Mask up!

[AntivaxHunters]

Link to tweet

?s=20&t=y3zNsLw6jzo-TUGXZVOTgQ

[SheltieLover]

1. I never stopped masking & have no intention of doing so!

😷

[LoisB]

3. Same here.

[SheltieLover]

5. I wish it were over, but it isn't!

[Duppers]

6. Same here too.

[SheltieLover]

8. Good for you!

[Arkansas Granny]

11. Same with me. I don't like them, but I'm sure they've been a big part of keeping me safe for

the last 2 years. I'm not giving them up yet.

[SheltieLover]

12. I'm not fond of them either, but they are the only rational choice, imo.

[pazzyanne]

13. My doctor recommended masking any time I am in contact with people I don't live with.

[calimary]

20. Yep. Husband and I both still do.

[Rebl2]

28. Same here

Have an immune disease and take three medications that suppress my immune system. I would guess, but don’t know for a fact, the four Covid shots I have gotten haven’t worked as well on me-at least that’s what I read and hear.

[DFW]

21. Same here! n/t

[TuxedoKat]

30. Same

Just got my second booster this week as well.

[Tetrachloride]

2. 1. Regardless of your location on earth, wear a mask in the places that

we all know: busses, schools, movie theaters, malls….
2. your masks will be N95, or in some countries KN95.
3. Get a booster now if it’s been 4 months since previous vaccination.
4. Flu , and other vaccines, … consult your pharmacist. Tetanus, shingles, and more

————

A. There’s no guarantee of funding of more vaccines.
B. Stay healthy so you can vote and take care of job and family
C. Proms, graduations, airports and Memorial Day weekend are risky.
D. Republicans are risky.
E. People over 60 are at risk.
F. Children are carriers especially.

[Sympthsical]

4. Going to see a play tomorrow

So . . . yay.

[ProudMNDemocrat]

7. Getting 2nd Booster on Friday morning.

I saw my Internist yesterday and recommended I get the 2nd Booster. Pfizer was the first one, Moderna will be the 2nd one.

Just in time for our State DFL Convention. Wearing a mask is required at all times while in the convention hall. So I will be wearing one. Having vaccination card required as well. All Delegates and Alternates will be rapid tested as well.

[Novara]

10. I need to get my 2nd booster

It's been about 6 months from the first booster and on the other side of my cubicle wall at work is an anti-vaxxer, the idiot.

Plus, I may be facing surgery soon on my injured hip (depending on what yesterday's MRI reveals). Better to be fully vaxxed and boosted.

I know everybody is so sick of this but damn, it's not going away. There are too many unvaxxed potential hosts so that it can take up residence and mutate, the fucker.

I still shake my head at the idiocy of making vaccinations politically tribal.

[hamsterjill]

32. Sending vibes for good results on the MRI.

n/t

[Novara]

36. Thank you so much!

I got the results this morning and I can't understand medicalese, but googling the terms used, it looks pretty bad. It's a work injury, so I am also battling the worker's comp system.

Anyway, thanks for your good vibes. It is greatly appreciated.

[hamsterjill]

37. I'm so sorry.

Bad enough to be injured but to have to fight to get care is horrible. Hang in there, and keep us posted.

[Novara]

38. Thank you

[Dial H For Hero]

9. I no longer mask except when requested to do so by the location I'm visiting.

[AntivaxHunters]

14. Do you only wear a condom when someone asks you to?

Both protect against highly infectious diseases.
So why are you not wearing a mask? Why are you risking your own life or the very real possibility of being disabled with Long Haul Covid? You do know that you can be infected up to almost 2 weeks before ever showing symptoms, yes? So you could be a carrier & not even know it, meanwhile spreading it by transmission to everyone in your immediate orbit.

Sooooooo.................???

[Dial H For Hero]

35. If I'm in a long term relationship and she's on birth control I don't.

As for Covid, I obey all government regulations. But Covid is likely to be with us indefinitely…and I’m not going to wear a mask indefinitely when the CDC says I don’t have to.

