I'll stop if and when I feel like it. I'm not some sensitive snowflake who can't stand wearing a mask for a little while, and we're still enjoying never getting sick.

Love all the responses trying to hint that others are entitled to see everyone's faces /expressions. Sorry, nope.

Anonymous wrote:I think I might wear a mask on the metro during winter inevitably. I didn't catch my annual "cold that turns into bronchitis and I cough for a month" the past couple years. There's more out there than just COVID and I find wearing a mask to not be a burden.

I will 100% wear a mask while doing yardwork. What an idiot I was for not doing that before as someone who has slight allergies!

Meh, I just don't care.

I don't care if you don't wear one. I don't care if you do wear one. I honestly don't care. I don't even notice at this point.

I still wear a mask inside of most stores because that's how I'm most comfortable. Also, if a store still requires their workers to wear one and I know that, I feel like wearing one as a customer is a show of respect.

I go into places without a mask if it's pretty empty and/or people are very spaced out. I needed to grab something from Trader Joes the other morning and was one of only 3 people inside other than workers. I was in and out and didn't wear a mask in that scenario. Tonight I went to grab some takeout food from a local restaurant. I walked up without a mask, saw that it was insanely packed, and jogged back to my car to grab one. I just felt more comfortable wearing one in that scenario.

I don't wear one when I take walks or go for runs. I don't usually wear one at the gym unless it's very busy. Oddly, my gym makes you wear one through the front check-in area and then you can take it off. Not sure if that'll change with the new CDC guidelines.

Anyway, what I do doesn't hurt anyone else, so who cares? If I walk around Harris Teeter with a mask on, it's not hurting you or me.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of an infant, thanks to everyone who will continue to wear a mask indoors at essential places. It sucks being a forgotten parent of a kid under 5.

As another parent of children under 5, don't feel the need to wear a mask for us.

The stomach bug we just went through was way worse than our bout with Covid.

+1. Please, if you feel comfortable doing so, unmask and smile at my kids! Or glare at them if they're being obnoxious, or give them a look of compassion if they're melting down. They've missed out quite a bit on the range of normal facial expressions and watching people speak who aren't their family members over the past 2 years.

(And we've all had covid-- to reassure-- it was mild in the kids-- milder than flu, coxsackie, RSV have been in the past-- and pediatrician said this is her experience as well.)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of an infant, thanks to everyone who will continue to wear a mask indoors at essential places. It sucks being a forgotten parent of a kid under 5.

Yes, and high risk folks who are unable to be vaccinated are also forgotten. We'll continue to mask, for those at higher risk. It hurts us zero to wear a mask inside.

The challenge is infants and imunocompromised folks have always been at higher risk of many things besides Covid. Infants do not have bad cases of Covid. At some point this has to end. We won’t be masking forever, and thankfully that is ending now. Parents and the imunocompromised will need to determine their own risk and accommodate as they did pre-Covid.

Masking is definitely slowly falling off where I live in the Baltimore suburbs. Whole Foods this morning was about 60% masked, 40% unmasked, including some staff. Trader Joe's is about 50/50 with more staff not masked. The percentages are falling compared to two weeks ago.

I went into Home Depot with my mother and she got flustered and said she needed to return to the car to get her mask because "everyone is wearing a mask." I pointed out that, no, not everyone was wearing a mask and to look around and sure enough close to half weren't wearing masks, including staff. She became much more relaxed. She said she wanted to do the "right thing" and if most were masking she'd still wear a mask even if she doesn't think it's beneficial, but she was taking confidence from seeing others not wearing masks. And that's what's happening. The more people see others not wearing masks, the more people stop wearing them.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of an infant, thanks to everyone who will continue to wear a mask indoors at essential places. It sucks being a forgotten parent of a kid under 5.

As another parent of children under 5, don't feel the need to wear a mask for us.

The stomach bug we just went through was way worse than our bout with Covid.

Same. There is a statistically zero chance that covid will bother my toddler. Feel free to put your masks in a trash can and not give us a second thought.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of an infant, thanks to everyone who will continue to wear a mask indoors at essential places. It sucks being a forgotten parent of a kid under 5.

As another parent of children under 5, don't feel the need to wear a mask for us.

The stomach bug we just went through was way worse than our bout with Covid.

+2 I’m vaccinated and boosted and still probably at higher risk than my obviously unvaccinated toddler. He doesn’t wear a mask anyway.

I think I might wear a mask on the metro during winter inevitably. I didn't catch my annual "cold that turns into bronchitis and I cough for a month" the past couple years. There's more out there than just COVID and I find wearing a mask to not be a burden.

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of an infant, thanks to everyone who will continue to wear a mask indoors at essential places. It sucks being a forgotten parent of a kid under 5.

As another parent of children under 5, don't feel the need to wear a mask for us.

The stomach bug we just went through was way worse than our bout with Covid.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of an infant, thanks to everyone who will continue to wear a mask indoors at essential places. It sucks being a forgotten parent of a kid under 5.

Your infant should never be close enough to a stranger to catch anything from them. There are much worse illnesses for an infant than COVID that we have never masked for in the past.

This is just not true. When you're checking out at a crowded Target/Walmart/grocery, you're surrounded by lots of people in close proximity, unmasked. It is was it is, but let's not pretend there's no risk, or that people all are privileged enough to be able to do necessary shopping without their kids <5 present.

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of an infant, thanks to everyone who will continue to wear a mask indoors at essential places. It sucks being a forgotten parent of a kid under 5.

Your infant should never be close enough to a stranger to catch anything from them. There are much worse illnesses for an infant than COVID that we have never masked for in the past.

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of an infant, thanks to everyone who will continue to wear a mask indoors at essential places. It sucks being a forgotten parent of a kid under 5.

Yes, and high risk folks who are unable to be vaccinated are also forgotten. We'll continue to mask, for those at higher risk. It hurts us zero to wear a mask inside.

Took my daughter to Wegmans today in Germantown. We were one of only a few not wearing masks. She’s vaccinated, I’m boosted, and we both had COVID in January. Absolutely no reason to wear them so we didn’t.

Old Town Alexandria... we're at about 50/50 indoors (stores, not talking about indoor dining)! Split evenly between employees and customers. So nice to see people and their faces!