Help me understand this, PLEASE. (Houston, Dallas: unemployment, theatre, inspections)

[ScoPro]

My wife resumed going to Mass in October at her Catholic church here in Wilco. The church has very strict requirements about masks, social distanced seating, using the sanitizer before & after services, no singing. The interior of the church is spray sanitized between each service.
Easy to enforce, as their sanctuary has 1,200 capacity and only about 10% in person attendance.

Interesting note - the head pastor has been quarantined in the rectory with the Covidfor the past week. He’s not sick enough to require hospitalization.... yet.

We do go out, carefully, to a very few public places like CVS & Home Depot and have eaten 3 times at outdoor restaurant patios, plus we’ve been to surgery centers for procedures 7 times during the pandemic.... and have yet to see anyone without a mask at any of those venues (inside or out).

[Sogno]

Short answer: OP, you've bought into the mask. Many have not. That's why. There are many of us that wouldn't erect a 5' high cyclone fence to keep mosquitos out our backyard either.

Vector vs. fomite. Quick, without Google, tell me, what's the difference? You don't know, and I know that. As retired medical guy, I do. And I also know viruses are spread, I don't think you do.

California. Case study. Lock downs, closing businesses, radical distancing, masks. How has that worked out for them?

I can tell you this. I firmly believe that one day, we will all learn these masks did WAY more harm than good.

[supfromthesite]

Originally Posted by Sogno

Short answer: OP, you've bought into the mask. Many have not. That's why. There are many of us that wouldn't erect a 5' high cyclone fence to keep mosquitos out our backyard either.

Vector vs. fomite. Quick, without Google, tell me, what's the difference? You don't know, and I know that. As retired medical guy, I do. And I also know viruses are spread, I don't think you do.

California. Case study. Lock downs, closing businesses, radical distancing, masks. How has that worked out for them?

I can tell you this. I firmly believe that one day, we will all learn these masks did WAY more harm than good.

[gguerra]

Originally Posted by supfromthesite

Just a matter of time.

Maybe the mods should move this one now, straight over to P&OC.

Plenty of takers over there.

[supfromthesite]

They should just delete it like they delete everything else...

[ndcairngorm]

Well, it didn't take long for this to turn political, but anyway, Texans (and I'm one, I should know) are and always have been very "we're a bit special, not like all those folks up there who live on top of each other, and we know what's best for us," kind of folk.

It may take a few more hundred years for Texas to integrate.

[BobTex]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Look, I love Texas and love me some Texans. I'm not a native but I've lived here very happily for 30 years. I consider myself an independent politically - I lean conservative but I'm not about to die on that hill so to speak. I am fine with Texas being a "purple" state or red state or blue state - whatever. The will of the people and all that. I'm in my fifties and am old enough to have lived successfully through various administrations, no seat belt laws, seat belt laws, changes in drinking age laws, etc. I am more of a live and let live sort of person. All that's just some background to my mindset.

Here's what I don't understand - I don't understand when people do not follow mask mandates, while our hospitals are being inundated with people with coronavirus, and cases are rising, and deaths are rising, and honestly, it's all around us. I mean, I haven't gotten it (yet) but I know many people who have, with varying degrees of illness, some of them quite debilitating and others so mild or asymptomatic they don't even know they have it (though they can pass it along to others). Most if not all mask mandates are made BY COMPANIES, not local governments. Do people not respect the local businesses that are mandating masks?

I say this because my granddaughter and I traveled over Christmas, and so for the two weeks before we left, we were really nervous about getting sick or being exposed to coronavirus. If either thing happened, we'd have to quarantine - and we might even get really sick, who could tell? COVID is such a quirky illness, so capricious. Anyway, the Sunday before we left (left on a Wednesday), we went to church, which had previously been a compliant place with at least 90 percent of parishioners following the mandates and doing the whole social distancing/masks/hand sanitizer thing. We ended up leaving because 1) about 50 percent of the parishioners suddenly weren't wearing masks or social distancing and 2) people were literally coughing on us from the pew behind us (maskless).

This past Sunday we went to church again and were dismayed to see that around 50 percent of the folks in church were not wearing masks or socially distancing, again, so I guess this is the new normal. I mean, during Christmas, I had chalked the non compliance up to people visiting from out of town or out of state, but now I don't think that's what's going on.

I guess my question is - why am I suddenly seeing MUCH less compliance, especially in church but really everywhere? For the record, I am Roman Catholic so our parishioners aren't all particularly one political party, or one age range or whatever. I honestly don't get it. You would think that especially at church, people would care more for the safety of others, but anyway...

Ugh.

