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 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.
I'm not saying it's easy, but somehow me and the handful of COVID conscious people I know have gotten used to stepping out to take a drink. Honestly it doesn't feel difficult after doing it for years. But I know that everyone's place is different.
I'm on a production line and drinking 32 oz of water every two hours. I have production requirements to meet targets. I don't have time for that shit, and furthermore, it's hot as fuck and I'd rather kill myself than go back to masking at work. I did that shit for a year and had close calls with heat. Fuck that.
We do not live in a world that makes masking viable in all situations. We live under capitalism. If I had air conditioning at work I think I'd do it, but if it's 90+ and all I have is a fan that I can't feel on my face the stress will cause me to get myself fired. Or go to prison.