- 760
Over = people living like February 2020. I’m seeing it already. Mask optional policies in schools, packed sporting events no masks, etc.
- 9,674
Welcome to May 2021.whitherSTL wrote: ↑Feb 06, 2022Over = people living like February 2020. I’m seeing it already. Mask optional policies in schools, packed sporting events no masks, etc.
- 6,158
^^I think "over" is probably more like the global mortality rate drops back to the baseline AND people quit living like there's a plague on. Maybe that happens because we eradicate the plague. Or maybe it happens because humanity and the plague mutually evolve to a point where we can live together in relative peace and harmony. The second option is a bit messy. Traits don't usually voluntarily withdraw from the gene pool.
- 1,868
In places where malaria has been endemic for centuries people still sleep under mosquito nets.symphonicpoet wrote: ↑Feb 06, 2022^^I think "over" is probably more like the global mortality rate drops back to the baseline AND people quit living like there's a plague on. Maybe that happens because we eradicate the plague. Or maybe it happens because humanity and the plague mutually evolve to a point where we can live together in relative peace and harmony. The second option is a bit messy. Traits don't usually voluntarily withdraw from the gene pool.
Let me refine that - all normal activities without needing to wear masks almost anywhere will resume. I get that we're at a point in which masking is largely a voluntarily activity, but my experience is that most people in most public places are currently voluntarily wearing masks. When I go into the Schnucks by Carondelet Park, I'd say about 75-80% of the customers are wearing masks right now (myself included).MarkHaversham wrote: ↑Feb 05, 2022If that's the definition, it's been over for most people for at least a year lol.DTGstl314 wrote: ↑Feb 05, 2022but I'm guessing you think it will be down to such a low level that all normal activities prior to the pandemic will resume, and we'll be back to "normal"?
That's not over.whitherSTL wrote: ↑Feb 06, 2022Over = people living like February 2020. I’m seeing it already. Mask optional policies in schools, packed sporting events no masks, etc.
Over is when >95% of people don't need to nor feel obliged to wear masks, anywhere. Prior to the pandemic, I had never once in my life worn a surgical mask. Not once. And with the exception of my physician uncle, pretty much nobody I knew had ever worn one, either.
Back to normal means being back to a time when seeing someone walking around wearing a surgical mask is extremely noticeable, because nobody else around them is doing it (obviously this wouldn't apply to a place like a hospital).
FWIW, I don't have a problem wearing a mask in public places where I'm expected to do so, and I'll continue doing it for as long as public health officials recommend doing it. But I very much look forward to the day when it's no longer necessary from a public health perspective for almost anybody to wear a mask out in public, and nobody feels any social compulsion to wear them either.
Actually, I've got a better gauge for when we can really declare that things are fully back to normal - the day you can take a commercial flight again without having to wear a mask on the plane (or in the airport, or on the train on the way to the airport).
- 142
Same. I think going forward, if ventilation standards are improved, masks will be minimized. Or maybe in the near term, like how you prepare for the weather: if it's rainy, bring an umbrella. If the numbers are high, wear a mask indoors.DTGstl314 wrote: ↑Feb 06, 2022FWIW, I don't have a problem wearing a mask in public places where I'm expected to do so, and I'll continue doing it for as long as public health officials recommend doing it. But I very much look forward to the day when it's no longer necessary from a public health perspective for almost anybody to wear a mask out in public, and nobody feels any social compulsion to wear them either.
I don't have a problem with wearing a mask, and I'm not sure why others do. It's not a big deal.
- 9,674
^ because FREEDOM!, same bozos probably think they’re free to drink and drive.
- 142
Over = when hospitals aren’t overwhelmed by C19.whitherSTL wrote:Over = people living like February 2020. I’m seeing it already. Mask optional policies in schools, packed sporting events no masks, etc.
If the population keeps overwhelming the system, the system will break…or doctors/nurses will just stop showing up.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
- 1,868
I think there's a good case that we should've been wearing masks more often in public even before COVID19, during flu season or at least when you yourself have the sniffles. Asians have been doing that for years, but Americans are selfish a-holes so it never caught on here. Obviously it's acutely necessary with COVID, but even if Thanos snapped COVID out of existence tomorrow it would be good for public health if mask-wearing became more commonplace in America.DTGstl314 wrote: ↑Feb 06, 2022FWIW, I don't have a problem wearing a mask in public places where I'm expected to do so, and I'll continue doing it for as long as public health officials recommend doing it. But I very much look forward to the day when it's no longer necessary from a public health perspective for almost anybody to wear a mask out in public, and nobody feels any social compulsion to wear them either.
I'm never going on an airplane without an N95 again. I never did like marinating in the germs of a couple hundred strangers, or coming home with the flu afterwards. I just didn't realize that there was a simple way to protect myself.DTGstl314 wrote:Actually, I've got a better gauge for when we can really declare that things are fully back to normal - the day you can take a commercial flight again without having to wear a mask on the plane (or in the airport, or on the train on the way to the airport).
It would be good if indoor air ventilation and masking became permanent transformations in society, the way the Spanish Flu inspired easily-cleaned porcelain in bathrooms.pop_scientist wrote: ↑Feb 06, 2022Same. I think going forward, if ventilation standards are improved, masks will be minimized. Or maybe in the near term, like how you prepare for the weather: if it's rainy, bring an umbrella. If the numbers are high, wear a mask indoors.DTGstl314 wrote: ↑Feb 06, 2022FWIW, I don't have a problem wearing a mask in public places where I'm expected to do so, and I'll continue doing it for as long as public health officials recommend doing it. But I very much look forward to the day when it's no longer necessary from a public health perspective for almost anybody to wear a mask out in public, and nobody feels any social compulsion to wear them either.
