Now That A Number Of States Are Lifting Their Mask Mandates & Schools Are Relaxing Their Mask.....

[global1]

mandates - how long will it be before we find ourselves in another situation that they are going to have to re-instate mask mandates because Covid will have reared its ugly head again?

Haven't we learned our lesson over and over again?

Please have patience and stick with those measures that work. Get vaccinated. Wear your mask. Practice social distancing. Wash your hands regularly.

How many times are we going to let down our defenses only to be hit again with another Covid surge?

[MontanaMama]

1. Omicron is on fire in Montana.

I’m so relieved schools in our city aren’t lifting the mask requirements. Our thug Governor decreed that schools couldn’t require masks but our local superintendent gave him the middle finger and did it anyway.

[onecaliberal]

2. It is still really bad in my immediate area. We have the highest rate in the county.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. I've Gotten 3 Emails And...

...5 texts in the last 2 days giving me the update in those districts regarding that idiotic ruling in Sangamon county. Not only do I think the judge erred in his decision but the lawsuit was brought by a downstate grandstanding flamethrower that went venue shopping until he found a stupid judge to rule his way.
Now, masks are OPTIONAL for students! This essentially means hardly any kid will be wearing them.
Teachers & staff still have to, as that is federally mandated.
No more testing or quarantining for close contact.
And, they're BEGGING parents to not send kids to school with any sort of symptoms. Yeah, I'm sure that'll do the trick.
A guy from the middle of nowhere sues the governor & a judge from the 11th biggest county makes a call that affects all 12 million people.
I'm sure down in Sangamon County, that judge is a hero.

[questionseverything]

4. So far my kids said everyone was still wearing masks

But I am sure it’s just a matter of time

District #87

[ProfessorGAC]

8. Around Here, It Doesn't Change Until The 9th

Hopefully enough responsible parents will tell their kids to take the mask option.

[Stuart G]

5. STUPID is still "STUPID"..COVID-19...causes "Pneumonia" Pneumonia Kills People..

901,000 tHOUSAND DEATHS IN THE UNITED STATES...!!!!!!!

LET'S PUT THAT IN PERSPECTIVE....35,000 DEATHS DUE TO AUTO CRASHES..

35 TIMES 25 == 875.....tHAT IS 25 times the amount from AUTO CRASHES...

getting Covid 19 prevention shots...prevents death.....................think about this .................................................

GETTING COVID 19 PREVENTION SHOTS, TAKES LESS EFFORT THAN PUTTING ON A SEAT BELT 300 TIMES A YEAR...OR
..................200 TIMES A YEAR...............also: ..... COVID 19 CAN CAUSE PNEUMONIA!!!
..................PNEUMONIA CAUSES DEATH.. !!!!

i got my booster at the food store...Jewel. (in Illinois).., I signed some papers and the pharmacist gave me the booster

I have had pneumonia 2 times....get a breathing tube, hospitalization for a week, etc.....NOT FUN AT ALL!!!
.........................which is worse...3 shots.(.2 plus booster..)......or pneumonia & hospitalization for a week...?...If you
have to think a moment about that answer, you are ............INDEED ALREADY STUPID!!!

Ask Google Search to find Deaths from Covid 19 in U.S.A...".Mr. Search" will find it right away...He is NOT STUPID

[Zeitghost]

6. I mentioned in another thread

That after omicron runs its course, we will have run out of enough victims to support another big wave of deaths. COVID is here to stay, but after each wave, the number of potential fatalities left get's smaller and smaller. Roughly 80 million people have officially tested positive for COVID and over 1/3 of those cases were in the last 90 days. CDC estimates are that the true number is 3-4 times that. So somewhere between 240 and 320 out of 330 million of us have already survived and the vast majority of the rest are vaccinated.

[Ms. Toad]

14. Remember - your numbers do ot take into account the many people

who have had it multiple times (leavig a much larger population who has not yet had it).

[Zeitghost]

15. True

But reinfection is rare. A quick search turned up estimates of 3-4%. ~3 million fewer people infected is a large number, but not enough to significantly change the situation. At current rates that's ~10 days of cases.

[Ms. Toad]

19. I can pretty much guarantee that is off,

based on the number of people I know personally who have been reinfected.

