I just got done reading random comments on a midwest neighboorhood fb page. The post asked for suggestions for a salon where unvaxxed people wouldn’t be required to wear a mask, because op was incensed that her regular salon was continuing to require masks. There were 300 comments. I probably read 75 or 80, almost all of which were telling the OP she should have just lied…many commenters indicating they had already done exactly that.
Sheesh.
It doesn’t make much difference to me. Even if an unvaccinated person stands next to me at a store, both unmasked, the chance of me getting sick from it is smaller than me getting hit by a car on the way to the store. So, I will stay unmasked.
I should add the chance of me, unmasked, transmitting the virus to anyone in the store is also smaller than me running over someone on the way to the store. I didn’t need to add this. Clearly, if I am not worried about getting sick, I am also not worried about transmitting it to others since I can’t transmit it without first getting sick myself.
Yes, I get that. I will probably only mask up now when asked to do so. I have no worries about myself or any of my vaccinated family and friends getting Covid. That’s not the point.
I’m not worried for myself. If I get it, it would very much likely be asymptomatic. I’m worried for kids and others who can’t be vaccinated yet. Increasing the rate of asymptomatic transmission by de facto letting those who choose not to vaccinate stop wearing masks increases illness for those who are vulnerable through no fault of their own.
You are assuming you may get the virus after fully vaccinated. All risk has to be measured against other risks since nothing in life is 100% safe. What is the chance you will get sick with the virus, symptomatic or not, after fully vaccinated? Is it greater than the risks you are already taking, like you may hit someone while driving? If you don’t get sick, symptomatic or not, you can’t infect others. The chance of you getting sick was infinitesimal already. The chance of you getting others sick is even smaller.
Since I am vaxxed, I am assuming I will not get Covid.
I am assuming, without masks, and with the more contagious variants that predominate now, my unvaxxed friends and family are going to be at significantly higher risk than they have been in the last year.
I don’t think they are at a higher risk. If we assume 50% is fully vaccinated, the virus will be only half infectious. Last year, one sick person was infecting 4 others, I think. With 50% vaccinated, it will be infecting 2 others. That is a big deal.
That was with social distancing, closed stores and most people masking up. You can’t extrapolate that transmission rate to the new situation: everything open, no masks, no social distancing and more potent variants.
I am not really worried about either myself or being a COVID-19 vector to others, since I am fully vaccinated.
However, until everyone who wants a vaccine has a chance to become fully vaccinated (probably mid-June in this area), I do not want to scare others in the general public by approaching too closely unmasked, since they cannot tell whether I am vaccinated (and therefore “safe”) or unvaccinated (and therefore a potential COVID-19 threat). That is just being polite.
Big picture first before throwing in all wrinkles. 1 to 4 was before the lockdowns, mask, etc if I remember correctly. We have to quantify how big an effect the wrinkles are. Would they bring it up to 1 to 5 from 1 to 2 overcompensating the vaccination? I doubt it.
I think your math is off. Even once-vaccinated provides much protection. (so while fully vaccinated is clearly the goal, even one vax is a big boost to reducing transmission. CA for example, is up to 66% of the eligible pop that have at least one vax.) And two, you are ignoring the millions that already have gotten COVID. They too, have some protection. (yes, there is plenty of overlap in the Venn Diagram as many of those who got COVID have also received a vax.)
I agree but that is not the point. We can just pick a number to get the feel of the land. Let’s say 50% got fully vaccinated and let’s say they are 100% protected to make it simple. We can adjust later, up or down. The point is the vaccine is incredibly effective overriding other negatives that comes with human behavior. Enjoy and celebrate the scientific achievement.
@ucbalumnus That’s your personal choice so is for the others to to fear the unmasked. We can’t impose our personal choice on others.
Disagree. IMO, that is the key issue. To get back to ‘normalcy’, what % do we need for herd immunity, including vaccinated AND those unvaccinated COVID survivors? (that’s a CDC question)
We can get back to normal without herd immunity. If it is only as infectious as flu and doesn’t kill any more than a flu, we just have another flu virus adding to the thousands we already have.
Point is that it is not yet a personal choice for those who only recently were able to start the vaccination process.
It will be much more so for adults by mid-June in this area (late June to early July for age 12-15). By then, politeness to people who are involuntarily not yet fully vaccinated becomes much less of an issue.
While intellectually I agree with you igloo, many have great fears, some legit, adn some not so much. But the way to eliminate those fears, particularly being used as crutch by government workers and teachers to stay home, is to try to obtain hurd immunity. Teachers remaining home have a huge impact on families with kids being able to go back to work themselves. And that affects nearly every segment of our society.
From the standpoint of an individual (whether a teacher or other worker going back to work, or anyone going to the store to buy groceries or whatever), the elimination of the fears occurs when they personally are fully vaccinated. It does seem that some people do not realize that some other people were only able to start the vaccination process recently, so they will not be fully vaccinated for a few more weeks.
Once the date of easy availability of vaccine plus six or so weeks (based on the Moderna timeline) has passed, it would be reasonable to assume that nearly everyone* is either fully vaccinated or voluntarily unvaccinated, in which case being polite to those still waiting to reach fully vaccinated status is no longer an issue. (However, life will get harder for the small number of people who are medically unable to get vaccinated, since the rest of the society is eager to open up and stop doing social distancing and masking that has been helping to protect them.)
*within the given age-eligibility group – obviously differs between over 15, 12-15, and under 12.
I wish that were true, but alas I don’t think it is. (The big Teacher’s Unions won’t be comfortable until all of their students are vaccinated, among other demands…)
Perhaps that purported stance of teacher’s unions is not applicable to all locals, since I do know teachers who have gone back to in-person class, with students too young to get vaccine, and in classrooms with no windows and poor ventilation (but the teachers have been vaccinated). I do not get the impression that they are afraid individually, but the politics and power within the teacher’s unions may differ.