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I was at Costco this morning (DFW) buying a big hunk of Prime Rib for Christmas Day dinner. No one either knows or cares anymore. I'm still wearing a mask for f

I was at Costco this morning (DFW) buying a big hunk of Prime Rib for Christmas Day dinner. No one either knows or cares anymore. I'm still wearing a mask for facial recognition purposes but I'm starting to feel weird considering no one else is wearing a mask anymore, not even the folks who look like they got one foot in the grave already. Omicron is already so yesterday it isn't even a memory.

standardUser 5y ago
I find it mind-boggling that a person could live through nearly 2 years of this pandemic and still not understand how hospitalizations lag cases and deaths lag hospitalizations by a number of weeks. I'm optimistic about Omicron, but I'm not going to pretend I don't know the pattern we have seen over and over and over again.
- spookthesunset 5y ago
  > hospitalizations lag cases and deaths lag hospitalizations Why aren't you upset with your governments for not making this a non-issue? You gave them 2 years to figure it out and all I hear are excuses like "you can't just spin up new staff". Bullshit. These governments have virtually unlimited resources to build healthcare capacity to deal with covid. If there was a will to do so, they could have built capacity specific for covid that includes proper staffing. The fact that entire regions of 17 million people get thrown into month-long lockdowns and asked to cancel christmas because the region can only support like 400 people in the ICU is a travesty. People should be furious with their governments continuing to blame the public for "possible healthcare collapses". We paid with 2 years of our short-ass lives waiting for them to fix capacity issues. There are zero excuses.
cortesoft 5y ago
Where are you? Everyone where I am in Southern California still wears a mask inside.
- pvarangot 5y ago
  I'm in San Francisco and it depends on the event. For example: - Infected Mushroom in the Midway: hardly anyone wearing masks, irregardless of if they are drinking or not - Chvrches in the Civic Auditorium: most people wearing masks, maybe 20% of the audience unmasked. Even people with drinks mostly just removing it drinking and putting it back on. - Spiderman in the AMC Kabuki: mostly everyone wearing masks - Karaoke bar in Japantown after Spiderman: no one wearing masks, not even the barman and the owner of the bar that were of course not drinking
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
  - bcrosby95 5y ago
    Yeah, I've found nightlife tends to adhere to mask usage much less. It's not necessarily correlated with age either. We went out to eat at a bar-like place that mostly 50-somethings go to. Most people didn't have a mask, even if they were just hanging around the bar doing nothing. I think some of it is a self selection process. People that think the virus isn't a big deal are more likely to not care about masks, go to these places, and I would bet also not be vaccinated. My wife and I have discussed this a lot. We are much more likely to do things with people that are taking it seriously but still have a social life, than people that never thought it was a big deal - the latter are much more likely to be taking absolutely zero precautions.
  - kevinmchugh 5y ago
    I'm not surprised those who choose to go to karaoke don't wear masks
- hourislate 5y ago
  I'm in DFW
cwkoss 5y ago
Even leaving aside covid concerns, I'd love for sanitizer stations and mask wearing in grocery stores to become the new normal. I don't want the general public sneezing on my food - especially during flu season.
- aantix 5y ago
  If I have to choose a time to stop masking, between now and my death, I'm not going to choose my death. I will stop wearing one much sooner. I hate the muffled voices. I can't see anyone smile. It's dehumanizing.
  - cwkoss 5y ago
    > I hate the muffled voices. I can't see anyone smile. Grocery stores are not for socializing. I don't want randos to try to start a conversation with me beyond asking quick questions.
    - aantix 5y ago
      >Grocery stores are not for socializing. For you.
- anthonypasq 5y ago
  do you not wash your food before consuming it or something?
  - cwkoss 5y ago
    I wash produce, but not the lids of cans, rims of bottles, or packaging that could transfer germs to my hands right before I'm about to eat. Do you wash your hands between when touch a bottle of salad dressing, and before you eat?
boplicity 5y ago
This is so regional; and it has little to do with the local death rate, unfortunately. Where I'm located, deaths are relatively low, and people have no problem masking up. In other places, such as Arizona, lots of people are still dying, and masking is also relatively rare. It's cultural and/or political, in many regions, as opposed to based on need/risk.
- snet0 5y ago
  I wonder if the disposition towards following health advice is in some way causally connected to the reduction in death rate...
massysett 5y ago
This varies a lot by region. Where I live, everyone wears masks in Costco - I'd attribute this to the government mandate, but people did not stop wearing them even when the mandate was lifted. They have also closed the schools again.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
Karsteski 5y ago
> I'm still wearing a mask for facial recognition purposes Real talk, wth is going on in your head...

