posted by friendfromlowry

Kroger and Target saying they’ll continue requiring masks beyond June 2nd. Wonder how much that’ll be ignored.

Spock, we may need you to go into these places and do your Navy Seal/badass no mask routine.  Show these m-fers what freedom tastes like!

So will the government ever try to mask us again?

posted by Fletch

So will the government ever try to mask us again?

This is a joke, right?  What we have done with this pandemic, is set precedence.

posted by ernest_t_bass

This is a joke, right?  What we have done with this pandemic, is set precedence.

Good God, do some reading about tyrants in history. Our covid/mask experience is not part of that. We wore masks to help stop the spread. It helped and now masks are going away. Can anything happen without it being looked at as some sort of symbolic step toward authoritarian rule. Relax, you had to wear a mask for a little while. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't part of a secret conspiracy to enslave us. 

posted by Fletch

So will the government ever try to mask us again?

Whatever it is I’m worth....I’ll bet it that they will.

I’ll be shocked if we aren’t this coming winter 

Roughly 30k flu deaths annually to less than 1k last year.  97% decrease in cases.

Kind of a big number to think it will just be ignored and go away.  I can definitely see masks becoming a huge wedge issue like abortion or guns (a.k.a no winners).

There's also no reason to think Covid is the 1 in 100 year pandemic.  These things are coming about every 5 years now.  I think within 20 years we get hit worse.

Well, they were mandatory in places in 1918 with the Spanish Flu and they've been mandatory in places for the 2020-21 COVID, so, sure, at some point, they probably will be mandatory again.

posted by Dr Winston O'Boogie

Good God, do some reading about tyrants in history. Our covid/mask experience is not part of that. We wore masks to help stop the spread. It helped and now masks are going away. Can anything happen without it being looked at as some sort of symbolic step toward authoritarian rule. Relax, you had to wear a mask for a little while. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't part of a secret conspiracy to enslave us. 

I answered the question honestly.  Don't act naive that a lot of this was political, and don't act like some people didn't use it as an act of control.  

posted by ernest_t_bass

I answered the question honestly.  Don't act naive that a lot of this was political, and don't act like some people didn't use it as an act of control.  

I think you're looking at it way too deep. Our US experience was similar to the rest of the developed world. Masks helped and now they're going away. 

I think gut is right, masks will be a new wedge issue to sow divide within the country. We don't fight them when we're fighting each other. This will absolutely be exploited for more power.

posted by ernest_t_bass

I answered the question honestly.  Don't act naive that a lot of this was political, and don't act like some people didn't use it as an act of control.  

If you're pro-mask because the government says you should wear one, you're a sheep.
If you're anti-mask because the government says you should wear one, you're a sheep.

If you're pro- or anti- based on the best science available, either decision can be justified.

posted by queencitybuckeye

If you're pro-mask because the government says you should wear one, you're a sheep.
If you're anti-mask because the government says you should wear one, you're a sheep.

If you're pro- or anti- based on the best science available, either decision can be justified.

You keep saying MAGA anti maskers and stuff, but the forever maskers are far worse. “Science” isn’t a thing to those people. And it’s way more people then the “maga” guys. “Science” isn’t even a thing, when even liberal abc says that Covid didn’t spread through restaurants, bars, or gyms. But fuck the little guys! 

posted by iclfan2

You keep saying MAGA anti maskers and stuff, but the forever maskers are far worse. “Science” isn’t a thing to those people. And it’s way more people then the “maga” guys. “Science” isn’t even a thing, when even liberal abc says that Covid didn’t spread through restaurants, bars, or gyms. But fuck the little guys! 

Depends upon where you are. My Freedom / William Wallace No Mask On Me Guy is everywhere in Alabama.   Way more prevalent than anyone bold enough to walk into a restaurant with a mask on. 

As with everything, the jackasses at the margins ruin it for everyone.  We basically are all forced to argue the points of AOC and Marjorie Greene. 

Grammie, when you were young what was the biggest threat to freedom?

Surgical masks.

That seems silly.

Well, 'Murica.

You must remained terrified at all times.

DHS warns violent extremists may exploit easing of COVID restrictions to plan new attacks https://t.co/olF8iEdYoc

— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 14, 2021

posted by iclfan2

You keep saying MAGA anti maskers and stuff, but the forever maskers are far worse.

I'd be surprised if I ever posted "MAGA" in any context, and if I hate the right with the intensity of 10,000 suns, I hate the left with 10,002.

Any political arguments over masks are idiotic, from either side.

Odd that you would take a post that says exactly the same thing about both "sides" and see a lean.

posted by queencitybuckeye

I'd be surprised if I ever posted "MAGA" in any context, and if I hate the right with the intensity of 10,000 suns, I hate the left with 10,002.

