No change in coivd cases and deaths after spring break and no masks wtf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

I guess only broken people want to avoid getting a novel virus that causes long-term symptoms in an unknown percentage of those infected. I suppose only broken people would prefer not to have their lives disrupted by illness, want to avoid having to isolate themselves from infected family members, or risk infecting vulnerable people. That makes perfect sense.

The vast majority of people who got covid were, at most, sick for a few days, then moved on with their lives. We didn't even bother trying to isolate family members from each other other when my wife got it in 2020, and when our kids got it this year.

Your anxiety is leading you to catastrophize.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

Or maybe we're smarter and don't want to get a disease which can cause brain damage, so we do a really easy thing and wear a mask.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/even-mild-covid-19-can-cause-your-brain-to-shrink

So, what's your endgame? You'll have to restrict your life pretty severely in order to avoid Covid forever. It's not going away.

It's not going away, but we'll get better vaccines and it'll be easier to access treatment. Good luck to you!

There's no magic bullet for covid vaccines or treatment in the foreseeable future. What you see right now is what you're going to get.

Whoever is telling you there is a sterilizing vaccine or some sort of super-effective treatment just around the corner is lying to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

Or maybe we're smarter and don't want to get a disease which can cause brain damage, so we do a really easy thing and wear a mask.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/even-mild-covid-19-can-cause-your-brain-to-shrink

So, what's your endgame? You'll have to restrict your life pretty severely in order to avoid Covid forever. It's not going away.

It's not going away, but we'll get better vaccines and it'll be easier to access treatment. Good luck to you!

See, the thing is, if you take precautions and catch the virus anyway (as many, many people have), all of the precautions you took since you got vaccinated will have been for naught. They will have had a net negative effect. So you have to decide whether you want to place your bets on substantially improved vaccines that might be developed, and easier access to treatments you probably won't need if you are vaccinated, and in the meantime miss out on human interaction. Many people think life is too short for that and it's not a wise approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

I guess only broken people want to avoid getting a novel virus that causes long-term symptoms in an unknown percentage of those infected. I suppose only broken people would prefer not to have their lives disrupted by illness, want to avoid having to isolate themselves from infected family members, or risk infecting vulnerable people. That makes perfect sense.

This. Most smarter people are continuing to wear masks as they go about interacting with others.

Think it's about two weeks too soon to declare victory over spring break; most people aren't going to announce they are testing positive at home. I mean, hopefully hospitalizations will stay flat and this will start becoming endemic, but it's really too soon to tell.

So your theory is that people outside the DMV are universally dumb beyond the tiny percentage of people still masking in other areas? You think people in DC are just more informed and inherently better at risk assessment than people who live in places like NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle? Not just red states, but in very liberal areas with lots of highly educated progressives? For that matter, what about most of Canada and Europe, as well? Your saying DC is just smarter and better than people all these other places, that we alone understand Covid, the we are the only ones properly estimating the risk?

Is it at least a little big possible you are wrong about this? Do you have any doubts at all about it or are you 100% on it?

People who are COVID cautious follow other aspects of public health advice, not just what is convenient. That means testing when you have symptoms or staying home, isolating a positive family member when possible, having other family members wear high-quality masks outside of the house when indoors or in crowded outdoor settings for 10 days after last exposure, and testing family members 5 days after last exposure. That can be onerous, especially for larger families, especially at times when being out sick would be inconvenient. For me, avoiding those measures is reason enough to be cautious.

I don't know if it is smarter or if following this advice makes anyone a better person, but it definitely makes people who take measures to avoid infecting other people more compassionate human beings.

If you say you are following the science/public health guidance and also are "done with masks" you aren't following public health guidance and aren't willing to accept any inconvenience if you become infected to avoid infecting others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

I guess only broken people want to avoid getting a novel virus that causes long-term symptoms in an unknown percentage of those infected. I suppose only broken people would prefer not to have their lives disrupted by illness, want to avoid having to isolate themselves from infected family members, or risk infecting vulnerable people. That makes perfect sense.

This. Most smarter people are continuing to wear masks as they go about interacting with others.

Think it's about two weeks too soon to declare victory over spring break; most people aren't going to announce they are testing positive at home. I mean, hopefully hospitalizations will stay flat and this will start becoming endemic, but it's really too soon to tell.

