Retail stores and new CDC mask updates

I look forward to patronizing stores that allow fully vaccinated people to unmask. That’s good science and I’m glad to finally see it.

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Although fully vaccinated, I am not ready to unmask indoors yet due to:

  1. “high risk” level in our county (it was “very high risk” until today, so it is headed downward);

  2. my age (senior) and my underlying health conditions, which may cause the vaccine to be less effective for me than for others who are healthier/younger;

  3. the vulnerable among us who are not yet fully vaccinated (12-15 year olds), or who cannot be vaccinated for health reasons, or who have a poor immune response to the vaccine. Any of these could catch COVID from me if I were to catch it (due to reasons #1 and #2.)

As the risk level drops further in our county, and when enough time has passed that the 12-15 year olds are fully vaccinated, I will stop wearing a mask indoors, and will resume dining indoors in restaurants. Probably sometime in July.

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I’m in a similar situation, and have two close relatives who have been vaccinated but with poor immune response. So I’m continuing to wear a mask indoors, especially among folks I don’t know firsthand. If I were more artistic, I’d label some of my many masks to say “I’m vaccinated, but I care” or words to that effect.

DD works retail in a mall. Both the mall and her store went to the mask honor system for vaccinated people today. She said 90% still wore a mask.

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Went clothing shopping today with D. Went into three stores. All three were still enforcing mask wearing indoors.

I happened to overhear two workers at a supermarket remarking that they hadn’t seen anyone come in without a mask since the rules changed. They seemed surprised.

There are places where everyone still wears masks, and it seems to be ‘no big deal.’ I was watching hockey last night and while the players don’t wear masks, everyone else does - coaches on the benches, fans, workers. It is indoors, and there were about 8000 people there, so masks still required.

Baseball is outdoors, but same rules. Masks on everyone but players. Now they do a terrible job at wearing them and are constantly pulling them off or wearing them around their necks, but they still have them.

We haven’t noticed anyone in stores not wearing them either, but saw it announced last night that the Kroger store is allowing people do go maskless as of today. It’s a big chain here, so once they allow it all the other stores will too.

We are organizing a youth day camp for July. By then, I expect that many of those over 12 will be vaccinated, but that campers ages 5-11 will not be. We are outdoors the entire time.

We are now warning our volunteers that we expect everyone will be wearing masks at camp. It would not be fair, considerate, caring, etc., according to our organization’s philosophy, to require young children to wear masks but not slightly older children.

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I was shopping at Aldi today. They have a sign at the door that says that vaccinated individuals do not have to wear a mask.

It was not very crowded but the only people wearing masks were men! There were around 5 men in masks and 10 women with no masks.

Not sure what that meant but I’m pretty sure they didn’t pay attention to the sign on the door. I tried to think of something funny to write about that observation but failed :wink:

King County Washington is asking for voluntary mask wearing indoors until “Seattle & King County confirms that 70% or more of residents age 16 and older are fully vaccinated against COVID-19”.

https://kingcounty.gov/depts/health/news/2021/May/20-indoor-mask-directive.aspx

At Target last evening, between 8:30-9:00, I saw only one person (40 ish male) without a mask.

I also run a store. All employees are vaccinated. We have agreed to be maskless when in the office or warehouse but to have masks on with customers. If the customer does not wear a mask, we are not going to make an issue. The employee will also have the option of removing his/her mask when working with that customer.

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I’m continuing to wear a mask until my family can be fully vaccinated, which is in about 5 weeks. I have 2 in the 12-15 age group and both have had 1 shot so far. I don’t know the odds of me bringing covid home to them if I am unmasked while fully vaccinated. But wearing it for another few weeks is not a big deal and it makes me feel better. They wear masks all day at school so I think I can handle wearing it grocery shopping for a while longer.

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Our local govt had said the same thing a couple of weeks ago, but changed their mind once the CDC came out with its revised recommendations.

Went into a busy large local garden center yesterday. Signs all over the place asking patrons to wear masks (state doesn’t lift mask mandate for another week). Probably 90% had masks on. Those who did not didn’t seem to notice all the masked people around them. What irked me was the employee wandering all over the place with a mask around his chin. If you ask me to wear a mask I will, but also hold your employees to the same standard.

We are fully vaccinated and would be fine without a mask, but if a business asks me to mask up, I will respect their request and do so. It’s their business—I have no God-given right to shop there!

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How did you know their vaccine status? Maybe all the women were vaccinated and the men were not.

This is a fascinating story of how the original guidance on masks went so wrong: The 60-Year-Old Scientific Screwup That Helped Covid Kill | WIRED

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Maine has decided to end the mask mandate for everyone, whether vaccinated or not. Of course, the Maine CDC is still recommending that unvaccinated people wear masks, but the state decided it was too onerous to require businesses to inquire about their customers’ vaccination status.

I will keep my mask in my purse and get it out only if a business requires it. :slight_smile:

Thank you for posting this. That story was amazing!

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Why would a business ever inquire to begin with?

Nobody in our county masks up but we’re at 90% vaccinated for 65+ and about 50 for everyone else. It’s been that way for a few weeks. I go to another county and only a few businesses require masks but it’s more of a suggestion.

Because a rule that “you can go inside the store unmasked iff you are vaccinated” either has to depend on the honor system (easy for cheaters to go in unmasked and unvaccinated) or have businesses be “vax or mask” police (if they want to stop cheating, but it is not easy to do).