An excess of caution is never stupid. Passing judgement on others is stupid.
You do not know the circumstances of anyone else’s life. Maybe they are not at the top of their game, or have relatives who are in more danger than not wearing a mask is worth.
Stupid is wearing blinders to the rest of humanity and braying about how stupid they are for reacting to things you cannot see. The pandemic as as much psychological as physical, it does weird things to us all, even those who have decided it is a hoax.
Doesn’t upset me I can breath your more than welcome to wear a mask while you’re near nobody. It’s a good laugh to see people doing it.
Guy just walked down the street 84° 84% humidity not a soul in sight as I look from the garage across the street. Hope he feels safe. Guy paddling with a n95 mask in the bay makes total sense.
I find it odd that when we have 600,000 people dead and counting all you have posted about in this thread is that people who wear masks when you don’t think they should wear masks are stupid. You don’t know their situations, who they might be meeting, where they might be going, or if they are having a trauma response and grieving someone(s) lost to Covid. They might even be Covid positive and taking steps to avoid spreading it to other people. Whatever their reasons, it doesn’t matter. Live and let live. Literally.
As others have said, what I find stupid are people who are cavalier about the health and safety of other people. I’m immunocompromised. My child is as well. I haven’t been inside anything other than a medical facility since February 2020. I get angry when people do not afford me space when I am outside. Yes, outside, I very much do. Sometimes when I know people are going to get too close to me outside, I wear a mask. I wear a mask when I do curbside grocery pickup. This is something I do for other people and for my own safety as well. You need to grow up.
As to the OP, @eckilson thank you for the very thoughtful post. I was hoping this thread would be something different than what it turned into, such as reflections on caring about other people and about what is important in this short life we have on this beautiful planet. Humans never fail to disappoint me.
“Taught me how stupid people are.” “They can where a dunce hat too.” “Doesn’t upset me I can breath your more than welcome to wear a mask while you’re near nobody. It’s a good laugh to see people doing it.”
One could exercise a bit of grace.
I very sincerely figure that you could be smarter than I am. I will simply suggest that grammar can be considered important by many when writing and reading such comments.
It won’t end. Before the delta variant, COVID had an R0 (number of people each case is expected to spread to) of 3 or so; herd immunity would occur if 70% of people got the vaccine. With delta’s R0 of 6, not to mention it’s ability to re-infect and to infect the vaccinated, even if everyone over the age of 12 gets vaccinated the pandemic will continue. And every infected person on earth is just another petri dish for mutating the next variant.
There’s a lot of things I can’t do because of COVID, so that time and energy goes to the few things that I can - paddling and bicycling are keeping me sane.
The pandemic has changed my preferred paddling styles. Prior to COVID, most of my boating was on rivers or creeks. These require shuttles. There have always been political divides within our small group, but these were mostly easy to ignore prior to the pandemic. Just paddle away. When I bought my first boat I considered it to be a mental health expense. I paddle to get away from the news and politics.
COVID has only hardened the divide within our group and made it even more difficult for some to keep their opinions to themselves. It happens on the water and it happens during shuttles. If my friends are arguing about masks or mandates or anything political, there is no reason for me to be there. I recently bought a new-to-me Swift Keewadin 14 and I’ve been mostly going alone on shuttle free flat water for the very reason I originally got into boating.
As the 600,000 number is being talked about a lot the percentage of those that had comorbidities is significant and not to clearly factored into recovery numbers. It is clear that normally healthy people have a higher chance of recovery. 95% of all covid19 death certificates showed other comorbidities listed. The other 5% it is speculated could have incomplete information. A very high percentage show covid19 as the main contributing factor.
IMO it is hard to look at that number alone and make a rational mental computation as to your likely hood of dying from it as say 1 in 500 chance as the numbers would assume.
You can also factor in the age statistics 78% were 65>, 19% were 45-64, 3% <45.
The CDC doesn’t break the number down into teens or young adults where the comorbidities you would think would be very low.
My guess is there is a reason they don’t.
I chose to get immunized after having covid19 mostly based on my age and the few slight comorbidities I have. I based that also on my personal risk assessment of any negatives the immunization could have on myself as should everyone else.
On a personal note someone above said it well. There is nothing wrong with thinking someone that looks young and healthy wearing a mask alone jogging is a bit over doing it. As long as you don’t go and confront them who cares what you think. Likewise someone wearing a mask can think I’m crazy walking down the road without a mask but I don’t want them stopping to lecture me on what I’m doing wrong.