[AntivaxHunters]

43. I don't understand why you aren't willing to wear a mask

the easiest thing in the world, simply because you think "Covid is likely to be with us indefinitely".
Is it worth the risk of having a lifetime of disability all because you couldn't wear a mask when you should have? Is it worth the risk of not only getting infected yourself but also infecting others, some of whom are likely immunocompromised people?
Why risk it?

As far as the CDC goes, you may wish to read DR. Peter Hotez' @PeterHotez Twitter.

[Dial H For Hero]

45. Because the risk of not doing so is, at this point, minimal.

I’m double vaxxed and boosted, and will continue to get booster shots. The chance that I will be seriously affected by Covid is extremely small now.

Even if Covid were to be magically eliminated, there will still be a multitude of other infectious diseases out there. My question to you: given that, are you going to mask for the rest of your life regardless of Covid?

[AntivaxHunters]

46. Minimal? Like wearing a seat belt?

Because you know, the risk of being on a car accident are minimal too & I'm willing to bet you wear that when you get behind the wheel every time, eh?

I'm immunocompromised. I've been wearing a mask before any of this. And my mom died of Covid because someone refused to wear a mask.

[Dial H For Hero]

49. Of course I wear a seatbelt every time. It's required by law.

Even if it were not, I would still do so by personal choice. I don’t find it uncomfortable in the slightest.

I think you’ll find that the overwhelming majority of Americans are not willing to wear a mask for the rest of their life.

Please accept my condolences regarding your mother.

[MyMission]

50. Sadly, the overwhelming majority of Americans are willing to follow CDC guidelines

And many complied when it was mandated. When they removed the mandates they replaced them with recommendations, advice, guidance. Too many took that as permission to take their masks off.

I think many of us here understand we need to wear a mask to keep ourselves and others as safe as possible. I got an email 2 weeks in a row about exposure at an event I attended, and I was wearing a kn95 mask at both events. It wasn't required, but was suggested and recommended that people wear a mask at these events, which I was already doing.

I do understand people wanting to be free of masks but they are the best defense against cold, flu, and covid. I don't want to catch anything, whether it's mild case or not; and I don't want to spread it if I'm asymptomatic. Many (vaccinated) have caught covid in the recent months because they're walking around and attending events without masks. Some will end up with long covid. I'd rather gamble with money than with my health.

Nice to know you wear one when it's required, and you'd wear one if it was required by the government. I trust my own common sense more than I trust the CDC.

May we all stay healthy as the pandemic continues.

[Dial H For Hero]

53. Barring some horrible mutation, Covid will soon be considered comparable to the flu by most.

I do understand people wanting to be free of masks but they are the best defense against cold, flu, and covid.

Sure…but almost no one masks to avoid getting a cold. If I knew for a fact that I was going to get a cold or the flu in the next year and could avoid doing so by masking every time I went out, I wouldn’t mask. It’s not worth the inconvenience to me.

You said that you masked before the pandemic, so you’re quite unusual in that respect.

In any case I do you wish you the best. May you be around for a very long time to scold people like me.

[Ms. Toad]

55. Not by anyone who respects medicine or science.

Covid will soon be considered comparable to the flu by most

40% of February deaths are among people vaccinated and boosted. When is the last time influenza killed 56,000+ people in a year, let alone a month? More than 22,000 of those were vaccinated.

At least 10%, and by some counts as high as 50% experience long COVID - whether vaccinated and boosted or not. In addition to long COVID, the risk for heart complications is increased - even among those whose cases were so mild they were not even aware they had COVID. Brain shrinkage is also a consequence of COVID. Those are only the long-term consequences studied sufficiently to evaluate. The consequences last the entire duration from COVID to present, and I am not aware of any potential consequences studied and ruled out.

Ignoring the reality that COVID is a far more serious disease, even among the vaccinated, than the flu is like playing chicken with an oncoming train which you can hear - but don't believe is coming because you can't yet see it.

