Jeez Louise.. I am back to wearing a mask again.. sigh

[Peacetrain]

Last edited Wed Jul 13, 2022, 08:46 AM - Edit history (2)

Well it was nice while it lasted I guess... with COVID making a return with the BA-Variant.. its back to the mask.. I just cannot take a chance catching it.

ARRGGHH... well I am not the only one.. starting to see others putting their masks back on.. oh well

Edit to add, June 13th.. the only reason I stopped in June, is that I have asthma and the numbers dropped and I was hoping I could get out more, because I really have a hard time with the masks.. but this stuff is coming back, and the mask is back on..Lord give strength to get through this and the heat.. but its what we have to do..

[Green Line]

1. I never stopped

[Peacetrain]

5. Well I did for a few weeks..

[Skittles]

6. yes, so did a lot of people

THAT IS WHY IT SPREAD

[RobinA]

68. Nope

I got COVID while wearing a mask from a person wearing a mask. Both of us had tested negative within 24 hours before. Both vaxed and boosted twice. Unless you isolate you will get it.

[rsdsharp]

16. I never did either.

I didn’t survive more than two years of this crap, during which I had 6 ER visits, 3 hospitalizations covering 43 total days, and five surgeries, just to blow it now.

[area51]

63. +1 n/t

[DemocraticPatriot]

66. Me neither.

It did begin to seem that I was the last one around here still wearing it...

... but I am beginning to see a few more lately. Not many...

[Skittles]

2. you should never have stopped

THAT'S WHY IT SPREAD

[Peacetrain]

59. Wellll,,,,,

Sorry you seem to misunderstand me..
I see some have really gotten sideways with me because I took my mask off in June.. and have it back on now..Well you might want to check with someone before you jump ugly with them.. I have asthma, and can hardly breathe sometimes.. I was one of the people that others masked up to .. to protect.. because we could not wear them.. but I felt I needed to protect younger ones who could not mask either.. and stayed home.. and masked up when I did go out, and more than once had to be helped back to the car before I passed out..

[Skittles]

79. yet you are wearing ome now

OK

I have difficulty wearing a mask, my face and head tend to overheat, especially in the non-stop triple degree weather. So I limit my errands to one at a time....what I don't do is unmask.

over and out

[misanthrope]

82. Right there with you

I have emphysema and live in one of the most humid places in the nation, the central Gulf Coast. It is enough for me to breathe in the summer anyway. Add a mask, which traps warmer, moister air next to my nose and mouth and it become exceedingly difficult to do much of anything this time of year.

Not to mention, the masks can't get a good seal on my face anyway. The conditions they create necessitate my wearing nasal cannula for an oxygen concentrator, which keeps any mask from being flush against my skin.

[PJMcK]

4. We never stopped (n/t)

[BlackSkimmer]

7. Never stopped, and even in my little red town, I see plenty of people wearing them.

I’m glad to see it, though I wish we didn’t have to worry about this horrid virus.

[mchill]

8. I'm 4 for 4 for people working at my house getting COVID

Since December 2021. Two of the four this last week. Luckily I do not get near them but especially this last week.

[Peacetrain]

13. Take care... maybe we will be more like Japan, and mask wearing just becomes part of our

daily attire. I have asthma, and it was a blessing for a few weeks.. but cannot take a chance on getting it or spreading it.. So far so good in our area, but it is just marching across the US so fast.. it will not be long before it is here also.. I think I read it is the majority variant now..

[mchill]

67. It was the majority variant

I believe, in the SF Bay Area as of last week, though I live near the Oregon border. It is likely hitting us now (much faster than Omicron got to us from the more urban areas). That’s just my guess based on the counties north and south of us and the seeming rise in cases here. My county is no longer reporting numbers despite much consternation from the public.

[LisaL]

9. Yep. Watch out.

Here comes another big wave.

[BannonsLiver]

10. Whoa. This got judgy in a hurry.

[NoRethugFriends]

28. and deservedly so

[Peacetrain]

30. What is deservedly so??

[NoRethugFriends]

57. Not wearing a mask was and is a bad idea

I knew that. And you knew that too.

