Originally published at: Comedian David Cross lampoons anti-maskers | Boing Boing
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It’s disheartening that three years into the COVID-19 pandemic, some refuse the barest of safety measures to help put an end to it, like wearing masks in crowded indoor places.
Indeed. This is such a massive failure of leadership at the federal level. I honestly thought that once our would-be tyrant king got turfed out of office, we would actually follow the science when setting policy. Instead, there’s still an eagerness to declare COVID a thing of the past, and a continued fear of mask mandates.
Here on the CDC’s “How to Protect Yourself and Others” page, you have to scroll halfway down the page before the word “mask” appears (I’m not counting the index to the left).
We’ve seemingly capitulated at the federal level, and we’re no longer willing to implement bare minimum measures in situations where it could do a great deal of good (e.g., mask mandates for planes and mass transit).
Our current policy seems to be “oh, get some shots, stay home for a (wholly inadequate) amount of time if you’re sick, and, if it’s not too much trouble, you might want to consider thinking about pondering wearing a mask. If you want. Or not. Whatever. FREEEEEDOMMMMMM!”
Edit: the transit/airplane mask mandate WAS struck down, and the DOJ is appealing (trail on that seems to have gone cold in June); BUT that still doesn’t prevent the CDC from being more forceful in their recommendations. Sorry, STILL a failure of leadership.
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The net-net is that we’re in a cycle of infection/recover/rinse/lather/repeat. And sure, for most, it’ll be a few days of feeling not-so-great. At first. But treating it in such a cavalier manner discounts a few things:
- Unchecked spread yields variants at a faster clip
- The immunocompromised are being locked out some aspects of society, unless they’re feeling lucky
- Long COVID is poorly understood
- Multiple infections increase the likelihood of long COVID, and generally seem to be…BAD for you
This is public health mismanagement most foul.
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Are there any places left in the US where masking is widespread practice? I live in a heavily Democratic county and have visited two others recently, and masking in (even crowded) public places seems to be at ~10-20%. How about globally? I’m guessing masking is more widespread in East Asia, based simply on masking while sick having been an established practice there pre-pandemic, but how about Europe and South Asia? I haven’t been having an easy time finding statistics or even anecdotes.
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I am still masking. I decided to do it just through the winter, but somehow I got the flu (or some kind of flu-like thing that wasn’t COVID) anyway in early December.
Then I started thinking “COVID isn’t really over, and likely there will be something else coming next, another virus that will spread and maybe be worse.”
I too live in a heavily blue area, there is one guy who gave me some crap for the mask but I do see enough people still masking that I don’t care what anyone thinks.
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I was in Iceland this past summer and masking was rare.
I wore an N95 through the airports and on the plane (except for eating) and, at that time, about 75% of the people in both airports (Dulles and Reykjavik) were masking, as well.
Here in NoVA, fewer and fewer people are masking. My employer has mandated some folks come back to the office and most folks there are not masking. We had a vaccine mandate, but that’s been lifted.
It’s all very strange.
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Sorry to hear about your bout with the flu. That’s definitely no fun.
Given the second part of your statement, if you don’t mind me asking, what conditions or criteria would need to be in place before you personally decide that masking is no longer necessary? Even if Covid were somehow “over” (and many folks don’t think it ever will be, at least not completely) there’s always going to be something else coming next.
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If only the anti-maskers were concerned about reality-based issues like discomfort. These lunatics believe that the masks (and indeed the pandemic itself) are part of some plot by [insert evil cabal here] to force Jeebus-fearing white American rugged individualists to symbolically declare allegiance to the dark puppet masters.
Some corporate media establishments have been pushing a lite version of this narrative, in which “liberal elites” use masking to virtue signal and shame “Real Americans™”. As long as this nonsense continues the country is always going to get hit harder than it should by pandemics.
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Hard disagree. Having a wet dog shake rainwater off on you is way worse than wearing a mask.
Same here. Well, it was officially D until the NY Dems screwed Congress, but I digress. I don’t wear masks in every public setting, but when I’m in a crowd or there seems to be a tipping point (25%?) of people wearing masks I do, if nothing else than to make them feel more comfortable. Of course, the grocery store is by far the most crowded place I ever visit and even then it’s pretty easy to give space and not be in someone’s bubble, so I actually think it’s pretty low risk. But the whole point here is that it isn’t low risk for everyone, so I try to be aware of the consensus and comply. It’s definitely ladybug on shoulder level annoyance.
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I asked myself that over a year ago.
I decided that in certain cases, never. I honestly can’t see myself going through an airport and on an airplane without an N95 again. I mask at concerts (a whole 2 in the last 3 years) right now. I’ll probably continue. In situations where you have contact with a large number of people for extended periods of time, it makes sense.
In my office, where I can clear the space around me, I only have any real contact with the same handful of (respectful) people - the risk is substantially lower and I don’t mask.
At stores, I generally mask because it’s not a big deal, but I definitely put one on if anyone working at the store is wearing a mask. Same would go for any where. If someone’s masking, I’m going to mask out of respect of whatever reason they have.
Where my personal risk acceptance is rises and falls, but for me at least having a mask available is going to be a thing.
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I don’t have an answer. And I’m not sure I’ll continue masking indefinitely, it’s just something on my mind.
Probably I will stop masking in the spring/summer and just keep my ear to the wind. I will still wear it on flights when I’m cooped up in the sealed plane with 100 strangers.
I just get the feeling something bigger is coming, something worse than COVID. That’s just my pessimism talking. Flu and colds have always been around and I could deal with them, but since the turn of the century it seems like there’s a new bird-flu/SARS/MERS appearing every few years, as well as constant Ebola scares in West Africa.
The leaders of the world and many of my fellow humans don’t give me much faith in a rosy future.
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Masks work, but sadly it looks like mask mandates don’t help very much – because people don’t actually wear them, wear them correctly, and places don’t enforce wearing them or wearing them correctly.
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I loved that little costume detail, of course she’d be the one to wear a mesh mask.
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Interesting list of things that DON’T work:
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Public masking is virtually non-existant in Germany, entirely non-existant in Norway. Those are the two I can speak to.
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This post served as a great reminder to replenish our KN95 masks, so thanks!
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Virtually no-one wears a mask in England. Maybe 2% at a guess? I usually wear one in shops or on public transport but it certainly feels like nobody’s bothering now. I don’t think it helped that the government told us we don’t need to wear one and reporting of covid on the news is all but non-existent now.
What’s most annoying is that people seem to think that masks were a thing we did for covid that one time. There’s been a lot of nasty flu in the UK this winter and it feels like no-one gives a fuck about spreading it. If people wore masks when feeling unwell we’d have had a lot less of it.
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The current state of masking is a confusing mystery to me. I am writing this while wearing a mask because my hospital (like all others here) is still mandating masks due to the combination of a massive respiratory virus outbreak in children and continued impacts of COVID on patients and staff. Yet when I step out those doors its as though nothing is happening. Maybe 1 in 10 people have a mask? Even people visibly coughing/sneezing don’t have one 
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David Cross take on anti vaxxers is also quite scathing. I put the link under a spoiler tag as he frames the bit within a holocaust narrative. He truely has a remarkable ability to get his point across.
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I wear a mask anywhere I will be indoors in proximity to many other people for more than a few minutes. Currently, pretty much only the supermarket. Mainly because, after the last three years, I don’t trust anyone anymore. And I will probably continue to mask regularly in such situations. Not sure when I’m gonna feel safe otherwise.
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