The_Fox said:
TXTransplant said:
The refusal to get vaccinated is just the flip side of the same coin, the flip side being the people who won't let go of their security mask.
I went to lunch with three other people today. All of us are fully vaccinated (and we all know that about each other). We walked there - about 3/4 of a mile each way.
Two of us took our masks off as soon as we stepped outside and kept them off, even when we entered the restaurant.
The other two kept their masks on the entire time, except when they were putting food into their mouths. As soon as they were done eating, they put the masks back on. The only other person we came within 6 feet of the entire time was our waitress, and even she wasn't wearing a mask.
I am all for personal choice - whether it comes to vaccination or mask wearing. But, geez, it's getting hard to have a serious conversation with someone who refuses to speak to you without a mask on.
If you're still so worried that you feel the need to wear a mask why even go to lunch?
The risk of a vaccinated person spreading the virus to someone else is probably around the same order magnitude as a person being harmed by the vaccine - meaning both are so small that they shouldn't even be blips on our daily radar. But both sides are still stuck where they are on these issues.
I have zero fear of the vaccine. But I do not see the need to expend any effort in getting it.
I have zero fear of the flu, and also do not take the time to get it either.
I was vaccinated for almost everything imaginable prior to my last deployment to Iraq. Vaccinations are fine.
I am also not concerned about actually being infected by COVId.
I just want everybody ok both sides to STFU and go back to normal. Or don't, but stop including me in your paranoia.
I agree with you in principle. I thought things should get back to normal last summer. This has gone on for way too long.
But, the problem is too many people believe that the "new normal" is vaccinations. Just like they believed the "new normal" when we didn't have a vaccine was wearing a mask.
No one with half a brain believes that masks prevent transmission. What masks do is allow employers and schools to say "If you were wearing a mask, you didn't get Covid at work/school." It also allows them to draw a hard line in the sand on who has to quarantine if people are exposed to Covid at work or school (Had on a mask around someone who came down with Covid? Don't have to quarantine.).
Without that line, no company would have brought back any non-essential workers and no school would have had in-person learning.
Now that we have a vaccine. The same logic applies. If employers want to be able to drop the mask requirement AND say "No, you didn't get Covid at work.", then everyone has to be vaccinated and report their vaccination to their employer (voluntarily, of course) .
Personally, at this point, if someone is still not vaccinated (at least here in TX) and they get Covid, that's 100% on them. But, personal responsibility has been absolutely obliterated over the last year. Whatever little was left is gone.
I've been pleasantly surprised to see how many school districts in my area are saying no masks after the end of this school year. But, arguably masks are too distracting in a school environment.
What's been proven in workplaces is that we can wear a mask and still do our jobs. Heck, plenty of people think wearing a mask is "no big deal" and anyone who complains about wearing one is a selfish jerk.
And because employers can't (and shouldn't) force employees to get vaccinated, they are going to rely on peer pressure and/or incentives to get people to comply.
I'm afraid we've let a genie out of a bottle and it's not going back in. And I don't think it's limited to just Covid. Have a really bad flu season one year? Guess what...masks are back.
Maybe I'm being too pessimistic, but none of the decisions made over the last 14 months give me confidence to believe otherwise.
