Still requiring masks & tests is kind of odd in 2023
I really don’t understand the logic in America when it comes to the current thinking about covid measures.
You could say I have a Scandinavian perspective to this, but here in Norway everyone listened and trusted to what the government recommended and/or mandated. It has been a little more than a year since the last pandemic measure was lifted and we have been back to “normal”.
It is not America. It is a very small subset of the 330M+ people living here. I would venture to say 90%+ have not thought about Covid in a long time.
This is admittedly 18 months later now but, especially at a community event that pretty much no one is being forced to attend, I expect pretty high compliance.
If an event has safety rules and doesn't follow them, a couple concerns: (1) that's irresponsible towards people relying on the rules being followed, potentially exposing them to harm, and others to liability; (2) if the event as a whole doesn't have integrity about safety rules, what else don't they have integrity about, and maybe you should have the books checked for fraud, investigate for vendor kickbacks, consider maybe a higher probability of harassment going on, etc.
These policies exist to try to satisfy the different comfort levels people have around covid, but an obvious part of any rule is that if they are impractical or impossible to enforce and a sizable number of people are not following the rule, then it's pretty much pointless. Nobody attending a tech conference with a mask mandate is under the impression that someone who isn't complying with the rule will be removed. They know that some people won't comply.
That's been the case with mask mandates in most places for a very long time. Compliance is low, theres no way (or will) to enforce, and that's not to mention the myriad exceptions to the policy (eg, masks not required when eating or drinking) that essentially make the whole think a joke to being with.
I would absolutely expect that if someone were blatantly not wearing a mask at an event requiring them, they'd be asked to put one on or leave.
That said,
>the myriad exceptions to the policy
Certainly. Eating/drinking. Generally no masks outside. Most people not wearing them traveling, in taxis, in bars/restaurants, etc. (And mostly not wearing N95 masks.) And then there's questions of masking efficacy anyway. But from what I've seen first hand, even people who got to the point where they were rolling their eyes at tech conference rules were overwhelmingly following the letter of the law.
If that's all COVID is anymore, then why do we still need to mitigate the risks?
I went to the US RISC-V summit in December (San Jose) and they had little badges (red/yellow/green to indicate how comfortable you were with people getting close) and I think they asked people to wear masks but very few did. They also asked for a pre-conference test but I don't think they were checking up on results.
Mandatory, proper face fitting N95 masks seems out of step there. Though I can appreciate it may aid some in attending it will certainly discourage others.
They did have the comfort level stickers which seems very reasonable.
I think you do still see some community oriented events feeling like they need to bend over backwards to accommodate anyone who still doesn’t feel comfortable around unmasked and unvaccinated people. That’s where the sentiment comes from IMO.
But, in general, I have no problem with events laying out clear policies in advance which allow potential attendees to attend or not attend either because they don't want to wear masks/be vaccinated/be tested or because they feel the event isn't being cautious enough.