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I am in the US. Where I live masks are required indoors under all circumstances regardless of vaccine status. Indoor dining has been allowed for a few months no

I am in the US. Where I live masks are required indoors under all circumstances regardless of vaccine status. Indoor dining has been allowed for a few months now but there’s talk of introducing restrictions again. It’s not so much how it is today, it’s the damage yesterday had done. And it’s the sword of Damocles that hangs over us all at the whisper of a new variant

cma 5y ago
Your mask isn't fitting right if it is fogging your glasses. Check for tips on fitting or other solutions like medical tape over nose bridge.
- AstralStorm 5y ago
  There are also masks that come with additional foam gaskets or have a fully moldable outline, not just the nose piece. I had a problem where the masks either leaked at the nose or right where the nose wire ended no matter what I did. Got some of them with foam gasket, no problem anymore
Gortal278 5y ago
I would move to Arizona, COVID was only there for a few weeks. Phoenix is over it completely.
dataflow 5y ago
Okay that changes things a lot then. I'm sorry for everything you had to go through, and I'll try to respond to your main points, but just note that I don't fall neatly into whatever side of the issue you might imagine (regardless of what it might look like from my brief replies here): > Where I live masks are required indoors under all circumstances regardless of vaccine status. I assume there are extremely reasonable constraints you haven't mentioned (e.g., I don't imagine you have to wear masks in your own house, nor would I guess the government is forcing you to wear masks when you visit your friends' homes), so with that in mind: My own take on indoor mask mandates is: no I don't like them, and yes fogging glasses is annoying, but I could say the same thing about red traffic lights. I hate them so much and find them frustrating, yet I still understand & respect both of them regardless, and try to move on with my life. In neither case do I find there to be so much burden that I can't tolerate living this life anymore, though I can understand that for people with e.g. breathing difficulties the case might be different (and I hope/expect they would have been able to been accommodated accordingly). > there’s talk of introducing restrictions again. I'm not sure preventing people from "talking" about restrictions would result in a better world, so I'm not sure what alternative you're proposing here. Yes it's frustrating, but that's what we get with democracy and free speech. All I can suggest is that tuning out the news would probably be helpful if you're finding it overwhelming. > It’s not so much how it is today, it’s the damage yesterday had done. Vaccines became available to most adults around April/May, and by June states had started lifting many restrictions. I think it was literally beginning of June where even in liberal Massachusetts a ton of people took off their masks in (crowded!) malls as soon as the mandates lifted. So I'm not sure during what time period you believe the government imposed unjustifiably onerous restrictions. If you're talking about those few weeks in the span of those few weeks, I don't think a few extra weeks made the difference here. If you're talking about afterward, I'm not aware of particularly onerous/lasting restrictions (see above). And if you're talking about before vaccine availability, no, I don't think many people liked that world, but I don't find it at all obvious that letting the pandemic just burn through the entire population would've been better, or that letting potentially infected people walk into ERs amidst other patients with compromised health would have been a wise decision. I know >700,000 people have died in the US so far due to the pandemic, and that number would've been far larger if they had let it grow exponentially, so that factor needs to be considered. (I'm sorry for your loss; I realize this is probably difficult to read. I'm just trying to reply since you were requesting that.) Of course, if we had the same restrictions today as we had pre-vaccines, that would've been quite a different story.
- refurb 5y ago
  This seems like an incredibly insensitive response. It's basically "come on, it's not so bad". I agree with OP. These restrictions are incredibly disruptive to every day life and causing plenty of mental strain. If there was some end game, then people could put on a stiff upper lip. But it's clear there isn't one. We've gone from "2 weeks to bend the curve" to "vaccines will allow us to return to normality" to "well the vaccinated are still getting infected" to "everyone needs a booster" and now "well, the vaccine might not work that well with the new variant, so hold tight". We're coming up to the 2 year mark. It seems pretty clear to me that the present approach mean we we are likely looking at years of continuing restrictions that wax and wane. If you asked people what the summer of 2022 will be like, anyone who says they know is lying to themselves. I'm guessing we'll still be dealing with masks, vaccine boosters, travel restrictions and disruptions to work and school 2 years from now.
  - dataflow 5y ago
    > These restrictions By the OP's own admission this is only "wearing masks" right now. That's what I was referring to. When you use "restrictions" so broadly you make the burden sound far more severe than what it is in reality to many people: "I have to wear masks indoors when in public." I feel like even if you think mask mandates are actually a big deal and too much for a human to intolerable, you should be able to understand why others (like me) genuinely don't see them that way?
    - refurb 5y ago
      His description is clearly about more than masks. You can't say "what's the big deal with masks" all the while ignoring everything that's happened over the past 2 years and will likely continue into the near future.
      - dataflow 5y ago
        > You can't say "what's the big deal with masks" all the while ignoring everything that's happened over the past 2 years and will likely continue into the near future. No I'm not. You're the one ignoring the vast majority of what I wrote. I explicitly addressed the restrictions during the pre-vaccine, mid-vaccine, and post-vaccine periods. They did not all summarize to "it's not that bad"; only the present (i.e. the post-vaccine period) did, and that's what you addressed. Now you're clearly misrepresenting my comment while mixing them up and adding in speculation about the future, and this is pretty unproductive, so I likely won't be replying further.

cma 5y ago

Your mask isn't fitting right if it is fogging your glasses. Check for tips on fitting or other solutions like medical tape over nose bridge.

