It just turned every outing into a chore. I've been enjoying being able to smell the places I go to again.
Especially if you have young kids. Airports are an absolute nightmare now with a 2-year-old that doesn't like wearing a mask.
My nephew also goes nuts when he is strapped into a car seat, but sometimes you just need to deal with meltdowns and teach kids that they can't always get their way.
We're already at a point in terms of wealth and technology that Amazon could deliver all of our durable goods and nonperishables, Instacart could deliver all of our groceries, and schooling and most jobs can be completed online.
Every family of average or greater means can already afford to buy everything from these two companies.
Every family of below-average means could be supported by a government stipend to enable them to receive goods this way.
We have the ability to build a society where most people leave their homes only a few times per year.
Surely this is just a small price to pay in the fight against a virus that could leave vulnerable people on a ventilator or worse, right?
It was a small price to pay in 2020 before there was a vaccine, and I paid it. Now that the vaccine is available I wonder why said vulnerable people are choosing to not get the vaccine and putting undue burden on me and my family and so I tend to think it is is not worth paying that price anymore. If said vulnerable person is unable to get the vaccine for medical reasons... those types of people are exceedingly rare and have always had to be super careful. For them I recommend just sheltering in place indefinitely or something like https://microclimate.com/ in public.
I’ve been in countries with outdoor mask mandates almost since the start of this thing, and I don’t really understand this. How has it become a chore? Don’t you just pick up a mask from a pack or a reusable one as you leave your home? I haven’t noticed any difference in sense of smell, albeit my sense of smell is very keen.
But again, what’s the chore here? It just feels like habit
That's as close to the meaning of chore as one could expect in a comment, and why are you extending your own experience to others who are explicitly telling you that they find it uncomfortable and a nuisance? I can't imagine that kind of thing working with any other article of clothing but masks seem to have their own special status, even though they affect breathing.
It's not a serious position to take.