Masks are nearly all off
But our personal mask choices show that most people behaved illogically
There is an old George Carlin joke: on the freeway, everyone driving slower than you is an idiot and anyone driving faster is a maniac.
I think many of us feel the same about masking. Anyone who wears it longer than you is an idiot, and anyone who took it off sooner is a maniac.
At the airport in SF, masks are nearly completely gone. SF of course is the last bastion of masking, as masking correlates with more democratic voters and not public health principles.
What I find interesting is how masks reveal that most people, even doctors, are illogical. There were only a few logical moments to unmask in community settings, and if you didn't do it then but did it at another time… well, that is likely an emotional decision.
Here were the logical breaks for masking:
If you don’t believe community masking helps (this is what the best available data show), it was rational to never wear one. (Apart from mandates/ to make others feel better) — pretty much my position/ behavior.
If you do think masking has a modest effect (5-10% reduction in transmission), it was rational to stop wearing masks…
… After you got vaccinated
… After you got covid
If you think masking has a massive effect (95% reduction), then you are not a rational person. No way it can be that high in the real world with real compliance.
If you ever masked a 2 year old and thought it helped (aka followed the CDC’s guidance), you are gullible and need to distrust authorities more.
All the people who stopped masking 6 months after they had COVID or 1 year after their last booster are acting completely irrationally. Why stop then and not a day sooner or a month later?
And if you are still masking, the only rational choice is to mask until you die.
What do you think? Leave a comment to justify when you decided to stop masking. Was it rational? Why?
And if you still mask, when will you stop? Before you die?
I only wore a mask for compliance. I was taught about its ineffectiveness for aerosolized infections in medical school in the early 80’s. I was also taught about natural immunity post infection. Something smelled bad starting in the spring of 2020.
The whole thing was illogical. I masked only to be able to fly, shop, eat out. But the fact that most people didn't see the illogic in having every other seat taped off in the airport waiting area, only for everyone to file onto the plane and literally sit touching elbow to elbow; or for diners to have a mask on to enter a restaurant but then take it off as soon as they were seated. It blows my mind. And I am SURE it would happen again, because most people are too sheepish to speak up about any of it.