What Must the Pharmacist in the N95 Mask Think?

[MineralMan]

Earlier, I wrote that I got my Moderna booster today at the supermarket pharmacy. What I didn't say was something else I observed before and after I got my jab and sat there for the prescribed waiting period. Everyone behind the pharmacy counter had on a mask. I had on a mask. Nobody else had on a mask. Nobody.

That includes all the people lining up for their flu shot or a COVID-19 booster shot. Only I and the pharmacy workers were masked.

There's something sadly ironic in that, I think. People came to the pharmacy to pick up prescriptions or to get a vaccine. It's a healthcare facility, really. As an example to all, the pharmacy employees, behind a plexiglass wall, were wearing masks. And yet, the customers don't get the message. It must make the workers there shake their heads in wonder. It made me shake my head.

What are people thinking when they come to get vaccinated against a potentially deadly disease, but don't do the simplest possible thing to help them avoid getting sick? What can be at work in their minds, I wonder?

Human beings are very strange, I think. We don't reason very well, it seems.

[drexelkathy]

1. I wonder if

they are required to wear one.

I know that my local WAWA employees are required to wear a mask, but the next store down the street isn't required.

I know that my local Walgreens employees are required to wear one...but the family pharmacy isn't.

Have you asked them if they WANT to be wearing one, or if they are wearing one because they are required?

[MineralMan]

3. No, I didn't ask them. So, I'm not sure why they're wearing them.

It's the irony of it that gets me, really. I wear a mask, myself, inside businesses. It's partly to protect myself, but also as an example of what people should be doing. I don't mention it. I just wear it.

If I were a pharmacy worker, I'd have one on for that reason and to protect myself. Sick people come to the pharmacy all the time. I mean...they sell medications for illnesses there. Why wouldn't you mask up?

[drexelkathy]

6. Did you wear a mask pre-Covid?

These people have been on the front line day in and day out for almost 2 years.

They may be wearing a mask because they have to...

They may not care what anyone else does.

I wouldn't worry too much about them. They're professionals doing their jobs. They've likely all been vaccinated and as you said, they're wearing a mask.

If you have your N95 on, you're safe. Don't sweat what other people are doing. You can't control other people

[MineralMan]

8. No, I did not.

I don't worry much about what other people do, though. I just think about what I observe.

[mahina]

18. I understood what you were saying

I was thinking the same thing looking at Jerry Nadler and the House committee yesterday with freaking Gaetz, MTG and goons unmasked, staffers too. Bullies and goons

[Ocelot II]

2. I don't get it either. I wear my N95 mask *especially* at the drugstore,

because that's where the sick people or unvaccinated people go to get their covid shots and their flu shots and their medicines for whatever else might ail them. When I got my booster a few weeks ago everybody behind the pharmacy counter and the three or four waiting geezers were all masked, but when grocery shopping the other day I noticed more unmasked people than previously, though the majority were wearing them. The vax rate is quite high in this city but the cases are still increasing, mostly among younger people. I'm wondering whether most of the unmasked people are vaccinated and aren't as worried about getting a breakthrough case as maybe they should be?

[MineralMan]

4. Yes. When I went to get my flu shot, earlier in the month,

I made a point of being the first in line when the pharmacy opened. I don't want to sit around a bunch of sick people. I wore a mask. I used the hand sanitizer from the dispensers that were everywhere. I mean, sick people go to pharmacies. Sheesh!

As for the general population in stores, I don't know which ones are fully vaccinated and which are anti-vaxxers. I have my mask on anyhow, so I don't care all that much, really. But, why wouldn't you wear a mask, given COVID and the flu? Makes no sense to me.

I still don't know the vaccination rate in my corner of Hennepin County. I assume it's high, but I don't really know, and I don't think it is broken down statistically below the county level. I just assume that people without masks are unvaccinated, and keep my distance. It's so weird out there right now.

[Ocelot II]

9. Minneapolis tracks covid data through the health department.

Vax rates by zip code here: https://www.minnpost.com/metro/2021/08/minneapolis-continues-to-see-stark-gaps-in-vaccination-rates-across-the-city/ In my zip code 84.2% of eligible people are fully vaccinated, so maybe some of those vaxxed people are less worried about local public places. I am, though.

[MineralMan]

12. I tried to find percentages for my zip code, 55369,

but couldn't find the stats in the health department data. I found some raw numbers, but since I don't know the population in that zip code, that doesn't help. It covers Osseo and a corner of Maple Grove. Zip codes aren't that useful in the metro, since they cross boundary lines and don't always align with city limit lines.

[Eliot Rosewater]

5. Some years ago when some folks said republicans were anti American, fascists and

they existed for the sole purpose of causing death and destruction, most others thought that was too much, too far.