So your theory is that people outside the DMV are universally dumb beyond the tiny percentage of people still masking in other areas? You think people in DC are just more informed and inherently better at risk assessment than people who live in places like NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle? Not just red states, but in very liberal areas with lots of highly educated progressives? For that matter, what about most of Canada and Europe, as well? Your saying DC is just smarter and better than people all these other places, that we alone understand Covid, the we are the only ones properly estimating the risk?

Is it at least a little big possible you are wrong about this? Do you have any doubts at all about it or are you 100% on it?

Well said. I don't think they doubt themselves even one bit.

[Anonymous]

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that for every 100 cases in the U.S., only 6-7 are officially recorded in our surveillance systems.

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=resource-use&tab=trend&resource=all_resources

For example, on March 31, 2022 IMHE reported 27,400 cases but estimated 404,600 “true” cases due to underreporting and asymptomatic infection. This gap has dramatically widened over time.

During the peak Delta wave, an estimated 43% of cases were reported. During Omicron, about 26% of cases were recorded. Right now, an estimated 7% of cases are reported, which is abysmally low.

We are now totally flying blind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that for every 100 cases in the U.S., only 6-7 are officially recorded in our surveillance systems.

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=resource-use&tab=trend&resource=all_resources

For example, on March 31, 2022 IMHE reported 27,400 cases but estimated 404,600 “true” cases due to underreporting and asymptomatic infection. This gap has dramatically widened over time.

During the peak Delta wave, an estimated 43% of cases were reported. During Omicron, about 26% of cases were recorded. Right now, an estimated 7% of cases are reported, which is abysmally low.

We are now totally flying blind.

Do you realize what this dramatic underestimation of the denominator means for our existing assessments of the risk the virus poses to the average person?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that for every 100 cases in the U.S., only 6-7 are officially recorded in our surveillance systems.

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=resource-use&tab=trend&resource=all_resources

For example, on March 31, 2022 IMHE reported 27,400 cases but estimated 404,600 “true” cases due to underreporting and asymptomatic infection. This gap has dramatically widened over time.

During the peak Delta wave, an estimated 43% of cases were reported. During Omicron, about 26% of cases were recorded. Right now, an estimated 7% of cases are reported, which is abysmally low.

We are now totally flying blind.

Do you realize what this dramatic underestimation of the denominator means for our existing assessments of the risk the virus poses to the average person?

Why don't you tell us the risk of a vaccinated person getting COVID and having symptoms for a week or more?

What is the risk of a vaccinated and boosted person experiencing long COVID symptoms?

Show us the data you are using for your superior risk assessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

I guess only broken people want to avoid getting a novel virus that causes long-term symptoms in an unknown percentage of those infected. I suppose only broken people would prefer not to have their lives disrupted by illness, want to avoid having to isolate themselves from infected family members, or risk infecting vulnerable people. That makes perfect sense.

This. Most smarter people are continuing to wear masks as they go about interacting with others.

Think it's about two weeks too soon to declare victory over spring break; most people aren't going to announce they are testing positive at home. I mean, hopefully hospitalizations will stay flat and this will start becoming endemic, but it's really too soon to tell.

So your theory is that people outside the DMV are universally dumb beyond the tiny percentage of people still masking in other areas? You think people in DC are just more informed and inherently better at risk assessment than people who live in places like NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle? Not just red states, but in very liberal areas with lots of highly educated progressives? For that matter, what about most of Canada and Europe, as well? Your saying DC is just smarter and better than people all these other places, that we alone understand Covid, the we are the only ones properly estimating the risk?

Is it at least a little big possible you are wrong about this? Do you have any doubts at all about it or are you 100% on it?

People who are COVID cautious follow other aspects of public health advice, not just what is convenient. That means testing when you have symptoms or staying home, isolating a positive family member when possible, having other family members wear high-quality masks outside of the house when indoors or in crowded outdoor settings for 10 days after last exposure, and testing family members 5 days after last exposure. That can be onerous, especially for larger families, especially at times when being out sick would be inconvenient. For me, avoiding those measures is reason enough to be cautious.

I don't know if it is smarter or if following this advice makes anyone a better person, but it definitely makes people who take measures to avoid infecting other people more compassionate human beings.