[TNNurse]

15. We mask inside businesses.

I did not put one on in the garden center.

[Ferrets are Cool]

16. I've never stopped.

[Moostache]

17. Please remember this fact

Masks DO NOT PROTECT YOU !!! They protect others FROM YOU. Yes, they are better than nothing, but the biggest protection only gets realized if EVERYONE IS MASKING. Those places without mandates have decided that the risks are less than they care to enforce or fight now.

If you are concernrd about spreading the virus and you are filly vaxxrd and boosted, masks on yourself provide minimal protection from unmasked potential hosts of variants. The masks like n95s are best ...but cloth or surgical masks will not provide full protection to the wearer alone.

A lot of people seem to believe masking protects them move than it does. If you are not vaxxed AND boosted and are vulnerable with comorbidities or risk factors your best protection is to avoid public areas with unmasked masses, period.

The country decided to stop protecting strangers a few months back...the harsh reality is being in public is a risk analysis for everyone on their own again.

We're on our own as society decided the antivax and antimaak crowd was simply unchangeable.

[AntivaxHunters]

18. Masks DO Protect you

Where are you getting this from that they don't because that's very common talking point among the antivax crowd. In fact, one of the most spewed talking point by those people.

Now if you're in reference to cloth masks, that's a different story. You need a respirator mask like an N95.

[area51]

27. +1 n/t

[Novara]

39. That's fuckin' great!

[JudyM]

41. We like the kf-94 the best.

They fit well/easy to wear without slipping down the nose, easy to breathe through, filtration tantamount to N-95.

[Meowmee]

48. So true, everyone: MASKS DO PROTECT YOU AS WELL AS OTHERS

a surgical mask is better than nothing. I prefer everyone wear something like that at the least but all should be provided with kn95, n95 etc.

I am stealing that pee pic 😹

There have been studies published pre pandemic on masks protecting family members against flu virus when caring for each other in the home. They work.

[FailureToCommunicate]

19. If you say so. But I def (also) wear a mask to protect myself. The fact that I haven't had...

a cold, flu or anything this last several years is due to me wearing an N-95 mask, not others around me, who many times were not masked.

I agree that everyone should be masking, but as that seems even more unlikely at this point, I will continue to do so.

[stopdiggin]

22. take your point (about community protection)

but I HATE hearing that, "Masks DO NOT PROTECT YOU !!!" trope. Because at the base, it is simply not true! Of course masks protect you (at least to some extent)! A truly onerous bit of (poor) messaging - that has gotten way too much airplay - as well as a certain amount of disuse and disservice.

[Novara]

40. I had hoped the CDC would have gotten their shit together

After replacing some of the people at the top. Wallensky is either way over her head or she is just lousy at messaging because she's been inconsistent and awful. Add the fact that people are so sick of COVID, and her awful inconsistent messaging is partially why we are where we are.

I think the administration caved and capitulated when they made masks optional.

[IronLionZion]

25. That misconception actually discouraged many folks from wearing masks

As if health care workers are not protected from their patients. Of course they are protected if they wear the right kind of mask and it fits well. Normal people can also get protection from wearing the right kinds of masks if they are around lots of unmasked people.

[Ms. Toad]

57. That is nonsense - a convenient lie told to preserve masks for health care workers.

It has long since been debunked, although it is making its rounds again now by those intent on pretending COVID is no longer a threat. Well-fitted cloth masks made from 2 layers of 600 TPI fabric provide as much protection as N95 masks. Well-fitted cloth masks made from quilter's cotton (lower TPI) with a layer from a different fabric (coffee filter, silk, polyester) also provide as much protection as N95 masks.

You are corect that being in public is a risk analysis - BUT - consistently wearing well-fitted masks provides substantial extremely good personal protection, even if those around you are not wearing masks.

I taught face to face from August 2020 to April 1, and was exposed numerous times - with enough exposure to be contacted by contact tracers. I have never tested positive, although it is possible that I had the omicron variant in December during the period before they learned some PCR tests did not detect it.