AstralStorm 5y ago
There are also masks that come with additional foam gaskets or have a fully moldable outline, not just the nose piece. I had a problem where the masks either leaked at the nose or right where the nose wire ended no matter what I did. Got some of them with foam gasket, no problem anymore

Gortal278 5y ago

I would move to Arizona, COVID was only there for a few weeks. Phoenix is over it completely.

dataflow 5y ago

Okay that changes things a lot then. I'm sorry for everything you had to go through, and I'll try to respond to your main points, but just note that I don't fall neatly into whatever side of the issue you might imagine (regardless of what it might look like from my brief replies here): > Where I live masks are required indoors under all circumstances regardless of vaccine status. I assume there are extremely reasonable constraints you haven't mentioned (e.g., I don't imagine you have to wear masks in your own house, nor would I guess the government is forcing you to wear masks when you visit your friends' homes), so with that in mind: My own take on indoor mask mandates is: no I don't like them, and yes fogging glasses is annoying, but I could say the same thing about red traffic lights. I hate them so much and find them frustrating, yet I still understand & respect both of them regardless, and try to move on with my life. In neither case do I find there to be so much burden that I can't tolerate living this life anymore, though I can understand that for people with e.g. breathing difficulties the case might be different (and I hope/expect they would have been able to been accommodated accordingly). > there’s talk of introducing restrictions again. I'm not sure preventing people from "talking" about restrictions would result in a better world, so I'm not sure what alternative you're proposing here. Yes it's frustrating, but that's what we get with democracy and free speech. All I can suggest is that tuning out the news would probably be helpful if you're finding it overwhelming. > It’s not so much how it is today, it’s the damage yesterday had done. Vaccines became available to most adults around April/May, and by June states had started lifting many restrictions. I think it was literally beginning of June where even in liberal Massachusetts a ton of people took off their masks in (crowded!) malls as soon as the mandates lifted. So I'm not sure during what time period you believe the government imposed unjustifiably onerous restrictions. If you're talking about those few weeks in the span of those few weeks, I don't think a few extra weeks made the difference here. If you're talking about afterward, I'm not aware of particularly onerous/lasting restrictions (see above). And if you're talking about before vaccine availability, no, I don't think many people liked that world, but I don't find it at all obvious that letting the pandemic just burn through the entire population would've been better, or that letting potentially infected people walk into ERs amidst other patients with compromised health would have been a wise decision. I know >700,000 people have died in the US so far due to the pandemic, and that number would've been far larger if they had let it grow exponentially, so that factor needs to be considered. (I'm sorry for your loss; I realize this is probably difficult to read. I'm just trying to reply since you were requesting that.) Of course, if we had the same restrictions today as we had pre-vaccines, that would've been quite a different story.

refurb 5y ago
This seems like an incredibly insensitive response. It's basically "come on, it's not so bad". I agree with OP. These restrictions are incredibly disruptive to every day life and causing plenty of mental strain. If there was some end game, then people could put on a stiff upper lip. But it's clear there isn't one. We've gone from "2 weeks to bend the curve" to "vaccines will allow us to return to normality" to "well the vaccinated are still getting infected" to "everyone needs a booster" and now "well, the vaccine might not work that well with the new variant, so hold tight". We're coming up to the 2 year mark. It seems pretty clear to me that the present approach mean we we are likely looking at years of continuing restrictions that wax and wane. If you asked people what the summer of 2022 will be like, anyone who says they know is lying to themselves. I'm guessing we'll still be dealing with masks, vaccine boosters, travel restrictions and disruptions to work and school 2 years from now.
- dataflow 5y ago
  > These restrictions By the OP's own admission this is only "wearing masks" right now. That's what I was referring to. When you use "restrictions" so broadly you make the burden sound far more severe than what it is in reality to many people: "I have to wear masks indoors when in public." I feel like even if you think mask mandates are actually a big deal and too much for a human to intolerable, you should be able to understand why others (like me) genuinely don't see them that way?
  - refurb 5y ago
    His description is clearly about more than masks. You can't say "what's the big deal with masks" all the while ignoring everything that's happened over the past 2 years and will likely continue into the near future.
    - dataflow 5y ago
      > You can't say "what's the big deal with masks" all the while ignoring everything that's happened over the past 2 years and will likely continue into the near future. No I'm not. You're the one ignoring the vast majority of what I wrote. I explicitly addressed the restrictions during the pre-vaccine, mid-vaccine, and post-vaccine periods. They did not all summarize to "it's not that bad"; only the present (i.e. the post-vaccine period) did, and that's what you addressed. Now you're clearly misrepresenting my comment while mixing them up and adding in speculation about the future, and this is pretty unproductive, so I likely won't be replying further.