Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

my buddy who works at the library says people actually accost them for WEARING masks.

― Dig Dug the police (Neanderthal), Monday, June 15, 2020 12:48 PM

and this is Orange County, a blue bastion, with one of the largest Puerto Rican concentrations in the country.

So masks were never required?

nope, never was required locally. some businesses claim they require them, but enforcement is lax. I went to a small outdoor brewery that claimed you needed to have one on anytime you left your table, and....I don't think I even saw another person there who even brought one with them. the employees had them.

Publixes, 75-80% of the people in them have them on. Walmart, hardly anybody. suffice it to say, i'm still laying low, cos on occasion I have to visit the folks for an "emergency", like my dad's dookie clogging up the toilet yesterday (that was a fun, stinky 20 minutes)

I got made fun of for wearing a mask Friday night, but it was a punk rock traveler dude who I am 99% sure was going to razz me for something, because that's what happens when you run the Pfluger pedestrian bridge gauntlet at night.

Everyone here is still masked in stores. Most stores require it. I haven't seen any altercations, or anyone not complying - it's possible those are happening off my radar screen.

Outside, like on the bike trail, it's probably 50-50 hereabouts. Including those who have their mask down, but shift it to cover their nose and mouth when they get close to people.

No one anywhere has glared at masked persons or given them grief about their choice.

For me, it's been a bit weird to see people like going out to dinner on restaurant patios, wearing nice clothes and dresses and such. For months, I'd only seen people in tees and sweats and yoga pants.

I visited my grandma at the nursing home, they have all sorts of rules about it but they're not really enforced at all. someone takes your temp and makes you fill out a questionnaire. I visited with her outside, mask on and all, but had to pull it down a few times b/c she doesn't turn her heading aid on. poor lady, she has no clue what's going on right now.

i had a thermometer that took me forever to find in stores but i sterilized it and left it with the folks. I am the type who generally tends to notice the first time his temp goes up. usually if I'm 98.9 for higher, I feel symptoms of some sort. definitely febrile at lower temps than other people.

A friend was out shopping and on the way back to her car pulled her mask off and stuck it in her pocket while she loaded groceries into her car and some asshole got basically up in her face to congratulate her on not being a "sheep" and falling for the "media hysteria". Thankfully he just silently walked away when she pulled the mask back out and put it back on, it could have gone worse.

for people who complain about sheep, they sure all have the same homogeneous communication style

i have also seen some motherfuckers losing their shit at people wearing masks, it's always nearly hyperventilating middle aged people who would like to share their manifesto.

s'why i always bring nunchuks

curious how this very important subset of humanity would react to seeing a cop tasing a hands-up protestor; i'm sure they would need to speak out about loudly on that indignity too, right?

helps you empathize with people who are targets for this sort of anger whenever they go out in public

for people who complain about sheep, they sure all have the same homogeneous communication style

If you prick us, do we not bleat?

i imagine there will be eight zillion of these popping up over the next week or three before we all get quarantined again

Called out for not wearing a mask...

So she coughs on somebody, not realizing she is being recorded.

Y’all need to act right. pic.twitter.com/cudHs7Rk5X

— DeMarcus 🛹 (@semperdiced) June 13, 2020

i have also seen some motherfuckers losing their shit at people wearing masks, it's always nearly hyperventilating middle aged people who would like to share their manifesto.

But, as even my 8 year-old pointed out, why the fuck does it even matter? Like how does someone else wearing a mask impact you at all? JFC just let people protect themselves (AND YOU) without being an asshole.

In my part of Williamsburg Brooklyn (the Italian/PR/DR/hipster part) I have yet to get a dirty look for wearing a mask or be cursed out for it, but almost everyone seems to be done wearing or caring. Yesterday/last night (PR Pride though the parade itself was cancelled) was full on partytime until 4am; white kids are right up in each other’s faces wherever sidewalk service is offered.

Tbrr I will not only continue to wear a mask for all outings but also continue to shun all interior spaces other than traversing the building stairs and lobby (obligatory to for dog walking).

to say nothing of these triggered karens
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/11/nyregion/nypd-face-masks-nyc-protests.html

At the entrance to the Brooklyn Bridge stood 38 officers and captains. Eight wore masks, some below the nose, while 14 wore them below their chins and 16 wore none.

Asked about the masks, officers mostly declined to comment or ignored the question. One officer who was confronted about the matter by a young man in Williamsburg on Saturday responded, “We’ve got more important things to deal with.”

One captain who was walking alongside protesters without wearing a mask seemed to suggest the decision falls to the individual officer in the situation at hand.

“The focus is staying at peace with the protesters,” said the captain, who declined to give his name since he had no authorization to speak with the news media. “This isn’t the ideal scenario, but we’re doing the best we can. Ideally, officers wear their masks, they take precautions and they stay safe, but our priority right now is the protest and the protesters.”

