Montgomery- 5 more days and masks off.

[Anonymous]

I am thoroughly against mask mandates given vaccine availability. But people should realize we will be entering winter soon and there will be a natural increase in infections. So I imagine there will be pushback to any changes in current rules as rates rise. And a lot of people trying to claim any change in the rules is the reason why rates are increasing rather than normal seasonality.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know, that's why I am getting all in person shopping I need done in the next five days, since I have a chronic health condition and all. Have fun not wearing a mask after that!

N95s are readily available.

And I already wear them.

N95s will protect me mostly. If someone coughs right in my face, which has happened pre covid in MoCo, unfortunately the n95 mask doesn't help me 100%. And I have an invisible chronic health condition.

But it's ok. I have accepted that I just won't be able to do what most people do.

Yes, it clear that not even an MRI can see your invisible condition, that even the n95 can't help.

Come off it. The n95s help significantly, like 90+%. Thing is, they are not fitted N95s like for hospital use, so are usually less effective than hospital use.
They would help almost 100% if other people wore them. but from this thread you can tell that many people are scared of any masks for unknown reasons. I have an autoimmune condition, with a doctor's diagnosis and lab tests and everything.

My vaccinated friend who had MS wore an N95 mask while teaching in Florida, and none of the kids wore them. She is now dead.

Like I said, go out and have your maskless fun. But those of us with autoimmune conditions (and other medical conditions) won't be there unless they are freedum fighters. Hopefully you don't have an undiagnosed medical condition you don't know about pp.

Come off it and quit spreading misinformation!!
First off not all autoimmune conditions mean you are at higher risk from Covid. Your blanket statements make those of us with these conditions look like whiny snowflakes.

I have had MS for over 25 years. According to all of my docs , including a top neurologist at Georgetown, I am not at higher risk from Covid.
The risk potentially comes into play depending on your medication. For instance an immune suppressant infusion like Ocrevus means you should get an additional dose or booster and then get on with your life. An immune modulating drug like Copaxone or Aubagio does not put you at higher risk and whether you booster or not depends on other health factors.

Shame on you for using the story of your friends death as evidence of something that is not true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today we dropped to 45.4 per 100 K. Montgomery county is still on track for dropping the mask mandate.

So we made it to Day 6? Looks like we are still on track for masks off by Friday?

If by "Friday" you mean "first thing Thursday morning," then yes. The health officer can take as much time as he wants to issue his notification, but the mandate automatically lifts once we've hit 7 consecutive days.

You bring up a good point because I did think it was Thursday but then the news has been reporting that they need an extra day to verify with the CDC. Legally, does it expire Thursday or Friday?

And yes to the other pp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am thoroughly against mask mandates given vaccine availability. But people should realize we will be entering winter soon and there will be a natural increase in infections. So I imagine there will be pushback to any changes in current rules as rates rise. And a lot of people trying to claim any change in the rules is the reason why rates are increasing rather than normal seasonality.

You can continue to wear your mask! Yay! Nobody is telling anyone NOT to wear a mask. Just that they should be optional at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was in NJ thus weekend for a youth sports event. Hotels. Restaurants. Arenas. Masks were recommended , but not mandatory. In a Blue state….couldn’t believe it. Didn’t think the local politics would allow it.

All it did for me was to confirm again how truly the DC area is in a bubble. Many Blue and Red states are making every effort to get back to normal and our region has legions of people who just refuse to move forward, live in 24/7 fear and hoping for some type of long term adoption of COVID type monitoring and rules.

Go travel. Talk to people in other states. Watch them live. Its great to see!

Ate in a restaurant in VA today. Most people, even wait staff, were without masks. The wait staff must be vaccinated per the restaurant’s rules. I am vaccinated as well. Not everyone wears a mask once vaccinated.

Yeah. I mean we’ve not had the mandate in Fairfax for many months and things have been going ok. People have been making their own choices and there is no massive carnage. We’ll see how winter goes.

Two more weeks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am thoroughly against mask mandates given vaccine availability. But people should realize we will be entering winter soon and there will be a natural increase in infections. So I imagine there will be pushback to any changes in current rules as rates rise. And a lot of people trying to claim any change in the rules is the reason why rates are increasing rather than normal seasonality.

You can continue to wear your mask! Yay! Nobody is telling anyone NOT to wear a mask. Just that they should be optional at this point.

+1. You can wear a burka for all I care, just don't force the rest of us to do the same.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know, that's why I am getting all in person shopping I need done in the next five days, since I have a chronic health condition and all. Have fun not wearing a mask after that!

N95s are readily available.

And I already wear them.

N95s will protect me mostly. If someone coughs right in my face, which has happened pre covid in MoCo, unfortunately the n95 mask doesn't help me 100%. And I have an invisible chronic health condition.

But it's ok. I have accepted that I just won't be able to do what most people do.

Yes, it clear that not even an MRI can see your invisible condition, that even the n95 can't help.

Come off it. The n95s help significantly, like 90+%. Thing is, they are not fitted N95s like for hospital use, so are usually less effective than hospital use.
They would help almost 100% if other people wore them. but from this thread you can tell that many people are scared of any masks for unknown reasons. I have an autoimmune condition, with a doctor's diagnosis and lab tests and everything.

My vaccinated friend who had MS wore an N95 mask while teaching in Florida, and none of the kids wore them. She is now dead.

Like I said, go out and have your maskless fun. But those of us with autoimmune conditions (and other medical conditions) won't be there unless they are freedum fighters. Hopefully you don't have an undiagnosed medical condition you don't know about pp.

According to the NIH, MS does not represent a factor of significant increased risk for severe COVID-19 complications and death.

