What’s up with parents not wearing masks at the playground?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe because SCIENCE.

They are staying 6' (think fingertip to fingertip) from others? They are already vaccinated? They are at vanishingly low risk of serious illness based on their age and health history?

This. Totally pointless to wear mask once vaccinated or outdoors away from others. Being extreme and unscientific just creates backlash.

Actually there is no data on the variants with regard to masking and vaccines yet. So your stance is quite unscientific as well. Contact tracing shows that the more transmissible strains are infecting people within a matter of a few (not fifteen) minutes indoors with masks. If you are outside in cold weather, aerosol lingers for longer than in warm weather. Would need to see data first to draw conclusions about best practices. And pretty much everyone agrees there will be boosters for the variants at some point this year.

Honestly, I think it’s very rude to be using a public space — outside or inside — without masks. That whole attitude is what has drawn this out. There was a new study that the US could have avoided 40% of its deaths if they had encouraged masks instead of politicizing this and spreading conspiracy theories. Is that scientific enough for you?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/10/us-coronavirus-response-donald-trump-health-policy

I avoid playgrounds with parents who don’t mask, and I do notice who is out there with one and without one. It’s a matter of doing your duty to help others. If you can’t do that then don’t, but don’t make excuses about why.

You really think Covid is dragging out because people won’t mask outdoors? Do you understand that masks are modestly effective indoors, and that one is 20x less likely to spread the virus outside? Moving activities outdoors is the intervention that works.

Covid is dragging on because a vaccine isn’t widely available. Covid drags on because low wage workers worked when they were infected, and sent the virus home with their coworkers. Many of them live in small, cramped spaces with other essential workers.

For some people, their thinking has not evolved from the days of “if everyone wore a mask we would be done with Covid.” That’s not how it works. Structural inequities are driving most of the spread. And blaming people for becoming infected with a virus has a very sad history. When all is said and done, we will realize the mask debate kept us from trying to implement policies that would save many lives.

+1. Americans are obese and unhealthy. Our country does not allow all people access to healthy food or have systems that support healthy lifestyles for all. Obese and unhealthy people are at much higher risk of dying from COVID. Science points to this as one of the primary reasons we have been hit so much harder than countries like India and some in Africa. Wish people would invest more energy in campaigning to make healthy food available to all people rather than splitting hairs over some people not masking up outdoors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh you probably saw me. I am fully vaccinated and refuse to wear a mask while I am sitting on a bench watching my kids play. My kids wear masks because they are unvaccinated but I won't play your silly outdoor mask games anymore - give me all the dirty looks you want

You are at the playground where other young kids may be unmasked, especially 2 and below. Do you step back if these young toddlers come too close to you?

Why would she? She can't catch covid or transmit covid.

What? Please do some research on what vaccines do. And the vaccine is for the virus, not the disease. You sound very uninformed.

You are uninformed about the risk of asymptomatic transmission, which is .7% in households. Also, viral load correlated with symptom severity. Stop trying to project your anxiety on us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh you probably saw me. I am fully vaccinated and refuse to wear a mask while I am sitting on a bench watching my kids play. My kids wear masks because they are unvaccinated but I won't play your silly outdoor mask games anymore - give me all the dirty looks you want

You are at the playground where other young kids may be unmasked, especially 2 and below. Do you step back if these young toddlers come too close to you?

Why would she? She can't catch covid or transmit covid.

What? Please do some research on what vaccines do. And the vaccine is for the virus, not the disease. You sound very uninformed.

You are uninformed about the risk of asymptomatic transmission, which is .7% in households. Also, viral load correlated with symptom severity. Stop trying to project your anxiety on us.

Sorry that was asymptomatic transmission of an infected person in the household. Now multiply that by .94 (risk of infection post vaccination). You are looking at .1% risk, indoors. Outdoor transmission 20x less likely. So... practically impossible. The mask just doesn’t add value in some situations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I believe those moms not masking are part of the “mean girls” clique and this is their passive aggressive way to stake their claim to the playground and keep others out of what they consider their space. They know exactly what they are doing and it is incredibly frustrating bringing DS there and having to turn right around.

You need therapy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I believe those moms not masking are part of the “mean girls” clique and this is their passive aggressive way to stake their claim to the playground and keep others out of what they consider their space. They know exactly what they are doing and it is incredibly frustrating bringing DS there and having to turn right around.

