Masks are back in Alameda County

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Democrats really love that mask mandate version of Hokey Pokey.

Is that why no other county in the country has a mandate including tons of other Democratic-ran ones?

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Democrats really love that mask mandate version of Hokey Pokey.

Is that why no other county in the country has a mandate including tons of other Democratic-ran ones?

Not entirely for lack of trying - remember the weird fiasco in Philadelphia recently?

But the fact that only took four days to overturn is proof there's not much demand for the this amongst Democrats. Like Democrats were obviously calling to overturn it instead of support it based on what Philadelphia City Council members were saying.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Take ya masks off assholes!!

Fire fauci now!!!

Fauci has nothing to do with this dude.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

It's honestly pretty funny seeing people outside the Bay Area acting as if people here will riot over these measures. Many people are already adhering to masking still almost everywhere; I went to the DMV today and I'd say >75% including myself were already wearing masks despite mandates having ended months ago. The mandate doesn't cover the gym anyway so I personally don't think it's nearly as egregious as it used to be last year and prior. I usually only don't wear masks indoors when I forget them or when I'm at the gym regardless, so if Santa Clara County followed suit and implemented a mandate I wouldn't particularly care nor would a large segment of the population here. The truth is this area has a significant Asian population that is more than willing to follow mask mandates so you don't see much opposition as you would in similar areas politics-wise.

Minneapolis has like maybe 20% of people wearing masks and even amongst Asians it's at best half. I've said before that the most masked demographic here isn't even Asians but rather white teenage girls. Weird.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Why are people so weird about masks? Wearing a mask isn't that hard, definitely not inconvenient enough to justify active outrage.

Because they're no longer effective against current strains and are completely unnecessary in light of the vaccine.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Why are people so weird about masks? Wearing a mask isn't that hard, definitely not inconvenient enough to justify active outrage.

Because they're no longer effective against current strains

Correlation =/= causation. There are so many potentially confounding variables influencing this. Maybe mask mandates tended to happen in areas with higher COVID rates to begin with, maybe mask mandates are mostly ignored except by the people who already were going to mask up anyway, most of the areas that still have mandates are some of the densest areas of the country, etc. Do you have any actual good evidence that masks are ineffective? Because this single graph isn't it.

I was watching the Minnesota numbers closely at that time. There were no mask mandates anywhere in Minnesota in 2022 aside from in the Twin Cities, Rochester, Duluth and a few immediate suburbs. Hennepin and Ramsey counties weren't the most infectious counties and the numbers started falling in the same pattern as everywhere else.

Plus even the CDC said cloth masks aren't very effective: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/are-cloth-masks-enough-against-omicron

And it's pretty obvious how many people are going to always an N95 or KN95 to go to the grocery store. On the other hand people who do actually want to wear those can...and in that case are pretty much entirely protected anyway unless they have close contact for at least an hour with an infectious person.

Also do you seriously believe that a cloth mask is really going to matter in a mosh pit? And if it doesn't and since it does make breathing in a mosh pit more difficult for me, why even bother? Plus I don't associate with anyone unvaxxed anyway.

and are completely unnecessary in light of the vaccine.

The virus is just good enough at piercing through vaccines that they don't prevent spread. Add to that the fact that a significant chunk of the country refused to take any COVID vaccine, and another large chunk hasn't gotten boosters, and you get a situation where disabled people who can't get vaccinated and have a high chance of dying if they get COVID are screwed. The virus killed 190 people yesterday. That translates to almost 70,000 deaths a year. And this is coming down off the latest spike.

Again people with serious medical concerns can wear an N95 and avoid close contact with likely carriers. That will go much further than everyone wearing a cloth mask. I got my last booster over six months ago but I don't meet FDA criteria for getting another one, so I did my part. I also don't associate with anyone unvaxxed. So where's the risk for me? Putting a piece of cloth over my face while packed like sardines in a music venue and jumping into a bunch of other sweaty people and carrying sweaty people over my head clearly isn't going to do anything, so I'll just do what's most comfortable.

(It's also virtually impossible to keep a cloth mask from slipping down while in a mosh pit or doing any type of hardcore dancing for that matter as well.)