[IronLionZion]

23. Most of America is looking red

and it's allergy season so there's plenty of sneezing

[SergeStorms]

24. Never stopped, don't plan to.

Looks like COVID is here to stay.

So is my mask while in public.

[LaMouffette]

26. Thanks for posting this! I feel so grateful to be part of the DU community, most of whom are still

masking up like me.

There are so few people masking up in stores around here that I've started feeling self-conscious and like I'm being overly cautious. It's so good to know that I'm not alone in still being Covid cautious.

[Samrob]

29. Why all the blue in mid-country when they are mostly red-Trump areas? Is it population density?

I can't believe a lot of Texas and some of FL is blue on the COVID map. It must be population density that makes many blue states on the COVID map red

[Tomconroy]

31. Ba.2 is making it's way from New England and the west coast inward.

I'm somewhat dubious about the map. Dr. Jha yesterday said 1/3 of the country needed to wear masks indoors. The map is way off. It might be accurate in a month or two. Maybe.

[Ms. Toad]

58. The map uses the original measures for community transmission.

Just before the state of the union, the CDC changed the criteria for substantial community transmission from 50 cases/100,000 over a 7 day period to 200 cases/100,000 over a 7-day period. So the entire country went from orange or red to green overnight.

COVID didn't become less transmissible overnight. Trust me. We are, unfortuantely, allowing public/political opinion to drive our health care policies & recommendations. Dr. Jha's recommendation is based on the new (artificially low) criteria.

As for when it will be accurate - in my county we are almost certainly there now - even using the current misleading criteria. We were at 84 cases/100,000 in 7 days in the next to last report (5/5), and at 135 cases/100,000 in 7 days in the last report (5/12). By the numbers I'm running (which are very close to the official numbers), as of today (5/19) we're at 227 cases/100,000 over the last 7 days.

And - the number of cases reported is currently well below the actual number of cases (as has been confirmed in places which do wastewater testing). People aren't testint as much, and some people who are testing are doing home testing and not reporting it. So there are significantly more cases than either the numbers or the inaccurately labeled low community transmission acknowledge.

[JanMichael]

34. Some of those areas don't have a whole hell of a lot of people.

Like Western Kansas. Literally miles and miles between houses. Not everywhere but most places. I spent half of my childhood in Kansas so I have a pretty good idea of the distances.

[JI7]

51. low population and spread out over long distances

[Patterson]

42. " Masks DO NOT PROTECT YOU !!! They protect others FROM YOU"

Not buying it.

[senseandsensibility]

44. Yesterday the crawl on CNN said that the CDC recommended

masking in indoor areas. Yet it was never mentioned by the hosts on air. It's like they just want to cover their you know what, but not really communicate with the public.

[Meowmee]

47. We never stopped

n95 everywhere now. I have to get my 2nd booster this week/weekend, wish me luck, had a worse reaction last time so I am nervous. Our county is 9.9% positivity now and that is only reported tests. I think it said we are at high risk again now as well.

[ecstatic]

52. Yeah... on Monday, I spent 2+ hours with my

hairdresser. On Wednesday she informed me that she had tested positive for covid and was experiencing symptoms. I wore a 3m n95 mask to my appointment, and I felt really self-conscious and kind of silly but I'm really glad I did that. She was in a surgical mask, so I'm hopeful that I'll be ok due to the masks, the vaccine, and my ADD medication. Lol.

[liberal_mama]

54. I've never stopped wearing an N95 or KF94 mask everywhere. I live in New York State and

we always seem to have high case rates in my county. I really don't understand people who won't wear a mask when case rates are so bad. It's so easy to wear a mask to protect myself and others.

[kairos12]

56. Mine went back on today.

[uppityperson]

59. I wear n-95s most days for 6 hours.

I've several types to alternate pressure on different facial points but they aren't bad to wear. I don't understand the complaints about them.