Adamquestor was a poster a LONG time ago on the Randi Rhodes Message Board, hopefully most reading this will know who Randi Rhodes is. He said this on a daily basis about republicans, all of them.

And as one of the moderators of the board I was often asked to censor Adamquestor's comments about republicans, I never did. In fact because of him and my own personal experience with them (wont go into detail now) I agreed, even back then some 10 or 15 years ago.

I believe today that anyone who votes for any republican is voting for trump and his agenda of death and destruction.

But even their harshest critics, like myself, never saw this coming. That they would defy a vax for the sole purpose of showing worship to the dumbest adult on earth.

[MineralMan]

7. Here's what I think about vaccine avoiders: They're incredibly stupid.

They represent the stupid end of the IQ bell curve. Almost all of those leading them have been vaccinated, because they're not stupid enough to do what they're telling the stupid people to do.

"Say, Folks! There's this deadly disease going around. Here's a vaccination that will help keep it from killing you. Don't take it, though, because, you know, freedom and stuff! I took it, but don't do as I did. Do as I say, instead, OK? (Internally saying: If you're stupid enough to vote for me, you're too stupid to live, anyhow...)"

[Eliot Rosewater]

13. I think there are 3 groups, first are those who have historically been used and abused by the govt

who have every right to question anything the govt says, but there are not a lot of them unvaccinated now I believe. (African Americans)

Then there is the tiny number of RFK Jr folks, who have always been anti vax for a reason that is not scientifically sound but isn't political either, I don't think. At least not the political we are experiencing with MAGA.

Then there is the vast majority of anti vax, like the ones you are talking about, who think they are showing trump their loyalty and worship by not wearing masks and taking the vax. They are stupid, for sure, and mass murderers.

I think we should have seen a trump coming and some of us did, but perfection and purity was the talk of the day back then.

[MineralMan]

15. True.

[Eliot Rosewater]

17. You are actually one of 3 or 4 posters here I use to "gauge" the "attitude" out there

as to how bad people realize the average con or GOP or MAGA is.

I did the same with Dean Obeidallah of Sirius/XM Progressive channel.

I tweeted to him routinely (and he responded on occasion so he saw them) right after trump took over to please stop being so nice to MAGA when they called, that they were deadly, but the decent person Dean is he gave them the benefit of the doubt for a long time. Dean did this because he is a good man, attorney, Muslim and patriot. He was doing what a good person does and he did it far longer than most.

http://deanofradio.com/

Take a look at this story

https://muslimadvocates.org/2019/06/court-awards-muslim-commentator-4-1-million-in-lawsuit-against-founder-of-neo-nazi-website/

Court Awards Muslim Commentator $4.1 Million in Lawsuit Against Founder of Neo-Nazi Website

Then they threatened to kill him and his family, they still do it to this day. He no longer treats MAGA with any respect, finally. I admire him and his show and this country is lucky to have him. You sort of remind me of him in that you held out longer than others attempting to give the benefit of the doubt, to be decent to them, until you came to where you are today, which I am not sure of where that is but this is all just my observation, could be wrong.

I am complimenting you, in case it doesn't come across that way I think you and some others here have tried to be the voice of reason and calm in the face of this madness, and I appreciate that.

[hlthe2b]

10. Well, while most large businesses require their employees to wear them, almost ALL the male

employees have them hanging around their chin, while most of the female employees correctly wear them--at least in my part of Colorado. So, what is on that Y chromosome, anyway that explains THIS? sigh...

[Eliot Rosewater]

14. Strong and wrong but they aren't STRONG at all, they are weakling cowards.

[Pacifist Patriot]

11. I don't get it.

I've been hyper-sensitive to masks lately. Possibly because I live in a county that hasn't broken 60% vaccination yet.

This morning I was in a small store and counted 12 total people. My husband, myself, and one store employee were the only three people to have masks and wearing them properly. One other employee was sporting a chin diaper. No other patrons had masks on.

I have claustrophobia and generalized anxiety. I can experience a panic attack with no warning. Mask wearing makes me feel like I am suffocating and on the verge of a panic attack. I have to pay very close attention to my breathing rhythm, or I will literally burst into tears for no reason.

I STILL WEAR A FUCKING MASK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Eliot Rosewater]

16. 60% is bad but you got me to look mine up, looks like we are over 90% and with kids

over 80% have at least one vax. This is better than I thought for mine.

[Sympthsical]

19. Well, anyone in California can just wait two weeks. Then there won't be pharmacists!

Well, there probably will be.

But the Kaiser pharmacist strike stuff is getting interesting.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

20. I am so glad I live in Northern New Mexico.

Masks are required in stores, and the vast majority of people wear them correctly.

[fescuerescue]

21. They probably think the vaccine protects them

and that the mask isn't necessary anymore.

Mostly because the CDC told them that awhile back


I think we'll need masks the rest of lives.