[Peacetrain]

58. Well...

Sorry you seem to misunderstand me..
I see some have really gotten sideways with me because I took my mask off in June.. and have it back on now..Well you might want to check with someone before you jump ugly with them.. I have asthma, and can hardly breathe sometimes.. I was one of the people that others masked up to .. to protect.. because we could not wear them.. but I felt I needed to protect younger ones who could not mask either.. and stayed home.. and masked up when I did go out, and more than once had to be helped back to the car before I passed out..and I am masking up again and its hard..

[RobinA]

69. COVID Threads

always get judgy. Once enough people get it despite being masked and vaxed, that should die down. Then they can go back to beating on people who don't get flu vaxes.

[MissB]

11. I went to some funerals a few weeks ago.

Out of town, hotel for 2 nights. Close quarters and bars and restaurants. Didn’t even bring a mask.

But.

That was stupid as hell. I didn’t get Covid, but I’m back to religiously masking when out and about. Sometimes it’s like I’m the only one masking.

It was fun to go to bars and restaurants.

I had to grab some items this afternoon at the store. It’s 95 degrees, but I put my mask in before I exit the car and take it off when I’m back in.

[LoisB]

12. Thank you. I never stopped wearing one.

[we can do it]

14. Never stopped. If everyone could have grown up we'd be over this.

[Ace Rothstein]

29. How do you figure?

Outside of Chinese style lockdowns COVID is spreading all over the globe no matter what types of mitigations have been in place.

[we can do it]

31. One word.....masks.

[Ace Rothstein]

33. Plenty of places had mandatory mask wearing, still had COVID.

[we can do it]

34. We've had vaccines for a year and a half.

People whined about masks and getting their shots. It’s their damn fault we’re still dealing with this.

[Ace Rothstein]

60. The variants that have popped up in the last 16 months do quite well at evading vaccines.

The origin of the variants all in developing countries. How do you suppose we tackle that?

[we can do it]

61. Masks, and drop the conspiracy theory crap.

[Ace Rothstein]

62. What conspiracy theory crap?

COVID isn't going anywhere and we aren't going to be able to mask our way out of it or use the current vaccines to put it to an end. How do people still think we can end COVID? Maybe if some better vaccines come out we might have a chance.

[RobinA]

70. Yeah, I'm With You

Even vaxed you can spread it and get it. Masks are theater. It will either mutate itself down to a low level or we need a vaccine that prevents spread. It won't end until one of those two things happen.

[sheshe2]

15. I never stopped.

[dweller]

17. In my dr visit today

My doc was saying by august it will be as bad as last august … he was very adamant about me getting 2nd booster, and I will, but he also sounded more concerned about what is to come

He also recd the moderna even tho he and I had both had Pfizer’s … said something along the lines of ‘covering more bases’ with moderna.



✌🏻

[Peacetrain]

18. I have had my booster and since my original shots were Moderna.. I just went with Moderna

But there was a lot of discussion about mixing and matching...

[Arkansas Granny]

19. I never took mine off. I'm noticing others wearing masks again, however.

[Peacetrain]

21. I have asthma AG.. and it was such a blessing to have it off in the heat..

But I have it back on now.. and same as you I am seeing others also starting to mask up again..

[Arkansas Granny]

23. The vaccination rate in my area is still below 50%. That's the main reason I chose

to continue wearing a mask in public. Also, a lot of people won't isolate if they are ill. Too many MAGAts in my state.

[Peacetrain]

25. I have family in Arkansas..

not too far from Mountain Home .. so yep the family has said people are not the best about staying home if they get sick..

[Totally Tunsie]

20. I "bonded" with a fellow customer at the shoe store yesterday...

We were both wearing masks (I never stopped) and our eyes acknowledged each other as the only two in the store doing so.

Hopefully, the mask numbers will be on the increase again. Such a small thing to do for a decent return.

[senseandsensibility]

32. Exactly.

What's the big deal about wearing a mask for a few minutes in a store?

[Totally Tunsie]

36. I know, right?

Better a mask on for a few minutes than a ventilator on for weeks. Easy choice.

[Skittles]

45. it's just too much for selfish fucking assholes

and there are a LOT of them

[bikebloke]

22. I never stopped either.

[Talitha]

24. Guilty, but I only went without a mask 2 times.

It was early in the morning. Aside from the 2 cashiers there were only a handful of us in the store both times.