This is more than a little paranoid. I really don't think people think through these decisions that much. And I don't think they are thinking about you, or anyone, when they make the decision. They are just doing something mildly selfish (I say mildly because I agree with PPs that outdoors it really doesn't matter that much) because human beings are selfish.

Why is everything on these boards about "mean girls"? I see that phrase so much on here that it's lost all meaning to me. Someone in the real estate forum called me a mean girl for saying that a listed house was overpriced for the location. Not everyone who disagrees with you is a "mean girl". WTH.

I think in this instance the term is entirely appropriate. They are a type of cliquish exclusionary moms who seek to intimidate those not like them. Unmasking themselves and their children is just another weapon in their alpha-mom arsenal. If you attempt to politely ask them to be considerate, they look right through as if you don’t even exist. It is real.

Wow. You're off your rocker.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh you probably saw me. I am fully vaccinated and refuse to wear a mask while I am sitting on a bench watching my kids play. My kids wear masks because they are unvaccinated but I won't play your silly outdoor mask games anymore - give me all the dirty looks you want

You are at the playground where other young kids may be unmasked, especially 2 and below. Do you step back if these young toddlers come too close to you?

Why would she? She can't catch covid or transmit covid.

What? Please do some research on what vaccines do. And the vaccine is for the virus, not the disease. You sound very uninformed.

You are uninformed about the risk of asymptomatic transmission, which is .7% in households. Also, viral load correlated with symptom severity. Stop trying to project your anxiety on us.

Stop making up stuff that isn't true.

[Anonymous]

I was not masked at the neighborhood playground. I intentionally stayed 6 feet or more from others. When it started getting crowded, we left. I followed the rules for VA where I live. It’s not a mean girl thing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh you probably saw me. I am fully vaccinated and refuse to wear a mask while I am sitting on a bench watching my kids play. My kids wear masks because they are unvaccinated but I won't play your silly outdoor mask games anymore - give me all the dirty looks you want

You are at the playground where other young kids may be unmasked, especially 2 and below. Do you step back if these young toddlers come too close to you?

Why would she? She can't catch covid or transmit covid.

What? Please do some research on what vaccines do. And the vaccine is for the virus, not the disease. You sound very uninformed.

You are uninformed about the risk of asymptomatic transmission, which is .7% in households. Also, viral load correlated with symptom severity. Stop trying to project your anxiety on us.

Stop making up stuff that isn't true.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2774102

Household secondary attack rates were increased from symptomatic index cases (18.0%; 95% CI, 14.2%-22.1%) than from asymptomatic index cases (0.7%; 95% CI, 0%-4.9%), to adult contacts (28.3%; 95% CI, 20.2%-37.1%) than to child contacts (16.8%; 95% CI, 12.3%-21.7%), to spouses (37.8%; 95% CI, 25.8%-50.5%) than to other family contacts (17.8%; 95% CI, 11.7%-24.8%), and in households with 1 contact (41.5%; 95% CI, 31.7%-51.7%) than in households with 3 or more contacts (22.8%; 95% CI, 13.6%-33.5%).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh you probably saw me. I am fully vaccinated and refuse to wear a mask while I am sitting on a bench watching my kids play. My kids wear masks because they are unvaccinated but I won't play your silly outdoor mask games anymore - give me all the dirty looks you want

You are at the playground where other young kids may be unmasked, especially 2 and below. Do you step back if these young toddlers come too close to you?

Why would she? She can't catch covid or transmit covid.

What? Please do some research on what vaccines do. And the vaccine is for the virus, not the disease. You sound very uninformed.

No, you do some research. CDC does not recommend testing for asymptomatic infection after exposure, for vaccinated population. They also don’t recommend quarantine for exposed vaccinated people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh you probably saw me. I am fully vaccinated and refuse to wear a mask while I am sitting on a bench watching my kids play. My kids wear masks because they are unvaccinated but I won't play your silly outdoor mask games anymore - give me all the dirty looks you want

You are at the playground where other young kids may be unmasked, especially 2 and below. Do you step back if these young toddlers come too close to you?

Why would she? She can't catch covid or transmit covid.

What? Please do some research on what vaccines do. And the vaccine is for the virus, not the disease. You sound very uninformed.

No, you do some research. CDC does not recommend testing for asymptomatic infection after exposure, for vaccinated population. They also don’t recommend quarantine for exposed vaccinated people.