I don't have a problem with wearing a mask, and I'm not sure why others do. It's not a big deal.
The school system might break before the hospital system. Place your bets!pop_scientist wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022Over = when hospitals aren’t overwhelmed by C19.whitherSTL wrote:Over = people living like February 2020. I’m seeing it already. Mask optional policies in schools, packed sporting events no masks, etc.
If the population keeps overwhelming the system, the system will break…or doctors/nurses will just stop showing up.
- 9,674
Hospitalization are about to hit under 100,000 first time since delta wave (after peaking at 160,000) Schools have weathered the omicron wave. Both are fine going forward.
Any kind of US-wide COVID numbers are nearly useless in such a big and varying country.dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022Hospitalization are about to hit under 100,000 first time since delta wave (after peaking at 160,000) Schools have weathered the omicron wave. Both are fine going forward.
Local hospitalizations, while they're on a great trajectory, are still astronomically high. The numbers now in St. Louis and in Missouri match last winter's peak.
- 1,868
We're traumatizing workers every wave and losing overstressed nurses and teachers to turnover. If we keep doing this indefinitely it's obviously a problem.dbInSouthCity wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022Hospitalization are about to hit under 100,000 first time since delta wave (after peaking at 160,000) Schools have weathered the omicron wave. Both are fine going forward.
No, it would absolutely not be good if indoor masking became a permanent transformation in society. It's not good for our psychological well being to have to hide half of our faces all the time. I like to be able to fully see the emotional expressions of people's faces, and I like to be able to clearly understand what they are saying when speaking face to face. Smiles are great. I miss them. A lot of basic human intimacy has been lost because of this pandemic, and the need to wear masks everywhere and refrain from hugging each other is a big part of that. I accept that masking is something we still need to do for the time being, and I'll continue doing it for however long there is a broad consensus among public health experts that we should still be doing it, but I want it to end eventually, because it's depressing as f**k.MarkHaversham wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022It would be good if indoor air ventilation and masking became permanent transformations in society
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84806-5
I guess if you're a complete misanthrope it would be good to never fully see anyone's face in public ever again, but that's a pretty small subgroup of people.
- 6,158
This. This exactly. I'm bone weary, but I'm trying to do my part. We can't give up our mental and emotional well being. We're social animals. We need each other and we communicate with our faces on a very deep and very real level. We will weather this.DTGstl314 wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022No, it would absolutely not be good if indoor masking became a permanent transformation in society.
It's not good for our psychological well being to have to hide half of our faces all the time. I like to be able to fully see the emotional expressions of people's faces, and I like to be able to clearly understand what they are saying when speaking face to face. Smiles are great. I miss them. A lot of basic human intimacy has been lost because of this pandemic, and the need to wear masks everywhere and refrain from hugging each other is a big part of that. I accept that masking is something we still need to do for the time being, and I'll continue doing it for however long there is a broad consensus among public health experts that we should still be doing it, but I want it to end eventually, because it's depressing as f**k.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84806-5
I guess if you're a complete misanthrope it would be good to never fully see anyone's face in public ever again, but that's a pretty small subgroup of people.
I always feel bad for dog breeds where humans insist on cutting off their tail; the position and movement of the tail is a crucial part of dog communication. Same thing with the human face. We've gotta see it to know it.
- 1,868
As I said before, I'm talking about people masking on an as-needed basis going forward, as to opposed to the old way of just getting the sniffles and spewing germs everywhere. Functional, caring societies were doing this before COVID.DTGstl314 wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022No, it would absolutely not be good if indoor masking became a permanent transformation in society. It's not good for our psychological well being to have to hide half of our faces all the time. I like to be able to fully see the emotional expressions of people's faces, and I like to be able to clearly understand what they are saying when speaking face to face. Smiles are great. I miss them. A lot of basic human intimacy has been lost because of this pandemic, and the need to wear masks everywhere and refrain from hugging each other is a big part of that. I accept that masking is something we still need to do for the time being, and I'll continue doing it for however long there is a broad consensus among public health experts that we should still be doing it, but I want it to end eventually, because it's depressing as f**k.MarkHaversham wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022It would be good if indoor air ventilation and masking became permanent transformations in society
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84806-5
I guess if you're a complete misanthrope it would be good to never fully see anyone's face in public ever again, but that's a pretty small subgroup of people.
- 1,614
T. M Scanlon - What We Owe Each OtherMarkHaversham wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022As I said before, I'm talking about people masking on an as-needed basis going forward, as to opposed to the old way of just getting the sniffles and spewing germs everywhere. Functional, caring societies were doing this before COVID.DTGstl314 wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022No, it would absolutely not be good if indoor masking became a permanent transformation in society. It's not good for our psychological well being to have to hide half of our faces all the time. I like to be able to fully see the emotional expressions of people's faces, and I like to be able to clearly understand what they are saying when speaking face to face. Smiles are great. I miss them. A lot of basic human intimacy has been lost because of this pandemic, and the need to wear masks everywhere and refrain from hugging each other is a big part of that. I accept that masking is something we still need to do for the time being, and I'll continue doing it for however long there is a broad consensus among public health experts that we should still be doing it, but I want it to end eventually, because it's depressing as f**k.MarkHaversham wrote: ↑Feb 07, 2022It would be good if indoor air ventilation and masking became permanent transformations in society
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-84806-5
I guess if you're a complete misanthrope it would be good to never fully see anyone's face in public ever again, but that's a pretty small subgroup of people.
Contractualism - The normative domain of what we owe to each other is meant to encompass those duties to other people which we bear in virtue of their standing as rational creatures.
- 9,674
New Jersey Gov announced that the state is dropping masking requirements for schools. This will be the case for all states within a few weeks