Masks are back in Alameda County

[scutosaurus]

Putting our masks back on gives us the best opportunity to limit the impact of a prolonged wave on our communities.

"our masks"

Eerie stuff.

I feel like a crazy person whenever I mention the not-so-subtle linguistic shift that's occurred over the course of the pandemic from "wear a mask" to "wear your mask." A mask isn't "mine" like my clothes are; it feels more like a hair tie, something disposable that I sometimes have to use for utilitarian reasons rather than something I feel any real sense of ownership over.

I try not to get too conspiratorial about the motivation behind it, but it makes me feel really weird whenever I hear it.

[scutosaurus]

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

Some of the outrage is a little much. But it's hard enough to convince people to inconvenience themselves, even mildly, for reasons that they do think are justified, let alone to inconvenience themselves for reasons they don't. And it's a really hard sell to most people that COVID is still worth it with such a low mortality rate, especially since the same people pushing masks have often been the ones pushing more extreme measures like school closures or banning unvaccinated people from restaurants.