Ah yes another person who equates a basic courtesy, wearing a mask, with authoritarianism. Or are you referring to lockdowns that have not existed anywhere for 1.5 years? Im finding it increasingly difficulty to entertain any viewpoint of those that lack basic empathy and understanding of common good.
Whether something is a "a basic courtesy" (ie. how agreeable it is) has nothing to do with whether the state mandating it counts as authoritarianism. I'd certainly be crying "authoritarianism" if the state mandated that I had to thank the bus driver.
>Or are you referring to lockdowns that have not existed anywhere for 1.5 years
they shut down restaurants (and various other businesses), didn't they? They also banned events and large public gatherings. Or does it not count as a lockdown unless there's martial law and a soldier with instructions to shoot to kill at every street corner?
To explore this further - I question why people should be forced to wear a mask just so others can have the reduced risk conditions that enable them to go about their normal lives. Why don’t those who are worried about COVID simply quarantine themselves and let everyone else go about their lives freely? The notion that wearing masks suddenly gives risk averse people the safety they desire doesn’t make sense. On the one hand, I hear extreme fear of COVID despite its very low infection fatality rate. On the other hand, despite those fears, people seem to be OK with leaving home if there are mask mandates, even though there still is a nonzero risk of them being infected. So which is it - because clearly if this is a deadly virus everyone should fear, the only reasonable stance is to self-quarantine - in which case it doesn’t matter what others do. This makes me view mask mandates as wholly arbitrary theater, something that is now a political football for those who favor statist approaches.
As for your claim that lockdowns have not existed anywhere - that depends on what you feel a lockdown is. Certainly various cities and states have restricted activities of different kinds to different degrees. Claiming there has been no lockdown feels disingenuous to me.
Lastly, regarding authoritarianism: I consider local/state/federal governments implementing vaccine mandates or forcing businesses to violate the bodily autonomy and health privacy of their customers/employees to be authoritarian. And I say that as a fully vaccinated person. I prefer a system of governance where individuals retain agency and can decide locally what to do with their bodies, what the risks are, and what risks they are willing to tolerate.
There are entire hospital wards that are shutting down elective surgeries because of people like you. I haven't seen a friend in two years because his wife works with immunocompromised patients and Omicron is so prevalent that any flight nets you an enormous likelihood of catching COVID.
A 40% increase in the number of deaths in working-age population and several service industries getting critic staff shortages because of everybody going sick, but hey, at least your glasses don't have to be foggy.
Where are you coming up with this number?
COVID hysteria is just an interesting thing.
So yeah, 100 people not being able to get a hospital bed is different from 2000 people.
It’s the masking policies that seem inconsistent and often ridiculous to me. For example, my kids have to wear masks at school all day and while playing on school sports teams. My daughter was forced to wear a mask while running cross country outside last spring, which I found downright cruel. At the same time, the students are all allowed to eat and talk to each other at communal tables in the cafeteria every day. I know school administrators have a lot to juggle, but still. I find these inconsistencies everywhere.
As a member of the vast majority who is lower risk, I’d like to know how much longer I’m expected to accommodate these restrictions (lockdowns, closed facilities, canceled events, failed businesses). It’s been a long time and covid isn’t going away. New variants will continue to emerge. Are we really supposed to go on like this indefinitely? Living with a heightened state of public fear? Is it reasonable and good public policy to base all decisions on one factor, to the detriment of all other social and public concerns? I guess maybe I’m going too far, but I’m tired of living like this, and typing into the void makes it feel like someone is listening.