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

Why are people so weird about masks? Wearing a mask isn't that hard, definitely not inconvenient enough to justify active outrage.

You can always rely on Atlas to come up with the most bizarre against-the-grain takes on pretty much anything.

I don't think this qualifies considering the vast majority of people aren't wearing a mask now. Like I said, it's like maybe 20% in Minneapolis currently, and that's hardly a bastion of conservatism.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I was watching the Minnesota numbers closely at that time. There were no mask mandates anywhere in Minnesota in 2022 aside from in the Twin Cities, Rochester, Duluth and a few immediate suburbs. Hennepin and Ramsey counties weren't the most infectious counties and the numbers started falling in the same pattern as everywhere else.

Plus even the CDC said cloth masks aren't very effective: https://health.clevelandclinic.org/are-cloth-masks-enough-against-omicron

And it's pretty obvious how many people are going to always an N95 or KN95 to go to the grocery store. On the other hand people who do actually want to wear those can...and in that case are pretty much entirely protected anyway unless they have close contact for at least an hour with an infectious person.

Also do you seriously believe that a cloth mask is really going to matter in a mosh pit? And if it doesn't and since it does make breathing in a mosh pit more difficult for me, why even bother? Plus I don't associate with anyone unvaxxed anyway.

Okay, so cloth masks don't work. That doesn't mean that all masks are ineffective, and in fact, the article you linked tells people to wear more effective masks instead of claiming that masks are pointless. The death rate of COVID on the 4th would translate to almost 70,000 deaths a year. COVID is still a problem. Everyone masking uo would likely save quite a few lives, and its not fair to put the burden of not getting a disease that would be deadly to them solely on disabled people who have to deal with enough of societies s**t as it is when others can make them much safer so easily.

The mandate this thread is about does not mandate N95s. Most people will wear just a cloth mask to comply. Hence proving that it's just security theater.

Could they mandate N95s? Perhaps but then your claim of "Wearing a mask isn't that hard, definitely not inconvenient enough to justify active outrage." definitely doesn't apply. N95s are not easy to put on, I have a pack I got when there was a mask mandate and I only wore one once, the straps even make the back of my head ache and pulls on my hair in an uncomfortable way, and breathing is very annoying. There's a reason why even hospitals don't use them except for things like surgery. They're also not easy to quickly remove and put back on when you're outside or driving, etc. So it's obvious that's never going to catch on.

There's also the fact that even cloth masks are not just "isn't that hard, definitely not inconvenient enough to justify active outrage." for people with asthma or sensitive skin or have to deal with their glasses fogging up.

Again people with serious medical concerns can wear an N95 and avoid close contact with likely carriers. That will go much further than everyone wearing a cloth mask. I got my last booster over six months ago but I don't meet FDA criteria for getting another one, so I did my part. I also don't associate with anyone unvaxxed. So where's the risk for me?

Avoiding close contact with likely carriers basically means not going outside. And while one N95s is effective, it isn't perfect. Two is much better than one(not cloth, as I've said above).

That's not true. It would require at least 2.5 hours of contact to be infectious if someone was wearing even a weak N95 even if the other party wasn't wearing any mask at all:

Putting a piece of cloth over my face while packed like sardines in a music venue and jumping into a bunch of other sweaty people and carrying sweaty people over my head clearly isn't going to do anything, so I'll just do what's most comfortable.

(It's also virtually impossible to keep a cloth mask from slipping down while in a mosh pit or doing any type of hardcore dancing for that matter as well.)

Most of life isn't mosh pits.

In terms of actual close contact I have with others...for me it is. I don't have such contact at the grocery store, or in a movie theater, or even in a bar or restaurant (where I wouldn't be wearing a mask regardless.) So if you're acknowledging that masks won't do any good in a mosh pit anyway, does that mean you'd at least support an exemption to the mandate for music venues?

Also your argument of "Wearing a mask isn't that hard, definitely not inconvenient enough to justify active outrage." could easily replace the word "mask" with "hijab" and there wouldn't really be much difference. So if some hypothetical Muslim-majority municipality passed a law requiring that women wear a hijab in the city limits, would that be your response? That it's not a big deal or outrage worthy because wearing a hijab isn't really that inconvenient?