So glad that we are back to the way it was.
The people I know who still wear masks and myself wear them so that others don't get our cold, not necessarily to protect ourselves. A form of respect towards co-workers etc.
While it’s not a majority of people, I still routinely see people wearing masks out and about, particularly on public transport. But I suspect it’s primarily as a defence against other peoples germs. Which I’ll admit is why I’m currently looking at nicer less “hospital” masks, notably a few companies that make respirators had a mini boom and diversified into “everyday wear” models that didn’t look like you were fumigating for termites. There are reusable respirators that just look like nicer disposable ones now.
It’s also helps that people don’t find it as weird if you have a mask on when riding a bike since that’s been sort of a normal look for a while, pioneered by both the Lycra wearing enthusiasts and the boom in bike couriers thanks to food delivery apps and no one riding as a courier wants to breath car and truck fumes all day.
Of course, we cannot expect us Westerners to have that level of compassion and common sense.
Projection of your overall health & cleanliness?
I thought masks were the clearest indicator of a person’s perspective on themselves and their role in society: the same ones who complain about their rights being oppressed are the ones who get the most upset with people like me who take them at their word and then suddenly discover hypocrisy at the core.
I’m so glad we had this moment for people to show their true selves in such a simple fashion. Not as easy as the “Insane” hand stamp that Homer Simpson got (“why won’t this wash off?!?!”) but it’s nature at work again. See bright color snake or reptile? Likely poisonous as a defense mechanism. See a human with dyed hair and a bunch of metal shit in their face? Different kind of poisonous but still there. No mask during peak time = asshole.
The same kind of asshole that doesn’t put their shopping cart / trolley back in the corral. Yes, those people are assholes. If you’re that lazy, reader, stop acting like an asshole.
Hope you have a living will or your own respirator on standby, cuz your attitude is going to mandate in the long run you’re in the “didn’t give a shit then, so we don’t give a shit now” pile. It’s called a hospital.
A very, very close friend was saved by NYC EMTs and Doctors and from that experience career changed into a full RN now on a cardiac ward in Ohio. He’s super high risk and excerpt from COVID work thankfully. It was a hard job at first, watching 50% of patients die because what brought them in was too late to fix. Game over.
When COVID hit he told me stories of how many middle America reasonable people were in denial as it was killing them in beds. They fought until the end. The worst ones realized they fucked up and would pay for it and with no friends or family on the way out. Fuckin brutal, death in cold sterile isolation with yourself to blame. Intellectual suicide.
It will never be the way it was ever again, because our society is broken because people like you care more about the wrong shit than you can admit, and politely, don’t wear a mask, fully inhale on that helium tank to entertain your friends with a funny voice at your next party.