Yeah but cases are down and omicron is not hospitalizing those who are vaccinated so campuses that are 100 percent vaxed and boosted can unmask. It’s time.
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It is indeed time! Data shows Omicron is far less serious even for unvaxxd but definitely for vaccinated, there are much better treatments that have just come out and are widely available, AND unless we are talking sealed fitted n95s, masks just dont stop omicron spread well—it is too contagious. The data of how it spread through mask-mandate cities vs unmasked regions is clear: allof the other variants behaved differently in masked populations—not this one.
Duke is dropping all of the routine (asymptomatic) testing on vaccinated in a couple of weeks; masks still mandated in Durham so that stays for now and I imagine will reassess later. They are camping out in tents, going to games, socializing, and having lots of fun, but it still isn’t “normal” with the masks. Hopefully it will be soon.
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I’m glad that colleges without vaccine mandates are requiring masking. A nephew in his 20s, athletic with no preexisting conditions but unvaccinated caught covid at Christmas. Ended up with covid pneumonia, in ICU for a week, tore a lung from coughing so hard and lost 30 lbs. Just getting back to doing a little bit of yard work a couple weeks ago. This thing can be very bad for young people if they are not vaccinated. His vaccinated mom also caught it and was asymptomatic.
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If he chose not to be vaccinated, he chose the risk. Requiring others to try to protect his health when he isnt willing to do the bare minimum to do so for himself isnt reasonable
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I am so sorry to hear your nephew’s serious health scare. Has his ordeal caused him to rethink vaccination? Is the outlook good for him to have a full recovery?
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in the last 2 weeks I have traveled to work events where masking is optional. I would say that 80% or so are not masking. Those that are, are doing so for various reasons. Vaccines required. I asked one person who was masked why , and they said they were going on a vacation the following week, so they wanted to be safe. Since wearing a Kn95 type mask does help those who are wearing them, I can see where mask optional can start to make sense. The only caveat here is that these events are “optional” in a sense. Classrooms are not. RIT will likely drop the mandate for everything out side of classes after spring break first.
Unfortunately, when you choose to not wear a mask in an indoor setting where you are in close proximity to others, you aren’t just deciding for yourself, you are making a decision that potentially impacts everyone present. And when most of those present would prefer masks be worn for their safety and the safety of others, then wearing a mask is very much about supporting the community.
Like with many of the campus issues that have some parents riled up these days, it is really just a matter common courtesy. The message posted by @Corinthian from Hope college says it better than I can:
Please help us be a fully supportive community by continuing to live into our Christian calling to be loving and welcoming to all students, staff and faculty. Continue to carry your mask with you, and if someone asks you to put it on in their presence, please love your neighbor and wear the mask without questioning them.
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Masks do well at catching A LOT of “stuff” (that is my very kind non-NSFW word) coming from the mouths and noses of people. Masks ain’t perfect, but that “stuff,” both seen and unseen, w/o mask, still comes flying out of people’s faces.
Personally, I’m not looking for perfection, but a mask does stop A LOT.
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So at what level of Covid do you think masks should be optional?
And, just to be clear, Colgate also told kids to always carry masks and please put them on if asked.
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Now I’m confused again. If students are asked to carry masks and wear them if asked, isn’t that precisely what happened in that class? It’s just that students asked via a survey?
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It depends on the circumstances. Generally, I’d prefer trustworthy medical professionals make those calls, not politicians or outspoken parents.
Great. Yet you weren’t thrilled that your child was asked (by vote of the class) to mask up in a class.
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They sure do! I commonly wear them seeing patients in bad flu seasons. But for many reasons I do not think that means they should be mandatory or even commonly used by large parts of the population outside of healthcare. Many colleges (and k-12, cities , other doctors) agree its time to get back to normal and live with this germ like we have always lived with germs that fly out of mouths.
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Northwestern dropping mask mandate in quite a few indoor spaces on Monday, Feb 28. Masks still required in class/labs.
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Not locally here yet, masks are still required indoors, classrooms, still required.
And this germ can do a little bit more damage than the other germs. And it’s still killing about 2,000 people daily nationwide.
ETA: Cal Poly SLO still requires masks in classrooms, labs and buses. And they’re pretty close to ZERO cases now.
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I can’t imagine asking someone that question. It is no one else’s business. My daughter heard a classmate asking another classmate why she was masked and was angry when the poor girl felt pressure to answer the intrusive question (her mother has cancer, something that she had not shared with anyone and should have felt like she had to). As teenagers, it’s hard enough navigating all the social pressure, and now this just adds another layer. No one should be put on the spot to justify why they are wearing a mask.
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It was not a stranger , but someone I do business with and in the context it was done in a way which was fine. No , I dont walk up to strangers and ask, nor did I criticize in any way.
But how many of those 2,000 people a day who are dying are fully vaccinated, fully vaccinated and boosted, under the age of 5, or have a medical reason for not getting vaccinated?
I have looked at “Covid dashboards” at quite a few colleges and universities, and have seen only a minuscule level of severe outcomes on high vaccinated campuses. As the mask mandates start to expire or are removed, it is going to be weird not wearing masks, but I will remove my masks (once little ones have vaccine access), because I believe in the protection that the vaccine provides.
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Seems like policies regarding masks should be based on the following:
- Risk of serious infections or bad outcomes in vaccinated people (depends on the variant of the day, of course).
- Whether health care facilities (or other essential services) are or in danger of being overloaded at least in part due to COVID-19 cases.
Obviously, the above may vary in different areas, and specific locations within an area may differ (e.g. health care facilities and nursing homes may have concentrations of medically vulnerable people at higher risk even when vaccinated).
However, the actual reasons that mask policies are chosen probably have more to do with politics than data or science.
I follow Andy Slavitt’s In the Bubble podcast. He is very fond of weather analogies. He says we need to treat the pandemic sort of like we treat the weather. Every day we should check the local forecast (look at community case positivity rates, hospital loads etc). Then we decide “it’s a sunny day I’m going out carefree” or “looks like it might sprinkle, maybe I’ll take my umbrella today (mask)” or if the weather is extra bad “I’ll take my umbrella, raincoat and boots (maybe another booster, higher grade mask etc)”. And if it’s really storming maybe I’ll decide to stay home. His point is that the situation will be constantly in flux for the foreseeable future.
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There’s a problem with the weather analogy. If it’s raining, you can individually decide to bring an umbrella if you care about not getting wet. Whether you bring an umbrella or not wouldn’t affect how much someone else is going to get wet. With Covid, acting individually is clearly insufficient. The lack of collective action has been one of primary causes of our failure in dealing with the pandemic throughout.
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