The Coronavirus Panic Thread

[Monterey Jack]

Screw it, down with masks! I'm GLEEFUL at this news, and can't wait until my store chain joins with the others kicking masks to the curb.

[Racket_Man]

YES I got my first dose last week because our local Mart of Wals id now doing walk in vaxx's

[Seanette]

Got my second dose Saturday, at the same Walmart that handled the first dose (convenient location). They had signs up about walkins welcome.

[KuariKaydrith]

My first shot is scheduled for this Thursday and I've booked the next day off work just in case I have a lousy reaction. My province seems to finally be on track for getting everybody in for their vaccinations, but no decision has been announced concerning the need to continue wearing masks. While I'll be happy to no longer need to wear one, I may likely still wear one because this is the first year where I haven't ended up with a horrible spring cold.

[XCashier]

I've had both shots, but I think I'll still wear my mask for a while, at least through pollen season. It does help a lot with that.

[Arcus]

I've decided that I will keep my mask for high pollen days and cold/flu season. I hate the thing, but it made things better in those areas this last year.

[KuariKaydrith]

First round of the vaccine is in the bag, and I'm already scheduled for my next one. I'm team Pfizer.

[Ghel]

Our Branch Manager changed the signs from "Face Masks Required" to "Face Masks Optional," and we have a bunch of customers coming in saying "I saw the sign said optional, so I took my mask off." I don't like this. I would have been happier if he'd changed them to say "Face Masks Recommended."

[Monterey Jack]

Sorry, but "optional" means "optional". It's time we ended the mask mandates, already. I know I'll refuse to wear mine at work once I'm no longer required to wear one, especially since I have a carriage shift next week on a day when it's gonna peak over 90 degrees and I'm not allowed to take the mask off even outside.

[telecom_goddess]

I disagree, it's too soon to end the madates and just act like everything is normal. It's going to end up in another surge.

[Nunavut Pants]

I disagree, it's too soon to end the madates and just act like everything is normal. It's going to end up in another surge.

I concur. With something like two-thirds of the population unprotected by vaccines, this is way too early to ditch the masks. I mean, I'm hoping that we won't have a surge that fills up most of the ERs in the country, but that does seem to be the most likely outcome.

[EricKei]

I mean, I'm hoping that we won't have a surge that fills up most of the ERs in the country, but that does seem to be the most likely outcome.

I must agree. Here in the Deep South (y'all), mask-wearing compliance was never more than 60% at the best of times, and enforcement was nonexistent anyway. We might as well have never had a requirement; it was treated like more of a gentle suggestion by FAR too many people. As for the ER's; well, yeah - I have been hearing from doctor friends from the beginning about how bad it was (plenty of tales told out there), and how bad most of them fear it could be again.

[Kristev]

I agree as well. This is premature and could well backfire.

[KuariKaydrith]

I understand that not everybody likes or agrees with having to wear masks, but for the safety of people around me I'll stick to wearing mine. People can call me a sheep or whatever, but since I started wearing a mask last year I haven't caught the nasty cold I usually get every year, or gotten really sick, and my asthma has not been aggravated by allergies. I haven't had to pay a fortune for cough and cold meds, or allergy meds.

Where I live, mask wearing has been proven to work, and ditto for being completely shut down. I've been watching as other places across Canada don't have as stringent a lockdown or mask protocol and their numbers are still stupidly high.

At the moment, my province has only 93 active cases, which can not be said about the other provinces. Sure, it helps that I live on an island, but we've stayed really strict on isolation and quarantine rules. Many of our cases have been from rotational workers coming from away, either to work here in the province or returning from having worked in another province. Heck, we've even pulled out of the Atlantic Bubble in order to keep the infection rate from spiking again.

[MadMike]

I previously mentioned that pretty much all of the restrictions are set to be lifted on Monday (Memorial Day), except for the masks. Despite this, some places are no longer requiring masks, or not requiring them you're fully vaccinated. Of course, the obvious issue is that the people who are complaining about the masks the loudest also tend to be the people who are refusing to get vaccinated, and will lie about it. I was at Lowe's over the weekend, and they no longer had signs up about masks. About half the people there weren't wearing one, including the employees, and about half the ones that were wearing them were wearing them wrong. It was a hot day, so I went to Sheetz for a slushy afterwards, and their signs said that fully vaccinated people didn't need to wear them anymore.

Very few places were actually enforcing mask wearing in the first place. some bars have been pretty strict about it, mainly because the state government pretty much controls liquor sales, and it's a lot easier for the state to shut down a bar that does something they don't want them doing, rather than a grocery store or a restaurant that doesn't serve alcohol. But even that hasn't always been the case. I've seen some bars whose rule was basically, if your ass isn't in a seat, you need to have your mask on. And I've seen the bartender actually come out from behind the bar to tell people they need to do so. But I've also seen other bars where people are walking around freely without a mask and no one seems to care.

We also recently had an election, where the voters got to decide whether to scale back the governor's ability to declare a state of emergency in situations such as this. It narrowly passed. If I get around to it, I might start a topic on Fratching about the pros and cons of this.