Any political arguments over masks are idiotic, from either side.

Odd that you would take a post that says exactly the same thing about both "sides" and see a lean.

“ The science is only in doubt to Trumpkins”. You said that. And the science is way more in doubt to the losers who are afraid to leave there house. I wasn’t referring to your last post, just most of them. You people keep throwing out the word “science” but none of this is science. The CDC didn’t just magically find science to say no more masks 2 weeks after they said masks for vaccinated in crowds and all indoors. It’s political. 

posted by justincredible

You must remained terrified at all times.

DHS warns violent extremists may exploit easing of COVID restrictions to plan new attacks https://t.co/olF8iEdYoc

— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 14, 2021

Circling back to white people are scary again. Ignore the fact that 2020 and 2021 might break records of murders. 

posted by Dr Winston O'Boogie

Good God, do some reading about tyrants in history. Our covid/mask experience is not part of that. We wore masks to help stop the spread. It helped and now masks are going away. Can anything happen without it being looked at as some sort of symbolic step toward authoritarian rule. Relax, you had to wear a mask for a little while. Maybe, just maybe, it wasn't part of a secret conspiracy to enslave us. 

If I buy you a history book, will you read it and give me a book report? 

posted by iclfan2

Circling back to white people are scary again. Ignore the fact that 2020 and 2021 might break records of murders.

Biden admin is off to a bumpy start.  Nothing a good white supremacist scare can't fix!

posted by iclfan2

“ The science is only in doubt to Trumpkins”. You said that. And the science is way more in doubt to the losers who are afraid to leave there house. I wasn’t referring to your last post, just most of them. You people keep throwing out the word “science” but none of this is science. The CDC didn’t just magically find science to say no more masks 2 weeks after they said masks for vaccinated in crowds and all indoors. It’s political. 

It was a reference to a specific post by a science-denier that masks don't work because we have mask mandates and Covid isn't gone (IOW if something isn't 100%, it's zero).

Here's the fucking science:

Masks work.

Masks work more outbound than inbound. IOW, they're better for those around you than for you but they work.

Their degree of effectiveness is unknown, what is known is that it's > 0.

posted by queencitybuckeye

It was a reference to a specific post by a science-denier that masks don't work because we have mask mandates and Covid isn't gone (IOW if something isn't 100%, it's zero).

Here's the fucking science:

Masks work.

Masks work more outbound than inbound. IOW, they're better for those around you than for you but they work.

Their degree of effectiveness is unknown, what is known is that it's > 0.

I’ve never not worn a mask when I was made to. I’ve never argued masks don’t work somewhat. 

Know what works way better than masks? Vaccines. Yet I still see idiots wearing masks in their cars and crying that they might have to be around someone vaccinated and unmasked at the grocery store. And schools have been shut for over a year in some places. Point being, everyone is denying science when it benefits them. 

posted by iclfan2

I’ve never not worn a mask when I was made to. I’ve never argued masks don’t work somewhat. 

Know what works way better than masks? Vaccines. Yet I still see idiots wearing masks in their cars and crying that they might have to be around someone vaccinated and unmasked at the grocery store. And schools have been shut for over a year in some places. Point being, everyone is denying science when it benefits them. 

This is the issue.  Many people took advantage of this issue to suit them.  People felt kid to about Covid.  14 days to flatten the curve, masks aren’t needed, then they are.  Asymptomatic transmission......  it goes on and on.  

posted by Fletch

This is the issue.  Many people took advantage of this issue to suit them.  People felt kid to about Covid.  14 days to flatten the curve, masks aren’t needed, then they are.  Asymptomatic transmission......  it goes on and on.  

It was a work in progress. And it's not as though the US experience has been unique. Most places in the world have had to feel their way through this. That led to goals and metrics changing. But to be fair, no one knew how this was going to go. So an inclination to be optimistic could easily have led to "let's just flatten the curve" as opposed to saying "shit, no one knows where this is going."   

Every part of the world has had to deal with this. Restrictions here, while tough, aren't any different than most places - less than many. Here we are 14 months later and life is getting back to normal. It won't happen overnight because that isn't human nature. But it's happening and off we go. 

Before the vaccine, if you died WITH covid, you died OF covid. Now, if you die with covid it was probably something else. Interesting.

CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, somewhat confusingly, says they are aware of 223 people who have died with covid after being vaccinated.

"Not all of those 223 cases who had covid actually died of covid. They may have had mild disease but died, for example, of a heart attack." pic.twitter.com/KmjbrXnd1k

— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) May 16, 2021