Masks are a whole different topic and how useful they are and do people really grab a fresh mask every time they use one or if is cloth do they wash it after each usage. N95s properly fitted after being trained how to wear on are only 95% effective. Putting a bandana on like Roy Rodgers really isn’t doing much.
As a side note on human logic the lady I was sitting next to last night ordered wine and was brought a wine glass and she announced wine glasses in bars do not get properly cleaned and she showed us how she takes her napkin and polishes the rim on the inside to get a film off. Several others did the same and said oh Gawd look how clean the rim is now. Later as we ate they all used their napkins to wipe their mouth.
I would love to run a culture on some of the face masks I see people wearing to stop the spread of covid.
I think those that wear one in their car, etc., are a small group compared to those that see it as some sort of threat to their freedom. I felt free even when I had to register for the draft or when I stay to the right of the center line. We live in strange times.
600K who died WITH covid, does not mean 600K died FROM covid. If you are asymptomatic and get hit by a bus, you die with covid. Yes, that is reported that way. Kid died in a MC wreck locally, was reported as a covid death because he had it.
Way to many word games are being played with covid 19 to make me all warm and fuzzy about the info we are given.
People are going into virtue signalling panic mode because of the info that is questionable. Sure I got the shot, HBP and Diabetic, seemed like a good idea. Time to live with it.
Firstly, your callous disregard for the massive loss of life is absolutely stunning. Secondly, you are woefully misinformed about cause of death reporting standards.
I agree. Getting hit by a bus I wouldn’t call comorbidity, but hospitals are checking everyone for covid19 that enters the building someplace before you enter the building and if you die there covid19 will be on your file. May or may not show up as the primary cause of death.
All the comorbiditys factor in different and in nursing homes many people have signed DNRs and what is not closely followed or even known is if a person is severely compromised any number of things in the past could have been the last straw.
The fact are that more people died in the last 2 years from all causes than in the previous years. That spec is called “excess deaths”. If you look at this chart there is something going on caused by covid19 likely. Then again there was a spike at Jan 13 2018 prior to covid19 that is about like now and it is followed by a drop as you would suspect.
For me it is way more than these numbers and the impact on a country like ours given the burden of shutting down like we did. Education, workplace loss, personal stress, etc.
We just got a letter from our school district that there is such a shortage in CDL bus driver’s nation wide as well as in our community they are really having a tough time keeping the schools open. In my whole life I have never seen a disruption like we have now everyplace I look. We had a local guy open a restaurant in town and it was the best barbeque I ever had. People were lining up to get in. He managed to stay open for 6 months and is now closing as he can’t find anyone to work there. I know a kid 18 working at a big chain restaurant and they called him in and told him he had to get the covid shot or he would have to wear a mask clearing tables. He said ok I quit. They told him he couldn’t quit as it took forever to find him and to forget it he didn’t need to wear a mask.
you sir are a F>>>F>>> jackass. Who the F>>CK are you to say how others should lead their lives . you can think what you want about others, but you have no right to judge others…Oh by the way, I sorta think like you…STILLL…
American are not smart enough to get vaccinated at a rate that will stop the virus. Some won’t wear a maks in a crowd of people. That is really dangerous stupidity. To be arrogant about that stupidity is something new in American society.
If someone is in the habit of wearing a mask all the time and they wear it in the car or on a hiking trail, I could care less.
Not willing to throw the word “stupid” to judge others behavior. Just know that a neighbor and good all-around guy passed due to Covid last Friday. Wasn’t vaccinated. Left a Son and Wife along with other friends and family. I will miss talking to him and feel for his family. Being overly cautious seems less risky in my view. I wish my neighbor was more cautious.
I lost a good neighbor too, less than a week after we had a nice chat. It was shortly before vaccines were available.
I feel lucky to have paddling opportunities nearby; COVID hasn’t affected my normal paddling habits much (so far, knock on wood). Paddling is definitely good therapy for me.
I am grateful for knowing how to do more safely now. Of course the initial vax. And more recently restarting periodic tests and a third shot last week. And masks with filters still and for a while. In hot weather, singing, exercise class etc. You gotta do what you got to do. I made myself get used to it.
I spent all of 7 days not wearing a mask in supermarkets after the CDC said it was OK for the vaccinated. Then encountered a maskless seemingly sane person in a local convenience store who said something when we were talking about his dog in his car that made me realize he was unvaxxed.
So much for the honor system. The mask went back on.
I don’t much care if someone thinks I am being excessively careful. Nor if someone else is doing the same. Doing this means I get to do stuff outside w/o worrying what I am sharing if I run into others outdoors.
enjoy.