You will lose way more DALYs catching COVID (especially multiple times) than you will wearing a mask. We are already seeing the emerging auto-immune effects at a population level as well (rising fungal infections, etc) :\
Shying away behind a mask and avoiding to busy night clubs etc defeats that purpose. That I will die a few years early when I'm old doesn't really bother me because that time will be less valuable anyway.
One way or another I will catch diseases and I could die at any time. Might as well make the journey interesting and without too much worries.
If I cared so much I wouldn't be obese either :)
But like I said this is a tradeoff for each of us to make, I'm surprised though that the US is still like this, here the masks are really over and done with and everyone is trying to forget those horrible years as much as possible.
But even if you're vulnerable, you're gong to get it sooner or later. This is why the vaccines are still being offered to vulnerable people. As healthy individuals can't even get it anymore here even if they want it.
The rational, self-interested strategy right now is to minimize viral load, minimize exposure, and minimize infection count. well fitted, high quality masks and respirators are a component of that strategy. if empirical appeals to the literature do not motivate adopting that strategy, nor do emotional appeals to those currently suffering with long covid; that's fine. at some level i'd hoped the detailed vlogs about physics girl's suffering with pasc would have helped people stay safe, this has obviously not happened. it's perhaps Tragic, but it's certainly A Choice One Can Make.
As for myself, i'm not looking to rawdog with people i'm not fluid bonded with. I'm certainly not looking to swap aerosols unprotected with people i don't know. The costs are far too high for a payoff that is far too low. solidarity and may the odds remain ever in your favor.
And also that nobody else uses masks there, so there is little point. But condoms are something I do always use and are commonplace in the community I frequent. HIV is a totally different matter than COVID though. It was a terminal disease for decades (and even now it's extremely difficult to deal with)
But HIV has a major difference to COVID: The effectiveness of condoms in preventing it is almost absolute, and is only really negated by unfortunate accidents. They also don't really have serious downsides like masks do (the lower sensitivity is something I in fact like). Compared to the masks which only delay infection, they are by no means a prevention method on a personal scale.
But if the lockdowns have taught me anything it's that a life without human contact is no life, and I've been making up for lost time.
I know you think masks are no big deal, and they're not if used temporarily, but long term they're a huge deal for huge swaths of people. I'm an introvert and I'd be delighted to never socialize in person ever again, but I understand most aren't built that way.