Reply to Americans at high risk advised to wear masks as new Covid variant detected

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What is the problem with wearing a mask while sitting in a medical waiting room?

I can understand why elementary school kids struggle with masks but think it should be required indoors for middle and high schoolers. A lot of student and staff absences could be avoided. [/quote]

Perhaps some, but there’s no evidence to support your claim that “a lot” of absences could be avoided with mask mandates at schools. Nearly no one can consistently wear a high-quality mask for 6 hours. That's just as true for adults as middle schoolers.[/quote]

Nearly no one? That’s bollocks. [/quote]

I’m a teacher who worked in-person throughout Covid. Not only did I wear a high-quality mask for 8-9 hours at a time, I spent most of that time talking or presenting. My high school students did fine with theirs, as well.  We continued this for an entire year, heading outside to eat and then masking up and going about our day.

Honestly, most of the school population handled it very well. We had no outbreaks and we were able to pull off student activities, just modified a bit. The only people who were angrily against masking were a small handful of parents, and even their children disagreed with them. [/quote]

You don't speak for everyone at your school.

It's clear to me that masking is more comfortable for some people than others. Some people wear them all day while talking and it doesn't impact them at all. For others it's very uncomfortable, they get claustrophobic, the mask gets humid and unpleasant, etc.

At one point I had to wear a mask 8 hours a day for several months. I understood why it was required and was happy to comply and be a team player. But it was very uncomfortable. I found myself often wanting to reach up and remove the mask, like compulsively. I trained myself not to, but it was hard. Each day at lunch id go outside and it was such a massive relief to remove it. I would watch the clock starting at 11 to look forward to it. When the whole thing was over, for weeks I felt the relief of being able to not mask daily.

I'm glad masking is NBD for you. I don't know why it's fine for you and hard for me. But it's not me being callous or unkind -- I mask whenever asked to do so. But if I had a job that required me to do it indefinitely... I might be one one of those people wearing it under my nose. It's just hard for me. I can do it when I know it's temporary. I don't think I could mask on a permanent basis, and it's clear there are many people like me.[/quote]

And it’s also clear that there are many people like me. I work with them. There are also plenty of professions that wear masks regularly (surgeons, scientists, etc.)

I will concede that they can be uncomfortable, but I’ll happily put one on if it means we can protect the vulnerable among us. But the parents who screamed throughout Covid were not upset about comfort. It was about “freedom” and “rights.” That’s harder for me to tolerate.[/quote]

Except no.

I was fine with masking in schools. Initially. But at some point I was looking at my kindergarten and thinking about how this young child has NEVER attended school without mandatory masking. It wasn't about freedom, or comfort. It was about asking myself what the long-term consequences of permanent masking would be, especially for young children who didn't know a different reality (but also for older kids and adults, who I think were also socially and emotionally impacted by long-term masking). It was about doing a cost-benefit assessment, especially once vaccines were widely available and the majority of the population had contracted covid at least once, and questioning whether the costs if widespread, long-term masking were worth it. And concluding they were not.

Demonize me if you want. I have no problem with anyone wearing a mask if they feel the need or want to. I will also mask in limited circumstances where it is merited (medical settings, around vulnerable people). But I will not support mask mandates in schools or workplaces for covid unless we suddenly return to the death rates of early in the pandemic. Which we likely never will-- it is now endemic and should be treated similarly to the flu or RSV.[/quote]

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