I'm not ready

[susandennis]

Just as the NY Times announced vaccinated people don't need masks any more, I was coming back from picking up my sandwich and passed these three guys walking towards me. One was particularly good looking and I thought 'my! he's a looker' and then I realized I knew this because he didn't have on a mask and was too young to have been vaccinated. I was immediately repulsed! I cracked myself up with how intense my reaction was.

I'm so not ready for no masks. Vaccinations are available to everyone here and have been for long enough so that those who don't have them, don't have them on purpose. And are also the type to pretend to be vaccinated so they don't have to wear a mask.

But even if I did trust everyone not to lie and to be smart enough to get the damn vaccine, I'm still not sure I'm ready for no masks. Maybe it's inertia. I dunno but, it feels creepy.

Comments

[bill-schubert.livejournal.com]

Yeah, weirdness ahead.

[nanila]

Ha, I feel you. I'm not ready for hugging and shaking hands to start being a thing again. I have really enjoyed having a cast-iron excuse not to touch most other people for the past year.

[susandennis]

OH crap! I hadn't even considered touching. ewwwwww

thanks for that. :(

[nanila]

Oh, mate, sorry I went there!

[calzephyr77.livejournal.com]

I totally understand--I don't think I'll be ready too. I met a friend downtown yesterday for a socially distanced walk and it still made me nervous!

[peterb.livejournal.com]

I'm in a similar boat. Not sure if it just being used to the mask thing, but the idea that on some arbitrary day that masks are not required any more makes me uncomfortable.

[sparky955.livejournal.com]

I trust the vaccines, I really do. I trust the science. The CDC, well, not so much but they mean well. Public health through the filter of Washington politics has to be messy.

But.

I’m not feeling the love about giving up masking in public indoor spaces. Outside, no problem. In the home of vaccinated friends, certainly. But, the grocery store? I too am not ready for that.

[mairi-dubh.livejournal.com]

Ohio's Governor has said that we can look forward to June 2 being our day when we won't have to wear masks out in public or in business establishments or in schools and when we no longer have to maintain social distance of 6 feet or 2 yards or 2 meters.
Himself and I are going to continue to keep our 6 feet of social distance and to wear masks. Something like only 42% of Ohio residents have received a vaccine, so this time I disagree with the Governor.
He did say on...one of the big broadcasting networks, maybe the old CBS, that he intends to offer a kind of sweepstakes prize for those eligible for the vaccine who haven't had it yet but if they do will automatically be "entered" for a prize of One Million Dollars.

*grumble* Y'know, by now in Ohio you don't have to show ID, you don't have to make an appointment, you don't have to show an appointment confirmation "card" which is actually a print-out from your PC---just show up, let them take your temperature, answer a few questions, get the shot, and you might win a million bucks. WE did all the stuff we had to do: find an available appointment; nab it, registering for it; receive a confirmation notification, print it off, show up, get the shot-part-one, and repeat this three weeks later except for finding an appointment. I think we deserve a chance to win a million dollars, too---a separate million.

*sigh* I'm just grumbling. If the Governor's bribe works and we get to that 70% vaccinated affords us herd immunity, that's good.

[sparky955.livejournal.com]

I was of 2 thoughts simultaneously when I heard that:

1. Whatever it takes to get people vaccinated
2. But, maybe spread that $5 million around a bit more to reward more people?

Just another thought: in central Ohio, if OSU would begin giving out free football tickets to vaccinated people…I know in the majority of the state, Ohio State football is irrelevant…but in Columbus, we have 2 seasons…OSU football and Other.

[mairi-dubh.livejournal.com]

Hello, fellow Ohioan/Buckeye---if the term "Buckeye" doesn't offend you. I knew I was a Buckeye by virtue of being an Ohioan long before I was aware of tOSU football.
...speaking of which, I'd heard some transplanted body bemoaning the fact that tOSU football is the state religion.

What I hadn't heard is a figure of $5 million. Catch me up on that?

What I did think was truly wonderful was the bit for the teenage kids: get the vaccine, and become eligible to win four full scholastic years of tuition, is it?---or all expenses: tuition, fees, books, room and board---at any Ohio public university which will accept them? I would think that would be a powerful incentive, at least for the presumably college-bound. Even if it's "only" the tuition, well, dang!
Have you seen what public universities' tuition is before aid?

They say you really are getting old when you develop "used to" eyes, and if that's so then I am, looking at how things "used to" be . It "used to be" that for one year's tuition to tOSU today, you could pay for four years undergrad at a private university, plus room and board and fees and books, and at least a Master's Degree program afterward if not a Ph.D. as well .
Of course, that was back in "my day ' and of course back then rocks were still soft.

But holy -moley! Four years' tuition paid.
That really does blow my mind.