And yet CDC recommends the following: "Until more is known, fully vaccinated people should continue to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart from other people in other settings, like when they are in public or visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe because SCIENCE.

They are staying 6' (think fingertip to fingertip) from others? They are already vaccinated? They are at vanishingly low risk of serious illness based on their age and health history?

This. Totally pointless to wear mask once vaccinated or outdoors away from others. Being extreme and unscientific just creates backlash.

Actually there is no data on the variants with regard to masking and vaccines yet. So your stance is quite unscientific as well. Contact tracing shows that the more transmissible strains are infecting people within a matter of a few (not fifteen) minutes indoors with masks. If you are outside in cold weather, aerosol lingers for longer than in warm weather. Would need to see data first to draw conclusions about best practices. And pretty much everyone agrees there will be boosters for the variants at some point this year.

Honestly, I think it’s very rude to be using a public space — outside or inside — without masks. That whole attitude is what has drawn this out. There was a new study that the US could have avoided 40% of its deaths if they had encouraged masks instead of politicizing this and spreading conspiracy theories. Is that scientific enough for you?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/feb/10/us-coronavirus-response-donald-trump-health-policy

I avoid playgrounds with parents who don’t mask, and I do notice who is out there with one and without one. It’s a matter of doing your duty to help others. If you can’t do that then don’t, but don’t make excuses about why.

You really think Covid is dragging out because people won’t mask outdoors? Do you understand that masks are modestly effective indoors, and that one is 20x less likely to spread the virus outside? Moving activities outdoors is the intervention that works.

Covid is dragging on because a vaccine isn’t widely available. Covid drags on because low wage workers worked when they were infected, and sent the virus home with their coworkers. Many of them live in small, cramped spaces with other essential workers.

For some people, their thinking has not evolved from the days of “if everyone wore a mask we would be done with Covid.” That’s not how it works. Structural inequities are driving most of the spread. And blaming people for becoming infected with a virus has a very sad history. When all is said and done, we will realize the mask debate kept us from trying to implement policies that would save many lives.

+1. Americans are obese and unhealthy. Our country does not allow all people access to healthy food or have systems that support healthy lifestyles for all. Obese and unhealthy people are at much higher risk of dying from COVID. Science points to this as one of the primary reasons we have been hit so much harder than countries like India and some in Africa. Wish people would invest more energy in campaigning to make healthy food available to all people rather than splitting hairs over some people not masking up outdoors.

And this is why we do not crowdsource public health policy during a pandemic.

Say what you want, but all the Asian countries where masking is prevalent and considered a matter of common courtesy have escaped with much less economic damage, despite geographic proximity to the epicenter.

[Anonymous]

Masks are only recommended outside when 6’ of distance can’t be maintained. It’s fine. Really.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am more disturbed by the people I see walking alone at 7 am wearing a mask in an empty street. Covid has exposed a level of science-denial and utter lack of ability to evaluate risk borders on delusion.

+1. There are a lot of these people in my neighborhood. 6:30/ 7:00 in the morning, they are out walking the dog, alone, with not another person in sight and yet they are wearing masks.

I find this creepy and really, really weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am more disturbed by the people I see walking alone at 7 am wearing a mask in an empty street. Covid has exposed a level of science-denial and utter lack of ability to evaluate risk borders on delusion.

+1. There are a lot of these people in my neighborhood. 6:30/ 7:00 in the morning, they are out walking the dog, alone, with not another person in sight and yet they are wearing masks.

I find this creepy and really, really weird.

I thinks it’s insane anxiety or something. Or they are reading the DCUM health and medicine forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Oh you probably saw me. I am fully vaccinated and refuse to wear a mask while I am sitting on a bench watching my kids play. My kids wear masks because they are unvaccinated but I won't play your silly outdoor mask games anymore - give me all the dirty looks you want

You are at the playground where other young kids may be unmasked, especially 2 and below. Do you step back if these young toddlers come too close to you?

Why would she? She can't catch covid or transmit covid.

What? Please do some research on what vaccines do. And the vaccine is for the virus, not the disease. You sound very uninformed.

No, you do some research. CDC does not recommend testing for asymptomatic infection after exposure, for vaccinated population. They also don’t recommend quarantine for exposed vaccinated people.

And yet CDC recommends the following: "Until more is known, fully vaccinated people should continue to wear masks and stay 6 feet apart from other people in other settings, like when they are in public or visiting with unvaccinated people from multiple households."

6 feet is garbage.