Or perhaps the environment of the court house filled with police officers, sheriff deputies, and judges tends to lead to greater compliance with rules?
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But the ārulesā are that masks are required indoors, not outdoors. Everyone complied with the rules indoors. But most went above and beyond outside. Is there any evidence whatsoever of increased risk outdoors 6 feet apart in a well ventilated area?
Maybe some people just wear their mask all the time when outside the house, but you donāt see 98% of people wearing a mask in the park or on the street. So wouldnāt it be better described as the environment of the court producing more virtue signaling?
Mask wearing is more common outside when people are walking toward an indoor location, or have just walked out of an indoor location. Perhaps the people queueing up at the courthouse were expecting to enter shortly, so they put the masks on pre-emptively so as not to bother with it later. Also, if the wind was blowing directly down the queue, some may have been concerned by being directly downwind of others in the queue.
On the other hand, in some areas, there are still lots of people wearing masks outside when not about to enter or just after leaving an indoor location, although not 98%. COVID-19 concern is quite high in some areas, though it can lead to caution well beyond what is actually necessary (e.g. wearing masks in obviously uncrowded outdoor situations when one is not approaching entering an indoor or crowded situation).
Virtue signaling, if it is that, is a lot more benign than the vice signaling that is increasingly common in todayās society.
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This is me. If Iām walking into a place, I usually put my mask on before I get out of the car. This way I donāt have to stop at the door and possibly hold up traffic. I can also do a quick check to make sure it is on correctly.
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I am going to start using my N95 masks again. I just ordered some for my mom.
I think I enjoyed 2 weeks of āfreedomā since vaccination.
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Agreed. Mask wearing and also limiting time indoors at places like the grocery store. Going to retail only when necessary. Trying to plan ahead
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One county just north of us called for a mask mandate. It will be interesting to see how that changes mask wearing at our favorite Costco store.
I just got an Airgami mask, partly because they are so cool looking. Wore it all morning and it was pretty comfortable. A bit pricey for something that is reusable, but not infinitely reusable. Iāve been wearing KN95s in the grocery store all along, this is more for fun.
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Weāve been wearing our white Airgami masks. I like that itās highly rated at blocking particles and fairly comfortable.
I had to do a few errands today. Masks definitely at the medical clinic (still doing temp checks and required hand sanitizer too). About 25% wearing in the two retail stores. Everyone wearing at the bank.
Iām doing a volunteer program at a school in the next year. First 2 weeks is training online, so no masks required. Then I can be assigned to any school in my area, and there are 3 different school districts: denver is 100% masks for everyone (staff, teachers, kids, vaccinated or not), cc to the south does not require masks and the parents are split, many protesting to require them all the time. Another district to the west is small and I doubt Iāll be there, but I donāt know what their policy is. Itās all changing daily.
They showed a back to school clinic on the news the other night. The kids were happy to be getting school physicals, shots, backpacks full of school supplies. If they were old enough, they could get a covid shot and a $100 gift card! They were all pretty excited.
Iām in Cincinnati dropping my son off at college. Itās really like night and day here compared to where Iām from in MD WRT mask wearing. Iād guess 25% of people are wearing masks here inside retail establishments, in restaurants, in our hotel. At home, 90% of people I see while out at different places are now wearing them again. And in MD, we have a much higher percentage of vaccinated people than here in Cincinnati.
I am actually disappointed the Marriott we are staying in does not have all staff wearing masks. The only employees I saw wearing them were maintenance people. A cleaning lady got off the elevator not wearing a mask (I chose to wait for the next one, even tho I was masked). I canāt wait to get outta here actually and back to MD.
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Ohioan here. Iām sure this is not unique to us but I swear that individuals and businesses have blinders on. Or just donāt want to give in to the virus changes. Or something.
Wouldnāt a national chain like Marriott be getting some direction from their headquarters?
Also Ohio = a governor who less than 2 weeks ago said he wonāt issue a mask mandate again. 
Our Gov just reinstated tougher restrictions due to Delta and rising infections. He also is requesting 550 more nurses. Limit is 10 people indoors, 25 outdoors and getting special permission to exceed limits.
Many of our hospitals are having to put tents up again to triage folks due to Delta surge in cases.
Most places I go, folks are masking indoors and 95% wearing masks correctly.
I assume anyone now planning a wedding in Hawaii needs to postpone, or change the location to somewhere else. With such a high vaccine rate it does surprise me that restrictions are needed.
Yes, people who want numbers exceeding the Gov mandates need to get special approval and detail mitigation measures. Itās making wedding planners very busy and folks having big events nervous.
I just bought season tickets to community theater. Our 1st show will be end of next month. Will see how it goes. If itās a donation for that org, thatās ok too. Tickets are very reasonable priced. Our season tickets are less than a pair of discount tickets in SF or NYC.
Our hospitals are setting up triage tents in parking lots again and itās hard for vaxed non-covid patients to get care due to the crush of covid patients. Itās just not fair!
So the follow up question is: are masking really doing anything to affect transmission?
Not asking you specifically but generally.
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I suspect it depends on quality of masks and consistency in correctly wearing it.
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I think if you are vaccinated and wearing KN95 masks indoors your odds are very low. Everyone I know who had a breakthrough case was doing things like going to bars and attending weddings, probably with some unmasked and unvaccinated people in the crowd.
Not a store but our building department is going to be closed to in person visits except by appointment. 90% of the time Iām just dropping off paperwork so itās not a big deal. Not sure how weāll pay for new permits, but weāll cross that bridge when we get to it.
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Speaking of Hawaii, I strongly believe that without masking, the situation would have been much, much worse. Factors contributing to virus spiking? First, Delta. This variant is much more contagious. Second, spike in the numbers of visitors and removal of mandatory prearrival testing for vaccinated people. Fully vaccinated with a breakthrough Delta infection are able to carry it with them. Third, not all tourists are following mask protocols (seen a few of those during our 4th of July visit), some are rabid antimaskers and some are just having a mask fatigue and forget. Fourth, when the now much more contagious virus is carried into a home, infection can spread rapidly due to high density and large number of people living under one roof. Local papers report that the contracts with hotels to house those who tested positive and need to quarantine have expired. So infected people stay in their crowded homes instead of isolating. Fifth, people are tired, longing for family gatheringā¦ hugs, close proximity, eating meals around a common table, etc. are all risk factors.
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San Francisco will require proof of full vaccination status for all indoor establishments beginning next Friday.
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