FWIW, I switched from a common medical mask to an N95 when everyone up here (northcentral WI) stopped wearing masks quite a few months ago.

In addition to the local population, we're swarming with tourists now, too. Scary stuff.

[Peacetrain]

27. Yep I only had a few weeks with out the mask.. but with the variant taking off

we do not want to take a chance and we are wearing masks again.. Yep I would be more nervous about the tourists.. I hear that!!

[Solomon]

26. Never stopped and probably never will.

[woodsprite]

35. Hubby, my daughter, and I never stopped wearing ours when we're out/about.

Unfortunately, our son brought it home 2 days ago. His GF and her family has it either from traveling (they all went to FL on the autotrain for a week) or from work (teaching summer school). They all showed symptoms exactly 14 days post travel. Son is feeling congested, has a slight cough, fever hanging around 100. He's staying pretty much in his room and wearing an N95 when he comes out. If I take something up to him, we both are wearing N95s.

So far the rest of our family isn't experiencing symptoms. My daughter and I expect to though since the night before he started symptoms, we were taste testing mead and shared a glass.

My boss was in the hospital last week. Her first symptom was chest pain. She thought she was having heart attack, but it was COVID.

[Peacetrain]

37. Yep.. it is rearing its ugly head again.. I was just reading the posts and a lot of people never

stopped.. The home tests are not 100% accurate (from a neighbor who is in the medical field) hope your son feels better soon..

[Grokenstein]

38. Why did anyone stop?

Because a dim donnie appointee described by the American Bar Association as "not qualified" knocked over mandates?
Because public transit and corporations gave up and said "f**k it, go ahead and die, then"?
Because they were vaccinated, and therefore "invulnerable" to COVID?
Because everyone else was doing it?
Oh my, am I being "judgey"?

[maxsolomon]

77. Because Covid has largely stopped being a death sentence.

With vaccines and anti-viral drugs, most people are catching it and getting over it in a few days.

Not everyone, MOST everyone. I know that people are still being hospitalized and dying, but it is far less deadly now than it was in 2020.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

39. I never stopped wearing my mask in public,

I've actually had some Trumpers berating me for wearing a mask, I would point to my USMC Veteran hat and tell them that I earned the right to wear my mask as I saw fit, that usually shut their pie holes.

[GenThePerservering]

42. This !!!!

It's a free country, so I'm free to wear a mask!

I never stopped wearing one - I even wear one to the gym where we do an hour of high intensity group training - if I can manage that with an NK95, I think it won't hurt anyone going into a store to buy some groceries.

But it's hard for me to be judgy - pandemic fatigue is real. But if we all mask up and pay attention, we'll get through this with a lot less sturm und drang.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

44. Well said.

[SYFROYH]

40. I returned from a trip out west and found myself ill. Tested positive for COVID

First two home tests and then an antigen rapid test at the doctors.

Sore throat, incessant coughing, nasal congestion, and fatigue/fog.

No fever.

Dr prescribed Paxlovid - a double anti-viral 5-day treatment.

That was four days ago, and I'm beginning to feel better.

I'm so grateful for my vaccinations (2 Moderna full doses and 2 boosters). And now Paxlovid. Some other friends without Paxlovid suffered for 2 weeks.

[Ms. Toad]

54. Despite the assertions of some here, plane travel appears to be a powerful spreader.

A significant number of people I know who traveled recently by plane have become infected with timing/common connection which suggests plane infection.

I had COVID a few weeks ago - while traveling. While I didn't contract it on the plane, the common connection among the early infections in our group was plane travel. I was part of the second wave (those infected by those who were part of the early infection group.

Based on the online postings from the 25 out of 100 of our group who were infected, of the 8 on my plane home - 5 were infected at the time of the flight. One had a fever AND tested positive the night before the flight AND was unmasked on the plane. (Of the 4 who were unaware we were infected/infectious, I was the only one masking). So there were - at least - 5 COVID positive individuals sitting on a plane with roughly 95% of the passengers unmasked.

Within the last couple of weeks, my brother, my employee, my grand-niece all seem to have contracted COVID while flying.