"I know in the majority of the state, Ohio State football is irrelevant…but in Columbus, we have 2 seasons…OSU football and Other."

I'm not so sure, if we can judge by the number of Buckeye flags we see displayed during football season. I get the impression that around the state and sometimes even at other schools, Buckeye football is huge.

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

Too young to be vaxxed...like, under 16?!?

[susandennis]

no like under 40. young people vaccination has not been available here long enough for anyone to have gotten both shots.

[onelargecat.livejournal.com]

Oh ok. LOL.

[richaarde.livejournal.com]

I'm not going to spend too much time worrying about people that read tinfoil-hat misinformation and refuse to get vaccinated. We can't stay locked up forever. I got my shot, I'm good to go.

[ani-mama.livejournal.com]

Kid got his vaccinations over a month ago at school. They had free shots available for all the students, no matter the age bracket. So hopefully that young man was a college student?

[christalin80.livejournal.com]

"Vaccinations are available to everyone here and have been for long enough so that those who don't have them, don't have them on purpose. And are also the type to pretend to be vaccinated so they don't have to wear a mask."

My daughter and I were discussing this very thing today.

We are not ready for no masks either, just ordered another one today from Heroine Sports.

[laciann.livejournal.com]

Not ready to lose my mask yet either. I may be the last person wearing one. There hasn’t even been any discussion about that here that I know of.

Besides, I’ve saved a bundle on lipstick!

[techzine.livejournal.com]

NICE

[theonlyrachel.livejournal.com]

I understand. I know we hear about it because it's rare, but I get scared every time I hear a story of a hospitalized vaccinated person. I also worry about variants. Are we really safe?

[siglinde99.livejournal.com]

Those are my fears too. Sadly, I know the mask does little to protect me. I will likely keep wearing one for the foreseeable future. If nothing else, it protects my resting bitch face and I don’t feel obliged to smile.

[amw.livejournal.com]

538 did a podcast about this the other day: https://fivethirtyeight.com/videos/how-partisanship-has-made-some-liberals-more-cautious-about-covid-19/

This whole mask debate has been fascinating to watch from the outside. It's been happening all over the world, but i think it's only in America where it has become so deeply partisan, like to the point where people are waiting for politicians to say "now we can take our masks off" and that's considered a turning point.

The way i see it, the best thing to look at is the local numbers - infections per million or per 100,000 or however they are counting it. When it's high, it makes more sense to mask up, since you're more likely to run into people who have the virus (or have it yourself without knowing). When it's low, it might still be polite to mask up, but if some people don't, oh well. If the rate in the community is very low (whether due to vaccinations or just good luck), then the odds that the average person will pass on the infection through the air are small enough that it shouldn't really matter if a few people choose not to wear masks, especially if gatherings are still limited in size and physically distanced.

In America, though, masks seem to have taken on some kind of mythical power, more than just their medical efficacy, where some people are seeing them as some kind of symbol of massive oppression or something, and it's a great victory for liberty to no longer be "forced" to wear one... It just seems like such an overblown response. Like, it seems that the abstract idea of not wearing a mask matters more than the actual risk in the area.

It makes me wonder... aren't local health authorities publishing numbers? Are people in America not watching those little snake lines go up and down each day and facepalming when it hits 1000 new cases a day and cheering when it gets back down to 500? Aren't they looking at the next county or state over and jealous that their infection rate is much lower? Don't they see low rates as a goal? Are people not thinking about the number of hospitalized cases and thinking "hmm, if my local hospital is currently dealing with 100 cases of covid, that's actually quite a lot"? It's not really about "trust the science" versus "believing the narrative" or some other slogan, it's just, like... looking at the evidence, thinking about the risks and making a decision.

[susandennis]

They are publishing the numbers but the people who believe that Bill Gates will be able to read their thoughts if they get vaccines, don't believe the numbers are real. They are trying to control us by making us wear masks and take our guns.

The numbers we need to look at every day are the number of idiots per 1,000 that walk among us. I think that number is going up and we got no vaccine for it. I do believe that we have more in the US than in most countries.

[amw.livejournal.com]

Ha! This is a great metric. I'd like to see a map of the world in idiots per 1000 over the years.

[albert71292.livejournal.com]

I got my second Pfizer shot on March 30, but I still plan on wearing a mask when I go out for the foreseeable future. I've got too many other health things going on at the moment to take a risk.

[dustbunny105.livejournal.com]

I'm in the same boat re: masks. I'll be sticking with them for the time being and remaining wary of public spaces where people are going without.

[roasted-beets.livejournal.com]

I don't mind at all if any of you wear masks.

I'm burning mine tomorrow.

[adafrog.livejournal.com]

I agree it's going to be weird.

[cindas-woes.livejournal.com]

😐