"Currently, these risk factors appear to represent the consequences of MS and patients’ associated comorbidities rather than MS itself. Except for some anti-CD20 therapies, the use of DMT does not seem to be a risk factor for COVID-19 in MS. Therefore, MS and its treatments are most likely not strong risk factors for COVID-19, contrary to what was once thought. Instead, we should start tailoring our risk-models to look at the characteristics of our MS patients individually."

Thank you PP for being the voice of reason. As someone with MS I am so sick of all the misinformation on this site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today we dropped to 45.4 per 100 K. Montgomery county is still on track for dropping the mask mandate.

So we made it to Day 6? Looks like we are still on track for masks off by Friday?

If by "Friday" you mean "first thing Thursday morning," then yes. The health officer can take as much time as he wants to issue his notification, but the mandate automatically lifts once we've hit 7 consecutive days.

You bring up a good point because I did think it was Thursday but then the news has been reporting that they need an extra day to verify with the CDC. Legally, does it expire Thursday or Friday?

And yes to the other pp.

The delay is becasue MoCo government is inept. There is no need to verify anything with the CDC (it's a county regulation after all). Also that same regulation requires the data to be posted daily.

Luckily some Councilmembers called them out on it, so we may be mask-free by Thursday:
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/county-council-moves-up-possible-end-of-indoor-mask-mandate-by-one-day/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Today we dropped to 45.4 per 100 K. Montgomery county is still on track for dropping the mask mandate.

So we made it to Day 6? Looks like we are still on track for masks off by Friday?

If by "Friday" you mean "first thing Thursday morning," then yes. The health officer can take as much time as he wants to issue his notification, but the mandate automatically lifts once we've hit 7 consecutive days.

You bring up a good point because I did think it was Thursday but then the news has been reporting that they need an extra day to verify with the CDC. Legally, does it expire Thursday or Friday?

And yes to the other pp.

The delay is becasue MoCo government is inept. There is no need to verify anything with the CDC (it's a county regulation after all). Also that same regulation requires the data to be posted daily.

Luckily some Councilmembers called them out on it, so we may be mask-free by Thursday:
https://bethesdamagazine.com/bethesda-beat/government/county-council-moves-up-possible-end-of-indoor-mask-mandate-by-one-day/

i saw this on another thread

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe the mandate will end Thursday at midnight (ie, Friday AM) not tomorrow. County wants time to verify numbers from CDC.

That's what the county is SAYING but it isn't what the REGULATION provides (copied below). The mask requirement ends automatically after 7 days at moderate transmission, and tomorrow will be 7th day if the numbers hold. There's nothing in the regulation about a delay to verify numbers (and further delay seems unnecessary in any event when the trigger is a 7-day period). So, regardless of what the county is saying, the mask requirement ends if tomorrow's numbers stay below 50. I'm triple vaxed and not antimask - I don't plan on storming Safeway maskless on Thursday AM and likely will continue to wear a mask indoors after the county feels it has verified whatever it needs to verify. But it really irks me that the county is dragging this out and delaying it (with no authority to do so) when it should be celebrating what it means (substantially reduced covid numbers due in part to a pretty successful vax campaign).

Board of Health regulation 19-975 https://apps.montgomerycountymd.gov/ccllims/DownloadFilePage?FileName=10186_1_16669_Resolution_19-975_Adopted_20210805.pdf

a. Requirement to Wear Face Coverings. Upon notice by the Health Officer
or his designee under paragraph 3. that the County has become an area of
substantial transmission, and without further action by the Board of Health:
i. All persons in the County over the age of two (2) years old must
wear face coverings indoors at any location accessible to the public.

c. The requirement to wear face coverings under subparagraph a. terminates,
without further action by the Board of Health, when the County returns to a
status of moderate transmission for 7 consecutive days.

[Anonymous]

Such a shame that DC has such pitiful vaccination numbers and can’t follow suit.

[Anonymous]

I’m so grateful our dear leaders are allowing us to remove our masks one day early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am thoroughly against mask mandates given vaccine availability. But people should realize we will be entering winter soon and there will be a natural increase in infections. So I imagine there will be pushback to any changes in current rules as rates rise. And a lot of people trying to claim any change in the rules is the reason why rates are increasing rather than normal seasonality.

You can continue to wear your mask! Yay! Nobody is telling anyone NOT to wear a mask. Just that they should be optional at this point.

+1. You can wear a burka for all I care, just don't force the rest of us to do the same.

+100
Does this go for public schools too? I would LOVE for FCPS to follow suit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am thoroughly against mask mandates given vaccine availability. But people should realize we will be entering winter soon and there will be a natural increase in infections. So I imagine there will be pushback to any changes in current rules as rates rise. And a lot of people trying to claim any change in the rules is the reason why rates are increasing rather than normal seasonality.

You can continue to wear your mask! Yay! Nobody is telling anyone NOT to wear a mask. Just that they should be optional at this point.

+1. You can wear a burka for all I care, just don't force the rest of us to do the same.

+100
Does this go for public schools too? I would LOVE for FCPS to follow suit.

No, that is a Maryland state requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am thoroughly against mask mandates given vaccine availability. But people should realize we will be entering winter soon and there will be a natural increase in infections. So I imagine there will be pushback to any changes in current rules as rates rise. And a lot of people trying to claim any change in the rules is the reason why rates are increasing rather than normal seasonality.

You can continue to wear your mask! Yay! Nobody is telling anyone NOT to wear a mask. Just that they should be optional at this point.

+1. You can wear a burka for all I care, just don't force the rest of us to do the same.

+100
Does this go for public schools too? I would LOVE for FCPS to follow suit.

No, that is a Maryland state requirement.

Yet another reason why VA needs a Republican governor.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m so grateful our dear leaders are allowing us to remove our masks one day early.

I am too. The rest of us get to watch the jerks self identify.