Fortunately, I waited until 3 weeks before the trip to get my second booster - hoping for maximum immunity. It didn't prevent me from getting COVID, but it kept my very mild symptoms to about 5 days. I tested positive for 11 days. My brother, with fewer symptoms, tested positive for 14.

[RobinA]

72. I Got It

on a plane. A Lufthansa plane when masks were mandatory. From the person I was traveling with who was sitting next to me but had tested negative the night before. I had waited to get my second booster as well, so much for that. I'm pretty convinced that it's pretty hard to avoid if you are around it. Funny, I don't mask unless I am at work where it's mandatory. I was, however, wearing a mask on the plane. So much for THAT.

[Ms. Toad]

73. My contention is that the plane is such a concentrated space -

far closer than you would ordinarily sit to someone you don't have other regular contact with, with inadequate circulation both at the beginning and end of the flight, that it's pretty hard to avoid if you draw the short straw. Expecially with the increased level of contagion with the recent variants.

KN94/N95 masks allow 6% and 5% of particles the size that need to be stopped. And - depending on how well fitted it is - there are larger gaps at the sides (right where this particular threat is coming from on a plane), and around the nose.

No matter how well the air is circulated, if you are next to someone shedding virus, I don't believe that the virus will get sucked up before it does its damage.

And - the few people who were wearing masks on the plane I was on removed them for drink service.

[Wicked Blue]

41. Think of all the money women have saved on lipstick

[ChazII]

43. I did stop wearing the KN-95 and went to the paper

type mask in June and so far in July. Two friends went into the hospital for surgeries. Both are in their late 70's. One was diagnosed with COVID at her surgeon's office yesterday when she went for a post-op visit. The only places she has been is the hospital and then home until this recent visit. My other friend came home yesterday and I am hoping that she does not have COVID. They were in the same hospital but one on the cardiac floor and the other on the neuro floor.

Back to wearing the KN-95 for me.

[BigmanPigman]

56. I won't even go into a hospital for tests for that reason.

[kimbutgar]

46. Never stopped when I go out in public or teaching.

[royable]

47. I never stopped either.

Still avoiding almost all public gatherings and go only when I am masked and everyone else has to be masked.

[niyad]

48. I never stopped.

[pazzyanne]

49. I never stopped either, Peacetrain!

A few months ago my PCP told me to wear a mask whenever I was with people I don't live with. I'm living with a fatal autoimmune disease and the treatment that kills my B and T cells, which allows me to contine living. If wearing a mask allows me to continue living, I good with it.

[wendyb-NC]

50. I still wear them

Primarily for any indoor activity like the grocery store, etc. I'm fully vaccinated, but I don't trust Covid-19

[Ms. Toad]

51. Had more people been wearing masks all along,

there might not be a BA.4 or BA.5 variant.

Wearing masks is a simple precaution that contributes to the potential that, ultimately, we will be able to manage COVID.

However, if we continue to pretend COVID is gone, we are inviting it to stay longer and make babies.

[BannonsLiver]

71. By pretending, do you mean galavanting around on group trips where a bunch of people get sick?

I get a different rules for thee than me vibe, frankly.

[Ms. Toad]

74. That's because you haven't been paying attention, perhaps deliberately.

I have never said people should stay home and avoid life. Although a number of people here who advocate discarding masks, and who insist they have no responsibility to others, accuse me of being afraid to live.

I have been living my life with very few restrictions since August 2020. The restrictions include always masking indoors when the infection rate is above the CDC's initial level for community spread, and avoiding eating inside with others (because it requires unmasking) when the infection rate is above the same level. Those are the restrictions which I have advocated. Feel free to review as many of my posts as you can find.

Betweeen August 2020 and now, I have been at work 6 days a week, sometimes 7 (until I retired in April), teaching as many as 120 students for up to 6 hours at a time. All masked (both me and students) except for a very brief period of time when the community level dropped below 50 cases per 100,000 over a 2 week period. (I still masked inside, except for eating, but my students did not always mask.)