Look, I don't want COVID. My granddaughter, who is 18, doesn't want COVID. Besides the fact that we don't want to get sick with anything - not the flu, not a cold, not coronavirus either - quarantine, which we'd feel compelled to honor, would upend our lives. My granddaughter goes to college, I volunteer a lot, and neither of us wants to be sick or be stuck in the house for weeks on end, or both. Can't people just rein it in a bit for a bit longer?

I am not an anti-masker. Let's be clear . . . not an anti. I wear them to make others feel less anxiety. But, I am convinced they do very little to suppress transmission. I got the COVID in early April. Was VERY sick with it. My very experienced RN wife thought I was going to die here in our bedroom as I refused to go to the hospital and die alone without my family. But, again the masks are pretty much a farce. Their efficacy at blocking the virus are near zero and the wearer is hoping to catch the particles of water vapor the virus are suspending on which may or may not be smaller than the masks capability. Good luck there.

Not to mention the type of face coverings are generally a joke . . . bandanas? Really? Or the guy that keeps the same single use mask for a month and wads it up in their pocket in between uses. Cloth masks with no filter media . . . ha! Then the people wearing masks can't keep their hands off their faces.

When I got sick I was exposed at work and was wearing 2 masks, an N95 and a surgical mask over it. I also had full protective gear ... gown, gloves, (2 pair), shoe covers, leggings, and a head covering. Shields were not being used nor available yet. Now, I was in a COVID ICU taking care of very sick COVID patients. But I practiced good techniques, hand washing multiple times an hour with hand sanitizer in between. I got it. In fact I was the 5th person in my region to acquire with symptoms.

Herd immunity, vaccines, and yes masks plus hand washing and isolating yourself. This is your hope at preventing you acquisition of the illness. This new age sucks. It's the new normal. Just don't be a Karen about the masks.

I'm hoping the vaccine is more effective than the flu vaccine I have been forced to get at work for the last 10 years.

Lastly ----- I'm very red, despise blue ideations, and am quite ready to die on this Texas hill ! In fact I kinda expect to.

[DanielWayne]

Originally Posted by Sogno

Short answer: OP, you've bought into the mask. Many have not. That's why. There are many of us that wouldn't erect a 5' high cyclone fence to keep mosquitos out our backyard either.

Vector vs. fomite. Quick, without Google, tell me, what's the difference? You don't know, and I know that. As retired medical guy, I do. And I also know viruses are spread, I don't think you do.

California. Case study. Lock downs, closing businesses, radical distancing, masks. How has that worked out for them?

I can tell you this. I firmly believe that one day, we will all learn these masks did WAY more harm than good.

There are unlimited studies that confirm and solidly prove without a shade of doubt that masks at least help suppress transmission, and in some cases can even entirely prevent transmission. It's real easy to look up studies from the Mayo Clinic, NIH, CDC, Stanford U, UT Health Science Center or any institution in the Texas Medical Center, or heck any major university or medical institution from anywhere on the entire planet. When you have that many experts - people who study this stuff for a living and not just a couple of youtube videos - agree on the same thing, then I would have to say there is something to it. The evidence against masks is scant to miniscule and it is just plain false unless you are just referring to a piece of plain cloth. But even a piece of cloth has been scientifically proven to provide a small amount of protection. The reason people ignore masks here in the US varies (for example I know non-political people who just don't care), but a large percentage have had it drilled into their head from their own politicized news sources that masks are ineffective. But ask them to list their sources for evidence and compare it to the sources I listed above. Go on. I'll wait. If you enroll in a science class at your local university or community college and you are asked to do a research assignment, you will not get credit if you cite blogs or youtube videos that are not created by a recognizable source. But you could cite articles or youtube videos from Stanford or the CDC or Baylor College of Medicine and receive full recognition. There is a reason for that.

[jdhpa]

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

There are unlimited studies that confirm and solidly prove without a shade of doubt that masks at least help suppress transmission, and in some cases can even entirely prevent transmission. It's real easy to look up studies from the Mayo Clinic, NIH, CDC, Stanford U, UT Health Science Center or any institution in the Texas Medical Center, or heck any major university or medical institution from anywhere on the entire planet. When you have that many experts - people who study this stuff for a living and not just a couple of youtube videos - agree on the same thing, then I would have to say there is something to it. The evidence against masks is scant to miniscule and it is just plain false unless you are just referring to a piece of plain cloth. But even a piece of cloth has been scientifically proven to provide a small amount of protection. The reason people ignore masks here in the US varies (for example I know non-political people who just don't care), but a large percentage have had it drilled into their head from their own politicized news sources that masks are ineffective. But ask them to list their sources and compare it to the sources I listed above. Go on. I'll wait.

Would you provide a link to the cdc website where it says what the reduction in transmission from wearing a mask is?

[turf3]

Well, a very large fraction of people have no ability to understand such subtle concepts as ”just because it's not 100% effective doesn't mean it's without value”.