Why are Montgomery County residents so über covid conscious?

[Anonymous]

This isn’t entirely a bad thing. I think it’s awesome that MoCo has such a high Vax rate and I still think masks make sense in some indoor settings.

This also isn’t about the politics or the government. It is one factor, but other than the things County Executive Elrich (who I generally like) is saying, but random people I see and people I know.

I still see a ton of people wearing masks outdoors, even alone. Im involved with some organizations that still aren’t comfortable having in-person meetings. Not because they think Zoom is just more convenient…. they have literally said they’re afraid because of Covid. I have friends who put masks on outdoors when there are, in their opinion, too many people around, who wear N95s to go over friends houses, and even people who won’t go to parties or moderately sized public events. The Thanksgiving parade is finally confirmed to happen, and they are requiring masks. A handful of other outdoor events were still canceled. People seem to be really fixated on breakthrough cases and variants.

These aren’t even older, high risk people. These are friends of mine in their 30s with no significant health issues and are fully vaccinated.

When I leave the area - elsewhere in the US or even locally, in PG or even DC - it is still not so extreme, especially with the Zooming and masking. What is it specifically about MoCo that makes so many people OBSESSED with continuing Covid restrictions?

[Anonymous]

I think it is about politics, but not directly. It's an extremely affluent, educated county and there is a lot of community-centric virtue signaling going on. There are so many high achieving rule followers in MoCo, people who were probably used to being "the best" at things, and now they'll be "the best" at not getting covid.

The funny thing to me is that a lot of it is anti-science, or, at least, science neutral. Wearing masks outdoors is widely viewed as theater. But that won't stop anxious MoCo Type A vigilant people from "doing everything they can to slow the curve/stop the spread/keep their families safe."

I live in another major (very blue) city that's more laid back in most respects from DC. It's definitely less covid-conscious than MoCo or most of the DC area, although the covid rates have never gotten particularly bad. People don't really mask outside, there are major festivals that people attend, no one is going to raise their eyebrows if you mention having eaten indoors at a restaurant, even with kids.

-- a progressive, liberal, Type A, scientifically-literate mom of 2 under 12 who rips her mask off as soon as my face hits the outdoor wind.

[Anonymous]

People around here have health anxieties. I see them alone in their cars with a mask on or I pass them on the trail running and they are masked. It's overkill.

[Anonymous]

They read they fear mongering news and believe every word.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is about politics, but not directly. It's an extremely affluent, educated county and there is a lot of community-centric virtue signaling going on. There are so many high achieving rule followers in MoCo, people who were probably used to being "the best" at things, and now they'll be "the best" at not getting covid.

The funny thing to me is that a lot of it is anti-science, or, at least, science neutral. Wearing masks outdoors is widely viewed as theater. But that won't stop anxious MoCo Type A vigilant people from "doing everything they can to slow the curve/stop the spread/keep their families safe."

I live in another major (very blue) city that's more laid back in most respects from DC. It's definitely less covid-conscious than MoCo or most of the DC area, although the covid rates have never gotten particularly bad. People don't really mask outside, there are major festivals that people attend, no one is going to raise their eyebrows if you mention having eaten indoors at a restaurant, even with kids.

-- a progressive, liberal, Type A, scientifically-literate mom of 2 under 12 who rips her mask off as soon as my face hits the outdoor wind.

I’m OP and you sound exactly like me… the mask goes on at the storefront and goes off at the stoop.

What I meant by not about the politics is that I’m not asking about mask MANDATES or other regulations, or why public officials are calling for XYZ… more about why individual people are doing it this way, though yes a lot of it could be their politics (file this under the list of things two years ago I never would believe could be political litmus tests)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it is about politics, but not directly. It's an extremely affluent, educated county and there is a lot of community-centric virtue signaling going on. There are so many high achieving rule followers in MoCo, people who were probably used to being "the best" at things, and now they'll be "the best" at not getting covid.

The funny thing to me is that a lot of it is anti-science, or, at least, science neutral. Wearing masks outdoors is widely viewed as theater. But that won't stop anxious MoCo Type A vigilant people from "doing everything they can to slow the curve/stop the spread/keep their families safe."

I live in another major (very blue) city that's more laid back in most respects from DC. It's definitely less covid-conscious than MoCo or most of the DC area, although the covid rates have never gotten particularly bad. People don't really mask outside, there are major festivals that people attend, no one is going to raise their eyebrows if you mention having eaten indoors at a restaurant, even with kids.

-- a progressive, liberal, Type A, scientifically-literate mom of 2 under 12 who rips her mask off as soon as my face hits the outdoor wind.

+1

I’m in MoCo, and will add that this is largely a thing in the more diverse parts of the county. We live in Silver Spring and people walk around outside in masks all the time here. When I take the kids to swim lessons in Rockville, masks are nowhere to be found on people strolling around. So, it’s a very specific kind of virtue-signaling, IMO. The most stringent mask wearers here are also the ones that were vehemently opposed to kids returning to school last year because “kids are resilient” and wanting schools to reopen was somehow racist. Please, tell me how that’s gone for kids’ health.

I refuse to play along because of the science-neutral (at best) aspect. I work at NIH, and I’m not participating in this charade. The funny thing is that there are a ton of NIH and FDA folks in our neighborhood, and none of us mask outside—we’re often the outliers at the playground.