One of my friends in the building has contracted Mask Derangement Syndrome and given it to his girlfriend - they confronted one of my other building friends on the staircase, blocking her way and getting to close, to berate her about how stupid her mask is. I have no desire to speak with this person any longer.

gah americans are so embarrassing! we are a nation of bullies :(

Not at all helpful, but I can't stop myself from playing out the reverse in my head. Imagine the absolute shitfits the MAGA chuds would be throwing if people got in their faces to scream at them about wearing their dumb red hats.

if anything I have seen people getting yelled at for not wearing masks

early studies (not peer reviewed yet) strongly suggest that the co-incidence of Mask Derangement Syndrome and Rolling Coal on environmental protesters is 90%+

A lot of dudes wearing those hats are praying for that kind of confrontation though. It's fun to invite confrontation if you don't spend most of your time having to actively avoid it.

again, Coal Rollers have been the trailblazers here. they know that the most heroic way to exit a confrontation is to drive off in your giant modified truck, leaving the victim in a cloud of coal smoke

Like how does someone else wearing a mask impact you at all?

if you can figure out this question then you will understand the entire conservative movement

poor triggered snowflakes

A lot of dudes wearing those hats are praying for that kind of confrontation though. It's fun to invite confrontation if you don't spend most of your time having to actively avoid it.

― avellano medio inglés (f. hazel), Monday, June 15, 2020 1:13 PM (fifteen minutes ago)

YES
the impulse to invite conflict bc one has not spent one's life actively trying to avoid it is the same impulse behind promoting your "controversial opinion" or (worse yet, imo) appending "fight me" to it. defending yourself against attack (verbal or otherwise) is not recreational for people who have had to do that their whole lives

thank you f hazel for the clarity

the day i invite anyone to "fight me" is a day you will know i have lost my gourd

La Lechera and f hazel OTM

I should maybe save this for #tbt but does anyone have a recommendation for a thermometer that is reliable and good value? Looks like they are finally available again.

ok now to make a joke about touching my face and ask whether masks are really effective

Like how does someone else wearing a mask impact you at all?

You guys know this. Wearing a mask automatically places you among the Oppressive Majority who have taken away their normal lives by believing The State can regulate private behavior during a massive public health crisis. They overlook or disbelieve (against all evidence) that this pathogen is capable of crippling the economy and dissolving all normal social intercourse all by itself, by spreading panic and killing millions more people than would die under The State's current interventions.

I will admit to having spent a non-trivial amount of time pondering if and how I should confront the non mask wearers I encounter. I feel like stores refusing to enforce their own policies are a big factor in pushing me in that direction.

the whole world is turning into the quiet car

prediction: as mask wearing becomes more or less compulsory, people will start wearing more permanent mask structures.

this is how the portal to mortal kombat opens up.

https://i.imgur.com/26Stguz.jpg

in this world, you either are a reptile, an alien, a god or divine philosopher king, or you wear a goddamn mask

why is johnny cage so fucking terrible? well he doesn't wear a mask, for one

non mask wearers punch nuts

Shao Khan, that's the *wrong* kind of mask

I am on day 7 of *maybe* having COVID. Except for a CVS run at off-peak hours, I haven't left my apartment since 6/6. Through the whole thing I've barely felt sick, but the NP I talked to via telehealth has advised getting tested.

So the question for me now is "how do I safely get to the testing site" given that I don't have a car. It's within walking distance (about a mile), but I've heard about people getting much worse after even mild exercise.

Taxi, uber, lyft?

I am extremely paranoid about spreading it around, I don't wanna get in a cab :(

Get a cab that is an SUX or minivan and cling to the roof.

Rental car? Zipcar? Scooter? Bikeshare?

*SUV

prediction: as mask wearing becomes more or less compulsory, people will start wearing more permanent mask structures.

this is how the portal to mortal kombat opens up.

Showing my age here but I'm hoping this is how we get to live Jack Vance's "The Moon Moth".

zchyrs, you decide what's best for you, but i haven't heard anything significant about mild exertion worsening the illness itself, especially if you have no problem walking that distance and no obvious difficulties breathing. i had a similar practical problem when i was sick, not wanting to expose any friends or public transit but not having a way to get to a doctor. i could well have walked there, since i walked home from it, 2-3 miles. it was no problem. i also had a test more recently that i walked about a mile to get to.

Showing my age here but I'm hoping this is how we get to live Jack Vance's "The Moon Moth".

if you've barely felt sick, a mile walk (and a mile back) ought to be fine. & er i guess if not you'll know it pretty quick lol

I have been in one of two hospitals since 5/8

keeps one away from COVID

Just in. United Airlines says that starting Thursday, passengers that do not wear a mask in flight will be banned—at least temporarily—from flying on the carrier, pending a “comprehensive incident review."

— Pete Muntean (@petemuntean) June 15, 2020

Everything I've ordered sent via USPS is taking at least 4-5 weeks to get here, is this still true everywhere?