Visconti

For me, it's this, and that's really all it is. I've utilized masks long before Covid, and will do so long after. I've been ridiculed for masking before, and surely will be mocked again. I don't care about any of that. What I do care about is being told what to do.

That's it.

fransknorge

This is wrong. COVID is much more dangerous for immunocompromised people than the cold or flu. By several order of magnitude. Currently 20% of people in hospital with COVID are immunocompromised. For flu, this is around 5%.

GrayAnderson

Here's the thing: For all of the bellyaching about "children under 5", Politico came out this week with an expose...it seems that the FDA is planning on sitting on approval for the Moderna vaccine (so they don't roll one out after the other and "confuse" people). So if the administration really wants to protect kids under 5, they could...I dunno, authorize the Moderna doses?
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/0...covid-00026798

GrayAnderson

Actually answering the question...

I'm trying to analyze myself, and there are two issues. One is "mild discomfort for an extended period of time". I don't react well to the "face being closely covered" thing (I believe this is associated with a bit of mild claustrophobia I have). Associated with that is the fact that I literally found my brother's military-grade gasmask to be more comfortable than most cloth mask options (great for protecting me; not so much for other folks). I observed that if I could have come up with a way to make it work, I was willing to try and commission a Battlestar Galactica flight helmet with a functioning air filtration system (the principle being that I'd have a steady flow of air blowing on me, nothing close to my face, good peripheral vision...and, as I told some friends, "the satisfaction of dragging everyone else into my choice of dystopia instead of having to completely live in theirs...and "dystopia" was about how I would have described the [astronomical] spring of 2020 without much reservation). I would actually have been happy to spend around $1-2k for such a system if it would have been acceptable in lieu of a cloth mask.

The other part of this, however...the best answer I can come up with is that I had a "hard reject" towards just about everything pandemic-related over the course of April/May/June 2020. By the time you got to Virginia's mask mandate (which went into effect on May 31st), I was deeply burned out from the prior ten weeks and in the middle of watching riots break out. There were a number of other silly rules (e.g. the police trying to keep the beaches closed, rules aimed at limiting late-night drinking which forced Waffle House to close, you name it), and a lot of the messaging (e.g. from the airlines) was focused around "making people feel comfortable" or "show[ing] people that you care" and it hit at a time when I really was not in the mood to grant another "ask" or make any gestures for the comfort of others. There were additional confounding factors in messaging and what-have-you that I won't get into, but it snowballed in that direction. So ultimately, I decided that any place I had to wear a mask for an extended period of time was not going to have my custom, regardless of the reason for the rule. I (quasi-)voluntarily made exactly one exception to this across the whole period. My use of mass transportation was simply collateral damage to this being the one time I decided to say "no".

As a note, I scheduled my vaccine shots literally the day I figured out that I was eligible (I think I might have been eligible for a week or two, but the initial stages of the rollout were a bit confusing) and I got my booster within a few weeks of being eligible (it would have been faster, but I wanted at least one day afterwards where I didn't have anywhere to be and I could either be at home or at a hotel with solid room service in case I was knocked for a loop like I was with my second shot the first time around).

There's one further wrinkle in all of this: I was able to switch all of my travel to driving in a classic Cadillac, which provided me with something of a "reality buffer" (like, during the worst of the lockdown, there were a few days where I just went out and drove)...and honestly, with premium gas at around $2.50/gallon or so, there was absolutely no reason for me to evenconsider not driving everywhere. Add in the later-on rental car shortage and...yeah, why the heck would I deal with the hassle of public transportation (be it a train or a plane), masks included, when I could just go sailing in my land yacht? I put about 60k miles on that car across the pandemic. Now, even with the mandate gone, there are probably quite a few trips where I'll still choose to drive...basically, this triggered a "mode shift" for me that'll take a while to walk back (I've had two prior shifts in long-distance trips...driving to train in about 2008/9, and train to flying in about 2015), and rental cars are still an issue (especially since with a rental car, I have to figure out whatever goofy thing the auto company has done...and believe me, 50 years is a massive technology gap).

sfgiants13

Wonder how this will work with LA having masks back on transit. My guess is the employees will have to comply but they won’t say a word to anyone else. No chance LAPD enforces it and j doubt tsa does. Going to be a lot of very confused people stepping off the plane in LA.

GrayAnderson

I've mused about JFK/LGA, but this has me wondering (in practical terms) about Amtrak on the NEC and in Southern California. Phrasing this a bit absurdly, but for New York, do you have to put a mask on when leaving New Rochelle and can you take it off after you enter the Hudson River tunnel? Do you have to put it on leaving Fullerton and can you take it off at Simi Valley on the Surfliner?

sfgiants13

I doubt anyone will be putting them on and taking them off 20 mins later. I do expect a few more places to bring it back for transit. Seattle and SF come to mind. But this morning it was 80% without masks at the Seattle airport so good luck bringing it back without a riot no matter what that one poll said.

Badenoch

Your question is dripping in judgement when you position yourself as never having "thought it was a big issue" to wear a "mildly annoying" mask on behalf of the children, infirm and frightened then ask how anyone could possibly feel otherwise.

northinsouth

Granted, there is bias in the phrasing, but it sounds like the writer might be trying to move past that simple view and evolving his/her outlook? As someone who has changed his mind numerous times over this pandemic, it can be helpful to admit one's biases so as to take inventory about where they might be originating and considering if they're valid.

Of course, this is a glass half-full kind of reply on my end.

VCURamFan

Enforcement in airports has been non existent for over a year. I haven't worn one in an airport except at TSA checkpoint in my last 50+ trips and no one has said a word. This is just political window dressing imho.

Badenoch

It's quite unlikely the poster is going to read alternate views and conclude "screw the children, infirm and frightened I am going mask free!"

My opinion hasn't changed throughout. I wear a mask when it is required without complaint. When it is optional I will wear a mask when I believe it to be in my best interests and makes sense to me.

mswheeler

We should refrain from comparisons with Covid to Flu and Common Cold to reason out our choices. The data concludes they are very different in terms of how contagious each is as well as the large discrepancy in the death rates.

Regardless of ones opinion about how a government is addressing or not addressing an issue, it doesn't change the fact that children under 5 currently do not have access to a vaccine. The positions us people to make choices about masking or not, knowing that information.

JBJ2435

Los Angeles just announced they are bringing them back including airports...

mswheeler

My post was intended to state my individual experience and perspective on masking and to find out more about different perspectives by asking the question I asked.
Yes I hold an opinion, but I was not asking out of judgment I was asking out of interest.
People often seem very emotional or defensive about this topic so I included the comment "no judgment in that question" to try to emphasize my question being out of interest.

Also, please don't miss quote me by paraphrasing with your interpretation of my question ..."how anyone could possibly feel otherwise."

This is my exact question.
"I am curious to hear from people what their issues are for having to wear masks on planes? (no judgment in that question, generally want to hear from folks about their reasons) I know this varies for individuals."

aj411

the children under 5 aspect is an odd argument since the CDC has already approved school system transport for school and day care to go maskless as opposed to other transport. If we are particularly concerned about those under 5, day care transportation provided by school systems would still require mask, wouldn't it?

for reference on the CDC website:
"Effective February 25, 2022, CDC is exercising its enforcement discretion to not require that people wear masks on buses or vans operated by public or private school systems, including early care and education/child care programs."