[Anonymous]

^^and I will gladly wear a KN95 at the gym or to get groceries. No argument from me there, especially with three kids under 12 at home. I’m no COVID-denier, but I’m also not going to deny the science to show people how much I care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think it is about politics, but not directly. It's an extremely affluent, educated county and there is a lot of community-centric virtue signaling going on. There are so many high achieving rule followers in MoCo, people who were probably used to being "the best" at things, and now they'll be "the best" at not getting covid.

The funny thing to me is that a lot of it is anti-science, or, at least, science neutral. Wearing masks outdoors is widely viewed as theater. But that won't stop anxious MoCo Type A vigilant people from "doing everything they can to slow the curve/stop the spread/keep their families safe."

I live in another major (very blue) city that's more laid back in most respects from DC. It's definitely less covid-conscious than MoCo or most of the DC area, although the covid rates have never gotten particularly bad. People don't really mask outside, there are major festivals that people attend, no one is going to raise their eyebrows if you mention having eaten indoors at a restaurant, even with kids.

-- a progressive, liberal, Type A, scientifically-literate mom of 2 under 12 who rips her mask off as soon as my face hits the outdoor wind.

I’m OP and you sound exactly like me… the mask goes on at the storefront and goes off at the stoop.

What I meant by not about the politics is that I’m not asking about mask MANDATES or other regulations, or why public officials are calling for XYZ… more about why individual people are doing it this way, though yes a lot of it could be their politics (file this under the list of things two years ago I never would believe could be political litmus tests)

Yeah, I know what you meant. I just think it's become so politicized. Even moderate MoCo folks don't want to be lumped in with Trumpers.

My city removed our mask mandate for a few months this summer. I think when that happened, maybe 75% of people still masked indoors, but it was starting to fall. So, not quite MoCo levels, but there's definitely a conditioning element too.

My kids went trick or treating and my husband asked me if they should be masked when we started to get to some houses with cramped and narrow front staircases. I pointed out that they had been masked the entire time (due to social pressure; we were with a group of kids who showed up masked). He had no idea. It's like he had never even seen the masks despite interacting with his masked kids for the last hour. I think some outdoor masking can be explained by that.

[Anonymous]

Leftist liberal lemmings who can’t read data for themselves and spoon feed themselves mass media for every meal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This isn’t entirely a bad thing. I think it’s awesome that MoCo has such a high Vax rate and I still think masks make sense in some indoor settings.

This also isn’t about the politics or the government. It is one factor, but other than the things County Executive Elrich (who I generally like) is saying, but random people I see and people I know.

I still see a ton of people wearing masks outdoors, even alone. Im involved with some organizations that still aren’t comfortable having in-person meetings. Not because they think Zoom is just more convenient…. they have literally said they’re afraid because of Covid. I have friends who put masks on outdoors when there are, in their opinion, too many people around, who wear N95s to go over friends houses, and even people who won’t go to parties or moderately sized public events. The Thanksgiving parade is finally confirmed to happen, and they are requiring masks. A handful of other outdoor events were still canceled. People seem to be really fixated on breakthrough cases and variants.

These aren’t even older, high risk people. These are friends of mine in their 30s with no significant health issues and are fully vaccinated.

When I leave the area - elsewhere in the US or even locally, in PG or even DC - it is still not so extreme, especially with the Zooming and masking. What is it specifically about MoCo that makes so many people OBSESSED with continuing Covid restrictions?

DC lost a grandparent. Multiple neighbors of mine got sick and died. Some of my students lost parents. Covid isn’t just the news for me.

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I put my mask on if I am on my way somewhere where I will need to wear it. Complaining that I am “virtue signaling” or ignorant seems like the pot calling the kettle black

[Anonymous]

Education.

[Anonymous]

When I wear a mask it has nothing to do with politics or rules or “virtue signaling”. It has to do with my personal risk assessments, my understanding that decisions based on risks for a larger group ( like availability of hospitality beds) aren’t the same as decisions based on my personal well-being. I think this is a county with a lot of educated people making individual decisions that they believe will decrease their individual risks.

FWIW: It’s pretty galling to hear people that probably don’t share my exposure risks or my demographic risk profile, or even similar access to medical care dismissively talking about “virtue signaling”. If you live in a single family home, travel by private car, and have your groceries delivered, your daily —albeit unknown— risk of exposure to infections is exponentially lower than mine— albeit also unknown. My wearing a mask to walk between the elevator in my building to the now-quite-crowded Metro is one of the few things I can control. Oh, and my Vaccination is now hitting the 6 month mark, I’m not yet eligible for a booster, and we really have no idea yet just how protective which vaccines are for which people under which circumstances for how long.

tldr: Doing my best under difficult circumstances. Maybe I have a mask on outdoors because I’m in between two points where I’ll wear it indoors — and wearing women’s clothing lacking usable pockets.

[Anonymous]

I split my time between MoCo and MA. Both have been pretty conservative about Covid and have very high vax rates, as well as very low infection rates. I prefer wearing masks inside, whether mandated or not. But coming home to MoCo is always eye opening. I think it's the outdoor mask wearing that is surprising. I am not sure what to attribute it to given that the covid conditions and politics are similar in the two places, but I have to admit I now prefer the relative freedom and lack of judgment in MA.

[Anonymous]

Surprise, surprise! most people who are responding sound like Trumpists. I swear this board has been invaded by a lot of Trumpists that don't live in the DMV when the VA campaigns started.