Unmasked – Now It’s Up to Us

We wore masks to protect other people because they had no way to protect themselves – especially those whose jobs serving us made them vulnerable. Now almost all 12s and up can protect themselves with a vaccination. We are now responsible, again, for own safety. That’s a good thing.

Just saw the first sign at a supermarket which said “You must wear a mask if you’re not vaccinated [emphasis mine]”. Do I think everyone going maskless was vaccinated? No, there’s an unfortunate selfish correlation between those who refused to wear masks and those who refuse to get vaccinated. Am I going to wear a mask because of the unmasked unvaccinated? No. I’m vaccinated. I’m no more likely to spread Covid than all the other diseases in the world, most of which I’m not vaccinated against.

Right now the unvaccinated are taking a risk with their own lives. Unfairly the final vaccine holdouts will be parasites on the partial herd immunity achieved by the rest of us getting vaccinated and will be danger to those who can’t get vaccinated or have weak immune systems and provide a breeding ground for new variants which could be vaccine resistant. We may still need to make vaccination compulsory.

I was glad to wear a mask when it was needed. Intend to make a habit of masking up if I go out with sniffles in the future. It was absurd that masks became a political symbol, although less than complete candor from the CDC and yes, even from Dr. Fauci, as well as Trumpian mask-scorn had something to do with that. In hindsight, the evidence that masks were unneeded outdoors should have been released earlier and probably would have increased compliance indoors. Continuing to wear a mask after vaccination or outdoors is like keeping a Trump 2020 sticker on your car – not that the same people do both.

I’m glad to see smiles again.