Hey, get this: did you know people wore face masks before COVID? That's right! Little known fact.
In fact, many people in Asian countries used to be seen wearing masks in enclosed spaces like subways when they are sick, purely out of consideration for the health of others. Wow!
Some people have never stopped masking where I am. I've asked my partner to mask up when going any place indoors where sick people can't avoid (pharmacy, groceries, etc). We don't mask at a bar, but we do mask at a concert. The difference is that a concert happens once and tickets spoil. A bar is available every night, and sick people are more likely to stay home.
I can't believe people still act like putting a tiny piece of fabric on your face is even an inconvenience. So fucking dramatic "I can't imagine living like this" its like living a regular life except sometimes you go an public and you put a little piece of fabric on your face. It's similar in concept in some ways to how when you go in public you use pieces of fabric to cover your genitals, etc. oh man what a crazy fucking bizarro world can't even imagine if we had to put fabric on parts of us when interacting in public.
I don't think any of you online mask warriors are actually wearing them in public. I live in New York and no one is, so I assume that this is just another part of your generation's perpetually online fantasy existence.
I can't imagine that's at all true, it just probably doesn't register for you because it's not at all a big deal. I'm in Boston and I still see plenty of people regularly masking. A minority to be sure, but still substantial. And I even sometimes do myself if I feel a little sniffly, just to be safe. At the end of the day, it's shocking how many people are infantile little bitch babies about wearing a fucking mask.
a lot of people have anxiety/panic disorders, and putting a mask on causes a feeling that they can't breathe even though it actually adds very little resistance if any. i'm one of those people, and i never got used to it after having to use them at work for a year. luckily i don't live in a densely populated area, so nobody wears them anymore and i don't have to either.
I can’t believe people still act like putting a tiny piece of fabric on your face is even an inconvenience.
I can't believe in 2024 a person would act like a fabric mask does anything.
The science is out there now, you have to have a very tight-fitting new and clean n95 to have any chance at slowing down covid. Those are inconvenient and still expensive and if I was regularly masking properly it'd be a huge expense.
And if you're not masking properly, you might as well wear a plague mask as your protective fetish.
Why anyone would do proper masking "preventatively" when you're vaccinated and just a low level general risk of catching what is mostly a bad cold is honestly crazy to me. We now understand how covid works, who is at risk, what settings we can make a difference (ie indoors with extended exposure). There's no reason to remain so scared anymore.
And I'm not anti-mask--I was early to mask, first with n95s later I had a fabric mask before switching back to n95. And I masked while indoors a lot longer than most people even after I was vaccinated because my GF's mom was undergoing chemo summer 2021. But I occasionally still see people masking outside, in dirty reused surgeons masks and it really makes no sense.
Why anyone would do proper seatbelting "preventatively" when you have airbags and your car is built with crumple zones and just a low level general risk of getting in what is mostly a fender bender is honestly crazy to me. We now understand how collisions work, where they happen, how to build cars safer (ie with more airbags). There's no reason to remain so scared anymore.
Edit for context: I don't literally think this, I was mocking something from the removed comment
It's mainly if you have contact with vulnerable people. COVID and flu both get upticks in the winter months, and hit the elderly and immunocompromised pretty hard.
I'm not militant about it but I keep 2 masks in my car and use em if I remember. I've only had covid mildly once and never have caught the flu in my life, but learning I could be an asymptotic carrier I decided no point in not wearing it when I remember.
I still use them if I am the one who is sick to prevent spreading, or if I'm going to be going on a trip soon to prevent me being sick and ruining the vacation, or if I'm around vulnerable people. The vacation one might sound silly, but I had a very close call this year where a family trip that couldn't be canceled and had to be planned a year in advance was almost ruined by everyone getting sick a few days before. We lucked out and it was very mild, but it could have been something nasty that made us cancel the trip. So now I wear a mask when going out in public a couple weeks before a trip.
I'm absolutely masking before any vacations. I'm going on a trip I've wanted to do for decades this fall, and no way am I risking missing it. The last "vacation" I was supposed to have (in 2019) got ruined by some asshole coughing up a lung on the plane and I spent a week in Aruba miserable in bed, which was a great use of my limited time off and money. Not doing that again if I can help it.
Yeah, it catches (lots of but not all) aerosolized saliva from the wearer's mouth, which means a carrier is putting less viruses into the air. It's far less effective the other way: stopping viruses in the air getting into your lungs, but it's slightly better than nothing.
So, if someone feels sick but cannot miss work, this allows them to lower the risk they pose to others near them.