I had a contractor come to the house the other day, and the dude is sitting there with his mask hanging off his chin, covering a portion of his lower lip. Open pie-hole, gross unkempt beard and entire nose…exposed. Blabbering away about some technical aspects of the project, emitting microparticles of COVID into my house, no doubt. It’s like, hey buddy, that doesn’t qualify as wearing a mask. You’re not fooling anyone. I see what you’re doing, and it’s not fooling anyone else either.
To me, this is a more egregious sin than not wearing a mask outright, because that person is at least committing themselves to their own misguided belief that the risk is negligible. There is a special area in hell for the lazy mask wearer, however, who doesn’t fundamentally believe in the risk yet still attempts, very poorly, to seem to be going along with the guidance of public health experts.
Did you ask him to lift it up?
Sometimes I, too, forget to lift up my mask when I enter the building. When asked, I admit my mistake and put it on right away.
No, I didn’t mention it. It’s one of those things where you just hope people have common sense. Then you get disappointed. This was the kind of guy, you could just tell, that mask was sitting on his face like that for the entire day. It’s not like he forgot to pull it up or anything.
Just finished a minor house remodel and dealt with a lot of contractors. All came equipped with masks which within 5 minutes were hanging on their chin as they approached me to explain some $hit. I implemented a strict policy of ‘put your mask on the nose and keep it there’ - ‘if we need to talk, we step outside on the patio and keep at least 6 ft distance’. It’s awkward first when you’re not used to it, but they comply immediately and it’s no big deal. I dont give a f. if they think I’m a weirdo and I am one anyway, so owning it. The guy who was installing my dishwasher kept lowering his mask cause his glasses are getting fogged up. I brought my portable hepa-filter in the kitchen and plugged it to run next to his face. I’m enforcing this and all clowns out there should comply.
Half measures, such as inviting contractors to enter your house during the black death? Are they part of your pandemic established pod? Did you give them a covid test beforehand?
You know, I’m not actually nervous about getting it. I’ve been out and about since the beginning, so the mask thing for me has not been about self-preservation. I believe it is foolish and selfish for those idiots who make a political statement about it to not wear one, completely ignoring all of the evidence that wearing one significantly reduces community spread risk.
But I’m not one of these nervous nellies out there who stupidly believe that society should grind to a halt, and that we should hemorrhage trillions of dollars to lifeline an economy where, if measures were put in place and actually followed, we could have been 90% operational this whole time.
As for the matter of principle question, it is principle but not in the two-dimensional way that people tend to reduce this idea down to. It certainly goes beyond the oversimplified signaling and symbolism that the mask has come to represent. It actually stretches deeper, to my contempt and growing disgust for those in society that willfully ignore facts and evidence, and who would prefer to squander their vital attention (the world’s most scarce resource) on the trivial consumption of nonsense, necks bent down to their phones as they uncritically absorb what they think to be the truth. It’s a problem I have witnessed in both Republicans and Democrats — the death of critical thinking. This contractor, with his crack hanging out of his filthy workpants, and his pockmarked nose, dripping and hanging out of his soggy mask, represent to me the tipping point of society to where we have wholesale given up on the societal bonds that once held us together, and have sold it all for the quick stimulation hit of a doom-scroll, like some scumbag junkie who sells the house and jewels for enough drugs to last them just a few days.
Ok, I actually need to do some venting here. The point has been made that lazy mask wearers are symbolic of people who have checked out and stopped paying attention to facts. I would agree with that in some cases. The situation above, where the contractor is clearing sharing indoor space with others, should use a mask. That said, I think people who over-wear masks are just a irritating. To me they symbolize people who ignore facts in logic in a different direction. It shows just how much people turn off their brain and just follow blindly.
Here is what I talking about. In Philadelphia we have had a large boom of covid cases, but if you do the math, it only comes out to 5% of the population of the city have been diagnosed since the start 5%…that’s it! That makes it much more rare than people think. Even so, I am on board with measure to be protective when it makes logical sense to (indoor spaces, large gatherings, being within 6ft of people for a measurable amount of time). What irks me is when I am out running in the middle of the woods, or even on a path that is is 6ft across, people will pull up their mask when I pass by. Why!!! What are the chances that 1) I even have covid 2) I am asymptomatic enough to be running 3) you would actually catch it as I invade your 6ft personal space for .5 seconds??? Think people!
Why am I angry? I am stuck. On one hand I feel like an a-hole because they are being “courteous” and I am not “making an effort”. On the other hand it would anger me to wear a mask when running knowing it makes no logical sense and I am only doing it to follow the righteous crowd.
On one hand, I would agree that if you are standing at least 6 feet apart from others outside, the risk of transmitting the virus is significantly reduced (although new studies point that viruses can still be transmitted at that distance - see webMD: Coughs Can Send COVID Virus Farther Than 6 Feet, people who have the virus can still infect others while showing no symptoms. This is one reason why this virus is different from others. You can still be a source of infection even if you feel healthy enough to job and go your day as usual. Everyone has different response to the virus. Just because you feel fine, that doesn’t mean you are not infectious. It seems illogical to be angry over others wearing a mask though. It would be one thing if they demanded you to wear a mask while under conditions you just described (outside, at least 6 feet apart from them), but if they are just following the “better safe than sorry” principle, I see no reason to be angry over it.
I agree with this. Only thing I would say in response to KMD’s idea is that I also agree that people go overboard with this stuff when people are outside. In general. I believe being asked to wear a mask while one runs or rides a bike on a wide open trail or bike path is stupid.
As usual, the best answer lies somewhere in a nuanced middle, one that the single-minded public horde does not have the mental capacity to entertain. Because, you know, they are too busy clicking Buzzfeed clickbait, so they could not be expected to spend any amount of time collecting objective facts. I think it’s much more important for them to understand the 21 craziest tweets of 2020 or whatever.
I disagree. The pandemic response in the entire western world can be characterized by one word, half-assеdness. Half-assеd lockdowns, half-assеd reopenings, half-assеd social distancing measures/guidance, half-assеd enforcement, with half-assеd results.
I spent a big part of my summer hiking in montana and wyoming mask-free in the woods but when I see a human on the trail who I am about to pass, I mask up and step away. With so many unknowns still around method of transmission, why leave so much decision-gray area in the hands of people who are likely to make bad choices. If I could smell your cigarette while passing you outdoors, then I could be inhaling your damn covid, so you mask the f. up!!
Exactly, Those who protested masks and wanted to open the economy fully had worn masks since the beginning, the economy would have in fact been in better shape. They want fully open economy but at the same time they deny the basic precaution to slow down the spread just because it fringes on their right. These people are living in a different reality.
Result: America 4% of the world’s population, 25% of Covid Deaths.
Yes, I don’t wear outdoors unless I am closer than 6 feet to somebody in long period of time. But why do you even care if they pull up their masks when you are passing by? Why do you even bother with it? Do you realize that you are bothering with a trivial detail?
By the way, if I go to a public place (grocery etc) I wear double mask since the beginning, not even single blue mask. Last week I got some N95s as a gift. Now I am wearing it on top of the blue ones. I bet I would totally irritate you. lol