If you say you are following the science/public health guidance and also are "done with masks" you aren't following public health guidance and aren't willing to accept any inconvenience if you become infected to avoid infecting others.

So you think that people out the DMV are just lying about following other aspects of public health advice. You think that since they no longer wear masks outdoors or in certain indoor environments that the CDC has said it is okay for unvaccinated people to unmask, that means they aren't testing or isolating with exposures? You assume that they are jus doing what is convenient, that they are hypocrites when they say they are following CDC advice, that it's just a ruse to avoid wearing masks?

Have you... met people from other areas? My extended family is Covid cautious. They masked for a long time, but mask a lot less since getting vaccinated. There was a brief period of remarking during Omicron, but when it passed they stopped masking again. Some of them work in healthcare so they of course mask at work. But they go to restaurants, travel, etc. They are all vaccinated and boosted, some twice. Some have high risk factors and they mask more than others. They don't freak out when the see unmasked people in stores. They all test as appropriate and of course isolate with symptoms. Many of them got Covid during the Omicron surge and they stayed home and quarantined as they were supposed to.

And yet if you went to where they live, you'd see lots of unmasked people just living their lives. Not stupid people or Trump lovers. Not anti-vaxers or anti-maskers. Intelligent, educated people making rational choices for themselves and their family. There would be whole days that would go by when you wouldn't even think about Covid. You might see a few people in masks and not think anything of it, assume they were high risk or that they had a cold or that they just preferred to wear a mask.

This is much of the country now. DC is the only place I know of where people are still FREAKING OUT about this and constantly trying to one-up each other for being the most Covid-cautious, for being the people doing the pandemic the best. I know people all over the country and I don't know anywhere like this.

When you are the outlier, you have to ask yourself if you might be the one doing it wrong. Like you might just want to consider that people in DC are not better, smarter, more virtuous, more educated, or more informed than everyone else on the planet. Just throwing it out there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

I guess only broken people want to avoid getting a novel virus that causes long-term symptoms in an unknown percentage of those infected. I suppose only broken people would prefer not to have their lives disrupted by illness, want to avoid having to isolate themselves from infected family members, or risk infecting vulnerable people. That makes perfect sense.

This. Most smarter people are continuing to wear masks as they go about interacting with others.

Think it's about two weeks too soon to declare victory over spring break; most people aren't going to announce they are testing positive at home. I mean, hopefully hospitalizations will stay flat and this will start becoming endemic, but it's really too soon to tell.

So your theory is that people outside the DMV are universally dumb beyond the tiny percentage of people still masking in other areas? You think people in DC are just more informed and inherently better at risk assessment than people who live in places like NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle? Not just red states, but in very liberal areas with lots of highly educated progressives? For that matter, what about most of Canada and Europe, as well? Your saying DC is just smarter and better than people all these other places, that we alone understand Covid, the we are the only ones properly estimating the risk?

Is it at least a little big possible you are wrong about this? Do you have any doubts at all about it or are you 100% on it?

People who are COVID cautious follow other aspects of public health advice, not just what is convenient. That means testing when you have symptoms or staying home, isolating a positive family member when possible, having other family members wear high-quality masks outside of the house when indoors or in crowded outdoor settings for 10 days after last exposure, and testing family members 5 days after last exposure. That can be onerous, especially for larger families, especially at times when being out sick would be inconvenient. For me, avoiding those measures is reason enough to be cautious.

I don't know if it is smarter or if following this advice makes anyone a better person, but it definitely makes people who take measures to avoid infecting other people more compassionate human beings.

If you say you are following the science/public health guidance and also are "done with masks" you aren't following public health guidance and aren't willing to accept any inconvenience if you become infected to avoid infecting others.

The bolded argument is undermined by how often the most COVID cautious use their practices to criticize and shame those who are less cautious, even slightly less so. If you denigrate those who are fully boosted, for example, but who choose not to mask indoors, you are not, in fact, a compassionate human being. Being a compassionate human being means caring about more than transmitting COVID. Too many people here seem to have forgotten that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

I guess only broken people want to avoid getting a novel virus that causes long-term symptoms in an unknown percentage of those infected. I suppose only broken people would prefer not to have their lives disrupted by illness, want to avoid having to isolate themselves from infected family members, or risk infecting vulnerable people. That makes perfect sense.