Most places aren't tracking reinfections - but as of 1/31 the UK has started tracking reinfections and about 10% of the new cases are reinfections.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-60174478
https://coronavirus.data.gov.uk/details/whats-new

[Zeitghost]

22. Possibly

My own experience is far lower, but that's why individual experiences don't count for much. Either way, with the fast spread of Omicron, we are fast approaching a time when the vast majority of people will have been exposed.

[Ms. Toad]

23. You may have missd that, in the place they are actually tracking,

10% of new cases are re-infections. So not just individual experience, but experience backed by data that they have only recently started tracking.

So exposure isn't really much of a guarantee against infection.

[Ace Rothstein]

7. Mask mandates or lack of aren't what is leading to the waves of COVID we've gone through.

Illinois has a mask mandate while our neighbors do not. We fared no better than them case wise during the Omicron wave.

[Tomconroy]

9. My experience in CT is this: The governor abolished mask mandates

for everything but hospitals, nursing homes, assisted living facilities and schools last summer. Businesses were free to require masks if they chose as we're towns though few chose to do so. Today the state mask mandate for schools was abolished as of 2/28.
What happened: When cases started getting high in November people started putting on masks. December when omicron came everyone was wearing them.
Did the fact that people stopped wearing them when cases were low cause omicron to spread like wildfire? Don't be ridiculous. I've looked at those studies, including the famous Bengladesh one. The best that can be said is that masks may do a bit to stop infections. Part of the problem is that Covid spreads in the home where people don't wear masks. You can just read the posts from people on DU who have been infected to know that.
Here in CT people will do the responsible thing when it's necessary. We don't need mandates.
Vaccine and booster mandates? The science is overwhelming that vaccines and boosters make a tremendous difference.

[liberal_mama]

12. I wear a mask in my home whenever I am outside of my bedroom. So does my son.

When my husband got Covid a month ago, neither of us caught it. I realize that most people don't wear masks in their homes, but I'm immune compromised and my husband is an essential worker, so we have had to take extra precautions during the pandemic. When my husband tested positive, I thought I was doomed to get it, but that KF94 mask protected me! We have a very small house and only one bathroom too.

[moonscape]

24. Interesting, and surprising actually. I would have guessed

Omicron would have found you within the same household even masked. Nice to hear.

[Dorian Gray]

17. In NY/NJ

Christmas and New Years really drove Omicron.

People were frightened to go back to school, but once school started up again, cases quickly went down. (Of course, kids were masked in NYC schools.)

We've had a handful of cases at my daughter's school in January. Just last week, one child tested positive. There has been no classroom spread.

I am nervous about relaxed mask mandates, but also I'm pretty confident that members of our community will mask for awhile longer no matter what the official situation is.

[electric_blue68]

10. Good Luck to you in difficult areas!

[crickets]

11. Lather, rinse, repeat. And in a while, there will be another spike.

Likely, unless there's a new strain, it will be a bump. But it's so frustrating and unnecessary, and people will die.

Worn properly and consistently, masks work.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/17/wearing-masks-single-most-effective-way-to-tackle-covid-study-finds

[Ms. Toad]

13. I was raising alarms before classes started in the fall that we were likely to reach 200,000 cases

per day by the start of classes.

We are not yet back down to 200,000 cases/day from an average peak of more than 4 times the amount which was ringing loud alarm bells for me - and which triggered a mask mandate at the school I teach at. where I teach.

[inwiththenew]

16. There won't be anymore new mandates until after the November election

You can bet on that. It would be political suicide to do that again this year before the election.

[DetroitLegalBeagle]

18. Yep

My guess is all state level restrictions will be gone by summer regardless of what the CDC or feds recommend.

[Tickle]

20. Protect yourself and

your family. Stay up to date on boosters and wear a mask. If you have any immune issues stay away from crowds. To those who have taken precautions and still get it hopefully we’ll have anti viral drugs soon.
🤦?♀️ What else can we do ?

[Raftergirl]

21. It's really going to be left up to the individual now.

I’m not planning on giving up wearing a mask indoors in public spaces regardless if there is a mandate or not. I’m also not ready to go to eat indoors at a restaurant. But somethings I stopped doing during Omicron surge in NYS I’ve begun doing again. Had my hair cut and colored and a manicure last week and my tennis game started again yesterday (we wear masks) after we paused in mid December.

If things still look good in a month or so I might even fly down to Florida to visit my 92 year old mother. She came up last summer but I haven’t gone to see her since Feb. 2020.

[Nevilledog]

25. I give it 8 weeks.