Saw some more storefronts’ signs:
- Mask required for entry: one restaurant, dentist’s office (still under state mask requirement).
- Mask not required if vaccinated: other nearby restaurants.
- No sign: still other nearby restaurants, grocery store.
A year ago, my daughter was hired by a company to photograph newborns at the hospital. Then everything shut down. She’d given up on the job but today got an email that she can start it if she wants since the hospital has given the company the green light. Boy, does she! I’m so happy for her. 
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What a fun/happy job!
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Went to two more grocery stores recently.
One had no apparent mask-related sign, one had a “no mask required if vaccinated” sign.
However, in both stores, everyone (customers and employees) was wearing a mask.
Both are in an area with about 70% fully vaccinated and another about 10% with one dose of a two dose vaccine.
Went to Safeway today and encountered a woman in a motorized scooter. I suggested she don her mask and she said no need—medical, can’t breathe with mask.
Safeway has curbside delivery and instacart. If you can’t breathe with mask, should you be exposing yourself to who knows what with no mask? Heck, I have difficulty breathing with a mask, which is why I try to keep my outings indoors as short as possible.
Anyway, if you have difficulty breathing with a mask, you will have extreme difficulty breathing if you get covid in any form!
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Went to get my hair cut yesterday. Was so relieved to see no signage requiring masks. Was a much better experience there without a mask. No one there had a mask on. In Maryland 75% of adults are vaccinated. Our state of emergency was lifted two days ago. People are wearing masks rarely now.
I’m still seeing quite a few masks in Maine, which frankly baffles me. I don’t wear one unless requested.
Same here in MA. We are very highly vaccinated. If asked to wear a mask, I do. If not, I don’t. What is confusing is that different branches of the same supermarket chain in adjacent towns have different mask policies. Finding that at Stop and Shops.
For whatever reason, there still seems to be considerable COVID-19 paranoia around here, as evidenced by lots of (but definitely not all) people wearing masks in outdoor uncrowded places (e.g. a walk in the park), despite high vaccination rates. The continuation of mask wearing by most in indoor retail is another indicator.
Interesting, UCB. In my neck of very compliant woods, lots of folks wore masks on the trails up until maybe a couple of weeks ago. Now, I rarely see a masked person in the parks or on the trails. Strangely, it is usually a runner. Maybe they still buy into the myth that wearing a mask helps improve performance.
I used to bristle at comments about paranoia over Covid-19, but have gotten used to them. In our area, the vax rate is just 30% to 40%. A recent news story reported that most of the people hospitalized here for corona virus recently had contracted the Delta variant and about 15% of them were fully vaccinated. I don’t care for those odds, especially with a child who’s immunocompromised and who I hope to see again this summer.
H and I will continue to be careful, and will wear a mask when we must go inside any business. We relaxed a little about spending limited time with our unvaccinated D and SiL recently, but I was still uncomfortable about it knowing their past behavior. We’ll evaluate the risk of future get togethers on a case-by-case basis, and are looking forward to cooler weather so we can spend time on a screened porch or patio with them.
Yup, I’d opt for outdoor gatherings with unvaxed folks, especially since H, I and my mom are especially vulnerable due to age and respiratory conditions. It is challenging navigating all of this.
Where are you seeing that 15% of hospitalized corona virus patients were fully vaccinated? That’s a much higher number than I’ve seen anywhere. I thought it was more like 1% or fewer.
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That’s what I’m reading also. Less than 1%
Our Lt Gov, who is an MD says in our HI state, very few of those hospitalized with covid are fully vaxed.
I enjoyed going to the gym maskless yesterday; everyone has to bring proof of vaccination status and it felt safe. Then I went to the grocery store where I could see people wearing masks going in, so I put mine on before seeing the sign that said “unvaccinated people need to wear masks.” The store wasn’t crowded, but everyone I saw was masked. I kept mine on too–not 100% sure why or if I’m going to keep wearing masks in crowded places like grocery stores for a while. My husband is on one of those immune-suppressing drugs that may affect vaccine effectiveness so maybe he should stick to wearing a mask, but I don’t know if I need to as well.
We were traveling this weekend. Drove from MA to Pittsburgh, spent three days there, and drove home. Probably saw 20 masks total the entire time. In Pittsburgh we ate out several times, went to the strip district, went to the zoo, went to a July 4th party and saw fireworks. Hardly a mask in site.
We went to the Smithsonian at Dulles on the 4th. We were prepared and had our masks. But once inside they said if we were fully vaccinated we didn’t have to wear one. So we didn’t. That was the only place we saw a fair number of masks, mostly on the families with young kids. But I’d still say it was about 50-50.
Walked by some storefronts today.
- Two restaurants with no signs about masks.
- One restaurant with sign that masks are not required if vaccinated, required if not vaccinated.
- Liquor store with sign that masks are required.
- Tobacco store with sign that masks are required.
I was at the local post office today - they had a sign saying everybody still needs to wear a mask