again b/c fucking anti-vaxxers couldn't even give us HALF of a mask-free summer.
Like...I'm fine wearing it most of the year. But it's so damn unbearably hot in the summer to have it on. All I wanted was a mask free summer. I got like 6 weeks.
Fuck anti-vaxxers.

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Only if a store requires me to. I'm fully vaccinated and most of the time when I go into a store I have little to zero contact with other people