I hadn't traveled yet since the start of the COVID, but aside from the pre-vaccination period, I don't see any particular problem with traveling with the same precautions I use, and recommend others use, when I'm not traveling. At the time this trip reservation was made masks were required on planes and in airports, as was a negative test to re-enter the US. Both of those restrictions were recently lifted. I have said that removing the mask restriction on planes and in airports was a very bad idea. From the timing of the early infections, it is pretty clear that planes played a role.

Every single person on the trip was vaccinated, as a prerequisite to participation (with proof required). The trip was to a largely open-air dive resort - and most of my time was spent on an open-sided boat, on an open-air patio, or underwater, none of which are conducive to transmission. Two of the 3 daily meals were eaten outside. The third was in a largely empty restaurant (the "all-inclusive" didn't have fantastic food - so most people went elsewhere to eat the single meal served inside a restaruant). I masked except when actively eating.

Others were not taking the precautions I take. Had they taken them, the spread would have been far lower.

I happened to catch COVID from my spouse - which has always been the threat I cannot control. She is among the many who do not take proper precautions. She had an "allergy" attack a few days before I contracted it. Despite the fact that she tested negative the day of the allergy attack, it turned out to be COVID. Had we been at home I would have slept in a separate room - even though she has allergy attacks all of the time, and tested negative on this particular occasion, and even though all of the similar attacks during COVID were truly allergy attacks.

That is the sole exception to the care I both advise and ordinarily take - not separating from my spouse once she had an "allergy" attack.

So no, it isn't different rules for thee than me. I have never said don't live, don't travel, etc. I have said masking indoors is a small price to pay to avoid both catching COVID and spreading it to others - and we owe each other that effort. I caught COVID because of a spouse whose behavior has always been the greatest threat to me remaining COVID-free. The only contribution travel made was that I didn't have a recliner in my living room I could move to "just in case."

[vanlassie]

52. I wore an N95 for 15 hours each way to London in May.

Almost no one was masked. But all had to have a clean test to return to US. Then a week later that requirement was dropped.
I mask indoors. It would just be stupid not to.

[Hortensis]

75. Never stopped here either but relaxed a bit, one cloth mask for

typical quick ins and outs.

Last Saturday we went to the funeral of an old friend in Tennessee and were among very few masked, two of the others older people on oxygen. We managed to leave home with only one N95, so my husband wore it and I double masked. Tomorrow will be the last day, day 5, of waiting for symptoms to show, test kits in the powder room. Not been worrying, but it looked like an easy superspreader event to me.

[vanlassie]

78. Fingers crossed!

[Catherine Vincent]

53. Really? Well I never stopped.

[BigmanPigman]

55. I have always worn mine and no one is allowed in my apt.

without one either. I spent to much energy trying not to catch this shit and I will continue to do so, for myself and not for others. People don't give a shit about infecting others so they don't wear a mask. I wear one so I won't get sick. I am selfish I guess. My trusty N95s will be on my face every time I go out my front door until this is really over, maybe a few more years.

No body in San Diego is wearing them anymore and I don't care how sick they get as long as I don't. If they get Covid I have no sympathy for them.

[LuckyCharms]

64. Never stopped. It's not a burden to me.

I have to climb 4 or 5 flights of stairs at the hospital where most of my doctors are located, because I won't take an elevator.

My mask is a fitted N95, so I'm sucking wind and light headed by the time I get to the top of the stairs.

I still don't take it off.

[Peacetrain]

65. I am super impressed you climb 4 or 5 flights of stairs.. mask or no mask

That is awesome!! My husband always always does the stairs..

[maxsolomon]

76. I've been slipping - sometimes I forget to even carry one.

I still manage to remember it in groceries, but I went unmasked to 2 parties over the 4th where I was indoors with strangers, and I ate inside in a restaurant yesterday. Also I don't mask at the office, since February when the firm dropped the requirement.

I never wear one outside, since 2021. Covid-free so far.

[Elessar Zappa]

80. Me too.

[liberal_mama]

81. I never stopped wearing them because I'm immune compromised, but

I wear 3M Aura N95s and they are really hot in the summer months. I sweat a lot and get hot flashes so this makes it even worse.

Still, I just put up with the discomfort because it's better than getting Covid. That's all I need is another chronic illness and the new reports coming out about the long term health consequences of even mild Covid infections are unsettling.