posted by like_that
I don't know who is more annoying. The people who perceive themselves to be morally superior heroes for wearing masks or the people who refuse to wear masks out of pettiness.
I can see why people are pissed about mask laws. For the first month everyone was told masks don't do anything and now all of a sudden people are being threatened with fines for not wearing masks.
On the other hand, I always hated when people came to the office sick. So, objecting to wearing the mask out of courtesy is just dumb. It's the equivalent of not covering your mouth/nose after a cough/sneeze, because you don't have to. Special bonus to people who still cry about masks when private businesses require masks. To me that's the trade off. No law mandating it, but you're simply going to have to deal with it when private businesses require it. If you don't like it, then don't go there.
Morally superior? ok...Nah, I just think we were on a good path on opening up and then people started acted stupid, not following guidance, opening up too early, not wearing masks, and now we could lose college football and school in the fall.
Wearing masks as a public health step is in line with other public health mandates we saw in this country throughout the 20th century that include: washing hands for employees at places, wide teaching of washing hands in schools, vaccines for babies, and for diseases like polio, and improvements in sanitation. All these were things that as a society we decided needed to be done by everyone for the public good to stop the spread of disease. Mask wearing is the latest in that line.
Also, science changes, you know that. Early on, we were worried about masks for hospital workers and front line folks. The guidance was more for people hoarding N95 masks. We didn't really understand how much just even understand how much cloth masks really help slow the spread. Once we saw more data and study, it became clear that hey, masks do help slow the spread and thus the mandates started to come down.