The pushback against the perfectly sensible responses to the pandemic was orchestrated by far-right political entities as a way to rally their supporters against "the oppressive left-wing/liberal agenda to control and exploit you!".
I blame the combination of how over-hyped the (real) issue of Y2K was combined with how successfully we handled it (partly because everyone was so worked up about it) leading to the (common issue for IT professionals) take away of "well nothing went wrong, why did we put all that effort into trying to stop something going wrong?" for no small part of why people weren't as willing to try to stop/minimise Covid as they otherwise might have been (of course it was always going to be a harder sell as Y2K mostly required from the general public that they don't have a tantrum about organisations paying professionals to fix the problem directly whereas Covid required the general public to follow the advice of the professionals in taking action in their own lives.)
"Generally, if you are up to date on your COVID-19 vaccinations, you do not need to wear a mask in outdoor settings. Check your local COVID-19 hospital admission level for recommendations on when to wear a mask indoors and additional precautions you can take to protect yourself from COVID-19. If you are immunocompromised or more likely to get very sick from COVID-19, learn more about how to protect yourself."
That just isn't the same thing as saying it's unnecessary for vaccinated people.
Those words don't mean the thing you say they mean.
especially when on the subway (the air is shitty, so it makes sense).
Man, having had easy access to some sort of mask for a long time now, I keep finding little situations where historically I'd be like "man, I wish I didn't have to breath this shit, it can't be good for me" where I just don't breath those things anymore...
I'm trying to think of good examples but the only one that comes to mind is that in the rare instance I need to use bug spray I'm always glad I have a mask I can wear in case it floats my way.
I suppose the only way to turn it back around on them would be to try scaring them by saying you have something contagious like strep throat, or worse, so they’ll shut up and leave you alone.
I do find that I suddenly feel like I need to clear my throat when this happens.
For every moron out there trying to make fun of you (they can try, but ultimately they themselves just look foolish and stupid) there are more like me and the others who wear masks alongside you.
That does not match my experiences. Assuming you're happy saying so, where in the world are you that this is true? Are they accepting new residents?
I wrote in asking about their policy and instead of a straight answer I was dodged by management.
I feel like over the last few years organisations in general have become far more likely to try to just brush off an issues someone raises than just cleanly and easily address them.
The thing that bothers me more is when they seem actively annoyed to see someone in a mask. Like somehow me wearing a mask in a shared public space in order to prevent someone from dieing horribly is unfair to this rando but this rando doesn't think that them hacking and coughing everywhere in a shared public space without a mask on is unfair to anybody.
Just remember to try not to touch anything after handling your mask until you've had a chance to wash or sanitise your hands again. It's designed to gather up any Covid you'd breath in or out so ironically is one of the worst things you can touch in terms of risk of spreading infection. (Personally, since I work at home, I tend to just leave my mask on fulltime when I'm out, unless I actively need to take it off for food or water or something, just so I don't have to mess around with the administration of keeping my hands clean while taking it on and off and making sure it's properly seated after I put it back on. Wearing a mask for hours on end isn't my favourite thing but I don't find it too unpleasant, so I can see why people who really hate it would want to deal with faffing around putting it on and off.)
Due to a history of smoking and multiple bouts of pneumonia I was already fairly sure that my "dying of old age" (which noone truly does) would consist of drowning on fluids from my own damaged lungs one day. Then the drowning on fluids from your own damaged lungs plague came and people decided they'd rather other people die by drowning on fluids from their own damaged lungs than follow simple enhanced hygiene practices for a bit.
Mostly I try to just block that out but it's come back into sharp focus today...
Yup. More effective action faster would have had a higher same-day-you-make-the-decision cost but would have been tremendously less harmful economically to all the entities blocking it for fear of the economic impact to them. They were digging a mass grave and then leaping into it.
The issue is that it happens out of sight out of mind so it's just an abstract statistic that it's easy to ignore or pretend away. If Covid-19 killed you by making your head spontaneously fall off we'd have eliminated it or reduced it to a few tiny isolated pockets simply by the change in the public's attitude to it. But because it kills you "quietly" out of sight in a hospital bed or at home, people were able to just convince themselves everything is basically normal.
Not to mention that it's absolutely clear to everyone involved that the results of the next UK election is largely already decided and that stuff like this isn't going to move the needle either way.
Ignore the other person who responded to you. They are misinterpreting the report they linked to (I've made about a thousand comments to debunk it at this stage...) Try to take the opportunity to either find a rated disposable mask that you find comfortable/like wearing or a good quality reusable. Wear just whatever mask you can get your hands on over not wearing a mask at all.
I have. That's not what it says.
Ultimately, someone who is unwilling to wear anything but a natural fabric mask is still better in that mask than nothing.