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.
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).
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.