This. Most smarter people are continuing to wear masks as they go about interacting with others.

Think it's about two weeks too soon to declare victory over spring break; most people aren't going to announce they are testing positive at home. I mean, hopefully hospitalizations will stay flat and this will start becoming endemic, but it's really too soon to tell.

So your theory is that people outside the DMV are universally dumb beyond the tiny percentage of people still masking in other areas? You think people in DC are just more informed and inherently better at risk assessment than people who live in places like NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle? Not just red states, but in very liberal areas with lots of highly educated progressives? For that matter, what about most of Canada and Europe, as well? Your saying DC is just smarter and better than people all these other places, that we alone understand Covid, the we are the only ones properly estimating the risk?

Is it at least a little big possible you are wrong about this? Do you have any doubts at all about it or are you 100% on it?

People who are COVID cautious follow other aspects of public health advice, not just what is convenient. That means testing when you have symptoms or staying home, isolating a positive family member when possible, having other family members wear high-quality masks outside of the house when indoors or in crowded outdoor settings for 10 days after last exposure, and testing family members 5 days after last exposure. That can be onerous, especially for larger families, especially at times when being out sick would be inconvenient. For me, avoiding those measures is reason enough to be cautious.

I don't know if it is smarter or if following this advice makes anyone a better person, but it definitely makes people who take measures to avoid infecting other people more compassionate human beings.

If you say you are following the science/public health guidance and also are "done with masks" you aren't following public health guidance and aren't willing to accept any inconvenience if you become infected to avoid infecting others.

For the most part, people aren’t masking to protect others. That’s such a “message board” thing to say.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

DP
I'm in Fairfax Co and it seems to me like the number of masked people has dropped by a lot. I'm ok with that, I'm just saying I don't see a lot of obvious precautions right now. Most of my ES students dropped their masks on March 1. Staff is maybe 50/50. Administration doesn't wear masks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) estimates that for every 100 cases in the U.S., only 6-7 are officially recorded in our surveillance systems.

https://covid19.healthdata.org/united-states-of-america?view=resource-use&tab=trend&resource=all_resources

For example, on March 31, 2022 IMHE reported 27,400 cases but estimated 404,600 “true” cases due to underreporting and asymptomatic infection. This gap has dramatically widened over time.

During the peak Delta wave, an estimated 43% of cases were reported. During Omicron, about 26% of cases were recorded. Right now, an estimated 7% of cases are reported, which is abysmally low.

We are now totally flying blind.

Do you realize what this dramatic underestimation of the denominator means for our existing assessments of the risk the virus poses to the average person?

Why don't you tell us the risk of a vaccinated person getting COVID and having symptoms for a week or more?

What is the risk of a vaccinated and boosted person experiencing long COVID symptoms?

Show us the data you are using for your superior risk assessment.

Did you understand my comment? My point is that the risk a Covid infection poses to the average person is much lower than our current estimates, which are based on a known denominator of recorded cases, suggest. It is impossible to know what the exact probability of the outcomes you are asking about is, but it is certainly much lower than you would think based on recorded cases.

That's why the study from Germany on Covid risk to children was so superior. They used seroprevalence data to determine the denominator.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Cases in MoCo have quadrupled in a month.

I'm not saying it was either spring break (way too soon to see that) or taking off masks. But you can't really say "no change".

+1 and I would guess that at home tests are not all being reported. 70+ yr. old parents in DC positive last week for first time.

Why does that matter? If they test, and test positive, it is good info for them to have and they can stay home or take whatever measures they need to take until they feel better.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Those of us who left the area for break can confirm that Covid precautions are literally non existent except here. This area is so weird.

When I got off the plane in Orlando last week, I saw airport workers and sheriff's deputies in the terminal who weren't wearing masks.

Once we walked out of the terminal, maybe 1% of the people we saw were masked during our time there.

Something happened to a lot of people in this area that broke them during this pandemic.

I guess only broken people want to avoid getting a novel virus that causes long-term symptoms in an unknown percentage of those infected. I suppose only broken people would prefer not to have their lives disrupted by illness, want to avoid having to isolate themselves from infected family members, or risk infecting vulnerable people. That makes perfect sense.

This. Most smarter people are continuing to wear masks as they go about interacting with others.

