I assume those who are at high risk will continue to keep all the precautions they have been keeping for over a year.
I don’t get it how people think they are wearing an N95? Those are fitted to the specific person and aren’t meant for casual shopping use. I think it was @Nrdsb4 that explained it on another thread
i was in CVS (midwest) yesterday; a guy came in without a mask and was asked to mask up. He replied “im vaccinated, but . . .OK” ---- and i felt inside i agreed.
I won’t wear one unless mandatory, but if mandatory I’ll glady comply. For small business owners, absolutely put a sign on the front of the door about the employee or family member , with masks being offered right inside - I’d think people would immediately put one one as it is a very personal immediate situation.
But for the most part, in large big box stores or places you are in and out in just a minute or two . . . I cant imagine many people around here wearing them. I’ll be watching to see. our city still has an indoor mandate till the end of May … .
I think it is a regional thing, to mask or not to mask. I am in the NE and almost never see anybody without a mask.
here in NE, we’ve had good compliance to the indoor mask mandates, no outdoor rules. but i think with these new guidelines, people will shed them quickly as soon as the city says GO.
If easy availability of vaccines was reached by early April in your area, then any unvaccinated adults after the end of May would be either (a) those medically unable, or (b) those who chose to be unvaccinated. Although whether and how to protect (a) can be politically contentious, it is likely that most people will let (b) play COVID-19 lottery for themselves once there are no longer people who want vaccine but have not been able to become fully vaccinated (based on the time lines from first shot to fully vaccinated).
Yup. A respirator fitting is quite a process.
https://www.osha.gov/video/respiratory-protection/fit-testing
I’m in Northern Michigan, only went into 2 places today. In both the employees were wearing masks, customers about 50%.
I was in Tennessee last week and mask wearing was very low, maybe 10 or 20%.
So wearing masks is very dependent on your location.
I predict that my area will look like Tennessee very soon.
I don’t think you can generalize by state like that. It’s much more granular. I’m in Chapel Hill NC where we have very good vaccine and mask compliance. The fully vaccinated rate for age 18+ is 59%. I see people outside still wearing masks. I’m sure we will all be wearing masks in stores if they ask us to, too. Go elsewhere in NC, and the vaccination rate drops off pretty quickly. There’s one county that just has 17% of 18+ fully vaccinated. That’s a pretty big disparity.
You are correct. Definitely places within a state can be very different.
I won’t say too much more, but yea
DH is immunocompromised and really nervous about the new rules. I’ll be masking in public for the future (he doesn’t really leave the house) and hoping people will be sensitive to others.
This is the type of sentiment that really bothers me. The CDC says vaccinated people don’t need masks and many states are removing the requirement, yet this idea that those that follow the guidance and the rules somehow don’t care about others seems to persist. Can we just let this go? Just because someone chooses not to wear a mask, doesn’t mean they don’t care. It may mean that they just believe the CDC.
Main issue is that when someone walks into a store unmasked, can you tell if they are a vaccinated person, or an unvaccinated person who is “cheating”?
The people last in line for vaccine (in some places, they may have only been able to start in early May, which means it will not be until mid-June before they are fully vaccinated if they got Moderna) obviously need to be concerned until they reach fully vaccinated status. Hence it would still be polite to wear masks when approaching unknown people where distancing cannot be maintained, or indoors, at least until mid-June. Of course, if your area reached easy vaccine availability more than six to eight weeks ago, then you can probably assume that nearly all unvaccinated people are voluntarily unvaccinated, so you need be less concerned about protecting them (“let them choose to play COVID-19 lottery themselves once everyone else who wants vaccine has gotten fully vaccinated”). (However, that may differ for age 12-15 and under 12.)
For those medically unable to get vaccinated, or who have weak immune response to vaccination, the future is somewhat bleak, since it is unlikely there will be widespread acceptance of masking and social distancing beyond the dates above to protect the small number of people involved. Indeed, mass vaccination to the level needed to create herd immunity is probably the least intrusive way to protect such people (since it is a one time or occasional thing for each person, and has benefits for oneself as well), but the vaccine refusal will probably prevent herd immunity, and continuing more intrusive measures is unlikely to be popular.
So it sounds like you have a problem with the CDC guidance. I agree that there are problems with it. That said, I find it really off putting when people start making value judgments about others because they follow the guidance. The whole idea that people who care wear masks and people who don’t wear masks don’t care, is really distasteful at this point.
The CDC has said that vaccinated people are not at risk from unmasked unvaccinated people. More importantly for this discussion, the CDC has said that vaccinated people do not pose a risk to unvaccinated people. Vaccines prevent almost all infection and the data now show that vaccinated people do not transmit the virus. The only risk to unvaccinated people is other unvaccinated people. But vaccinated people are not at risk and do not pose a risk. So even if you, as a vaccinated person, are standing right next to an unvaccinated, unmasked Covid positive person there is only an infinitesimal chance you could get it and even then you’d probably be asymptomatic and not shedding virus. As a vaccinated person, you could stand, unmasked, next to an unmasked unvaccinated person and you would not be putting that person in danger.
If it’s so infinitesimal, why is it so common among the Yankee staff? And what happens when those possibly but not always asymptomatic positives go home to their young unvaccinated children?
Wider availability just happened recently. “The science” would say, wait till those newly able to get completely vaccinated are there–at least six weeks after wider availibility happened in the last few weeks. This is a policy decision, not a science decision.
And it puts families with unvaccinated kids in a real bind, since we can be pretty sure that the vax refusers will be the first to shed their masks.
We are not at the 70% herd immunity we were told was necessary, and we are less likely to get to it now.
I think this will turn into a regional issue. In the Northeast, most states are at a vaccination rate of 50%, closer to 70% if calculating only adults. Teenagers are getting vaccinated. Compared to the south and mid which are at 30%. I would also feel more comfortable masking in the Northeast than in Florida. My chances of being infected are way higher in Florida, so that would be very risky after all the effort my family has made this past year! I think if low vaccination states are looking for tourists, they’ll need to consider this.
I think the concern is with the unvaccinated, I’ve seen so many posts on social media by those who will not get vaccinated and won’t wear masks. Living in one of the hardest hit areas, with a lot of restrictions This year, I don’t want the numbers go up again and get locked down.
Yet it’s my opinion that those in the NE are more likely to wear a mask despite a high percentage of adults vaccinated.
But does that mean that I should avoid Florida or those states that aren’t having great success in getting their residents vaccinated? For how long?
I guess time will tell won’t it? If this is a really bad idea, cases will rise. And rapidly if dropping the mask mandate doesn’t work.
yes, waiting to see what will happen. But you won’t know who is vaccinated and who isn’t, and I’ll have less “trouble” continuing mask wearing in my state indoors as I feel comfortable. I do hope this guidance means that all college classes will be in person even with masks as that would be a step above a CDC recommendation. No reason not to hold in-person 100%! 