Coronavirus prep

Saw a sign on the door to Starbucks today..."Masks are optional for fully vaccinated customers".
Everyone that I saw going in still had masks on, and I assume at least some of them are vaccinated.

I think that there's more going on here than just people hesitant about the safety of taking off their masks. In my area, indoor mask-wearing is pretty universal, and previous to this CDC guidance, there would be outrage if someone took off their mask in a store.

I think people are afraid of being stared at, dirty looks, etc. Short of screaming, "I'M VACCINATED!" when you walk into a store, no one knows if that's the case, or if you're some anti-vax, virus-denying nutjob. I know it would make me self-conscious if I were the only person without a mask.

I think masks in indoor public spaces makes sense. I already hadn't been wearing one in my private office at work (putting it on for more public areas), and I think we are going mask optional since everyone I work with has been vaccinated. For the building itself I think it's still required and so far it seems to be in all stores I've been to. I was told today that my gym is going mask optional if you are vaxxed. I'm going to pilates there tomorrow, so will be curious to see how many are wearing vs not.

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SuzySunshine99 wrote: »

Saw a sign on the door to Starbucks today..."Masks are optional for fully vaccinated customers".
Everyone that I saw going in still had masks on, and I assume at least some of them are vaccinated.

I think that there's more going on here than just people hesitant about the safety of taking off their masks. In my area, indoor mask-wearing is pretty universal, and previous to this CDC guidance, there would be outrage if someone took off their mask in a store.

I think stores should just keep the mask rules in place. I feel like those people who are unvaxed and don't plan to will go into stores without masks. Stores won't be able to check if each patron not wearing a mask is vaxed. I hope we don't have a resurgence of cases because of the relaxed mask rules.

Lamiller1962. Here in the UK we have the Indian variant taking over in the number of active cases. First it was in Lancashire above Manchester and parts of London. It seems its a more easily spread version. The authorities are taking drastic action. Post code surge testing along with open vaccination centres for those who refused the vaccine or did not have time when first offered. The persons in our hospitals now who are suffering from covid are those very people who did not have time in their busy lives for the vaccine.

You must like to gamble with your and others lives. Its selfish to expect nurses and doctors to put their lives at risk to look after you, at your time of need. Even when vaccinated they are at higher risk of going down with it. A young first responder, friend of a granddaughter, 23 with all her life ahead of her in which to do good things, was very ill with her second contamination. Guess what, she is back on the front line because, Other lives Matter too.

Last night others areas were added to the postcode surge testing and open vaccination will be in hand if its not already. There are a smattering of cases all through our country. I'm watching out for cases starting in my county and to see if the numbers in the county next door rise and how the persons do.

BTW, I've worn various high filtering masks when out over the years because I react to the off gassing of perfumes, laundry products and the like. I nearly passed out when I visited somewhere where someone was using wood varnish. No using masks is not a sign of living in fear its a responsible action be it from self protection or community compassion. (others use similar masks to mine to keep petrochemicals from their lungs)

Thanks to the poster above who gave the link to the statistics. It really helps to know.

Regrettably there are many persons who thought they were above it all who, when push came to shove, facing their end, tried to get the message out, its much worse than flu, and please moderate your behaviour, because they knew they had risked all that was dear.

In two weeks our office will have 80% of the employees fully vaccinated. So they are working on a "reentry plan" for everyone working from home. The GM stressed not everyone is coming back in and many will have a hybrid schedule, some days home, some days in the office. I get the impression they want to remain flexible in case something goes wrong and there is another spike or some other unforeseen development. Those who haven't shown proof of vaccination will need to continue to wear a mask until some point in the future.

Virginia ended the state mask mandate last week, but most stores still have masks required. The state is set to end occupancy restrictions I think the first week of June, so I guess that includes restaurants and bars. I see very few people outside wearing masks now (which is a change) but inside stores still most people are wearing masks so far.

If someone new joins this thread with a post that is against the rules and doesn't forward the discussion, I'd suggest ignoring them or at least not quoting them. No reason to preserve a copy of the post after it's been deleted by mods. We and the mods have done a pretty amazing job at keeping this thread a valuable source of info and support

Ontario just released its “reopening” plan today and every step is based on the percent of people vaccinated - which makes me livid. Both my sons have weddings planned late summer (postponed twice already) and now I have to count on others to get the vaccine in order to see if we can do that. Like if anti-vaxxers decide not to get it we can’t reopen and get back to normal? Nothing like giving the conspiracy theorists all the power.