Think it's about two weeks too soon to declare victory over spring break; most people aren't going to announce they are testing positive at home. I mean, hopefully hospitalizations will stay flat and this will start becoming endemic, but it's really too soon to tell.

So your theory is that people outside the DMV are universally dumb beyond the tiny percentage of people still masking in other areas? You think people in DC are just more informed and inherently better at risk assessment than people who live in places like NYC, Boston, Chicago, LA, San Francisco, Portland, and Seattle? Not just red states, but in very liberal areas with lots of highly educated progressives? For that matter, what about most of Canada and Europe, as well? Your saying DC is just smarter and better than people all these other places, that we alone understand Covid, the we are the only ones properly estimating the risk?

Is it at least a little big possible you are wrong about this? Do you have any doubts at all about it or are you 100% on it?

People who are COVID cautious follow other aspects of public health advice, not just what is convenient. That means testing when you have symptoms or staying home, isolating a positive family member when possible, having other family members wear high-quality masks outside of the house when indoors or in crowded outdoor settings for 10 days after last exposure, and testing family members 5 days after last exposure. That can be onerous, especially for larger families, especially at times when being out sick would be inconvenient. For me, avoiding those measures is reason enough to be cautious.

I don't know if it is smarter or if following this advice makes anyone a better person, but it definitely makes people who take measures to avoid infecting other people more compassionate human beings.

If you say you are following the science/public health guidance and also are "done with masks" you aren't following public health guidance and aren't willing to accept any inconvenience if you become infected to avoid infecting others.

So you think that people out the DMV are just lying about following other aspects of public health advice. You think that since they no longer wear masks outdoors or in certain indoor environments that the CDC has said it is okay for unvaccinated people to unmask, that means they aren't testing or isolating with exposures? You assume that they are jus doing what is convenient, that they are hypocrites when they say they are following CDC advice, that it's just a ruse to avoid wearing masks?

Have you... met people from other areas? My extended family is Covid cautious. They masked for a long time, but mask a lot less since getting vaccinated. There was a brief period of remarking during Omicron, but when it passed they stopped masking again. Some of them work in healthcare so they of course mask at work. But they go to restaurants, travel, etc. They are all vaccinated and boosted, some twice. Some have high risk factors and they mask more than others. They don't freak out when the see unmasked people in stores. They all test as appropriate and of course isolate with symptoms. Many of them got Covid during the Omicron surge and they stayed home and quarantined as they were supposed to.

And yet if you went to where they live, you'd see lots of unmasked people just living their lives. Not stupid people or Trump lovers. Not anti-vaxers or anti-maskers. Intelligent, educated people making rational choices for themselves and their family. There would be whole days that would go by when you wouldn't even think about Covid. You might see a few people in masks and not think anything of it, assume they were high risk or that they had a cold or that they just preferred to wear a mask.

This is much of the country now. DC is the only place I know of where people are still FREAKING OUT about this and constantly trying to one-up each other for being the most Covid-cautious, for being the people doing the pandemic the best. I know people all over the country and I don't know anywhere like this.

When you are the outlier, you have to ask yourself if you might be the one doing it wrong. Like you might just want to consider that people in DC are not better, smarter, more virtuous, more educated, or more informed than everyone else on the planet. Just throwing it out there.

PP here, and I never said anything about freaking out about unvaccinated or unmasked people. I also never said anything about mask mandates or avoiding activities. You are talking about right versus wrong.

I simply said that if you take COVID seriously, you accept your personal risk and the responsibility to try to avoid spreading it if your family gets COVID. For some people, efforts to avoid infection by way of masking or avoiding crowded indoor settings aren't as onerous as others think they are. I would much rather mask in the airport than be sick on my vacation. If masking cuts down on the chance of being sick, why is that "wrong"? Why does it bother you so much if others mask?

By the way, I just returned from a trip to a red state where I spoke with people who are masking, including servers, Uber drivers, and others we met. Their reasons were the same as most of us here - they have vulnerable family members that they live with or care for, they have medical conditions that put them at higher risk of a bad outcome from COVID, they have medical conditions that might not necessary not put them at greater risk from COVID, but which make them more cautious about the possibility of long COVID, they have young children at home, etc. These people are out there. Why judging them so important to you?