standardUser 5y ago

I find it mind-boggling that a person could live through nearly 2 years of this pandemic and still not understand how hospitalizations lag cases and deaths lag hospitalizations by a number of weeks. I'm optimistic about Omicron, but I'm not going to pretend I don't know the pattern we have seen over and over and over again.

spookthesunset 5y ago
> hospitalizations lag cases and deaths lag hospitalizations Why aren't you upset with your governments for not making this a non-issue? You gave them 2 years to figure it out and all I hear are excuses like "you can't just spin up new staff". Bullshit. These governments have virtually unlimited resources to build healthcare capacity to deal with covid. If there was a will to do so, they could have built capacity specific for covid that includes proper staffing. The fact that entire regions of 17 million people get thrown into month-long lockdowns and asked to cancel christmas because the region can only support like 400 people in the ICU is a travesty. People should be furious with their governments continuing to blame the public for "possible healthcare collapses". We paid with 2 years of our short-ass lives waiting for them to fix capacity issues. There are zero excuses.

cortesoft 5y ago

Where are you? Everyone where I am in Southern California still wears a mask inside.

pvarangot 5y ago
I'm in San Francisco and it depends on the event. For example: - Infected Mushroom in the Midway: hardly anyone wearing masks, irregardless of if they are drinking or not - Chvrches in the Civic Auditorium: most people wearing masks, maybe 20% of the audience unmasked. Even people with drinks mostly just removing it drinking and putting it back on. - Spiderman in the AMC Kabuki: mostly everyone wearing masks - Karaoke bar in Japantown after Spiderman: no one wearing masks, not even the barman and the owner of the bar that were of course not drinking
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- bcrosby95 5y ago
  Yeah, I've found nightlife tends to adhere to mask usage much less. It's not necessarily correlated with age either. We went out to eat at a bar-like place that mostly 50-somethings go to. Most people didn't have a mask, even if they were just hanging around the bar doing nothing. I think some of it is a self selection process. People that think the virus isn't a big deal are more likely to not care about masks, go to these places, and I would bet also not be vaccinated. My wife and I have discussed this a lot. We are much more likely to do things with people that are taking it seriously but still have a social life, than people that never thought it was a big deal - the latter are much more likely to be taking absolutely zero precautions.
- kevinmchugh 5y ago
  I'm not surprised those who choose to go to karaoke don't wear masks
hourislate 5y ago
I'm in DFW

cwkoss 5y ago

Even leaving aside covid concerns, I'd love for sanitizer stations and mask wearing in grocery stores to become the new normal. I don't want the general public sneezing on my food - especially during flu season.

aantix 5y ago
If I have to choose a time to stop masking, between now and my death, I'm not going to choose my death. I will stop wearing one much sooner. I hate the muffled voices. I can't see anyone smile. It's dehumanizing.
- cwkoss 5y ago
  > I hate the muffled voices. I can't see anyone smile. Grocery stores are not for socializing. I don't want randos to try to start a conversation with me beyond asking quick questions.
  - aantix 5y ago
    >Grocery stores are not for socializing. For you.
anthonypasq 5y ago
do you not wash your food before consuming it or something?
- cwkoss 5y ago
  I wash produce, but not the lids of cans, rims of bottles, or packaging that could transfer germs to my hands right before I'm about to eat. Do you wash your hands between when touch a bottle of salad dressing, and before you eat?

boplicity 5y ago

This is so regional; and it has little to do with the local death rate, unfortunately. Where I'm located, deaths are relatively low, and people have no problem masking up. In other places, such as Arizona, lots of people are still dying, and masking is also relatively rare. It's cultural and/or political, in many regions, as opposed to based on need/risk.

snet0 5y ago
I wonder if the disposition towards following health advice is in some way causally connected to the reduction in death rate...

massysett 5y ago

This varies a lot by region. Where I live, everyone wears masks in Costco - I'd attribute this to the government mandate, but people did not stop wearing them even when the mandate was lifted. They have also closed the schools again.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

Karsteski 5y ago

> I'm still wearing a mask for facial recognition purposes Real talk, wth is going on in your head...