Education Secretary Miguel Cardona on Monday admitted that although he’s not fond of wearing masks like the rest of us, mask mandates are necessary to keep schools open.
Why reinforce one of the many anti-vaxxer whiny points? Own goal.
Vaccines are necessary to keep schools open, and I’d be delighted to know what the fuck we’re waiting on for the 5-12s.
Enough evidence that they’re safe in this age group to approve them for emergency use authorization?
Cardona then admitted that he has “mask fatigue” himself
I don’t have “mask fatigue”, I have pandemic fatigue. Wearing masks will help bring the pandemic to an end sooner, so its a no-brainer to wear.
There are also so many mask options now, its trivial to find a mask type that you can wear all day, every day:
No, it’s not. Showing sympathy to the feelings of all the people who are on the fence about masks and vaccines, and then saying “doing this is better and safer”, shows that you understand their whiny complaint. That little bit of affirmation can push some people to drop their adamant refusal enough to listen to the rest of it. If all you say is “you’re a fool not to wear a mask and get vaccinated” then people will dig their heels in. It’s Psychology 101.
The good thing is that the new FDA approval will start to cut through this stuff, hopefully enough people get the shot (either because they are more comfortable or because they have to in order to work or do something they want) that we’re just left with the hard core “freeDUMB!!!” asshats that haven’t been vaccinated, and they can spread it amongst themselves until they die or COVID burns out.
I think people with mask fatigue tend to suffer from compassion fatigue as well.
Yep. And when they’re booing Trump himself for daring to suggest they get vaccinated, I think we’ve gone past the point where a bit of empathy would do the trick.
Is it even possible to get tired of something you never had?
So tea and sympathy full steam ahead!
As for mask fatigue I get it, I’m lucky I spend a lot time not around people, but it has to be hard when one’s job is being around people all day. And thus wear the damn mask.
These same parents that are burning masks, crying that they want to see their children’s faces can accomplish that goal by keeping their unmasked kids home and learning remotely.
Hey, I wear glasses and the mask makes them fog up but none of that matters. This covid thing has become a marker of identity, a ritual of membership, that’s part of a long-inculcated and strongly felt belief system. The inconvenience of mask-wearing has little or nothing to do with it.
I get that, but what has been lost, Thanks Jared, is herd immunity. Or at least a country’s herd immunity.
And count me skeptical over once having COVID that the resulting immunity will protect you, especially against new variants.
Time will tell, but how many people have to die before we know?
My WAG is that an infection will give you immunity comparable to immunization. So at best thousands up thousands of reinfections, plus the morbidity. (I wonder whether a re-infection would preferentially attack the same organs as before, or different ones, or no correlation…)
You are 100%, completely wrong about this. It’s exactly the tone needed and should have been the line from all politicians, public figures, relatives, and neighbors for the last year and a half.
Minor discomfort, clearly stated end conditions, and a compelling reason to make the sacrifice.
More data, which is frustrating but utterly compelling as an argument.
Definitely experiencing “foggy glasses” fatigue! But it’s a more than fair trade-off for public health—and my own health.
In other news, more evidence that time has no meaning for the past few years:
It’s not even SEPTEMBER yet!!!
Isn’t that the truth.
I wonder how much a difference it might have made if the post office had simply been given the mandate to deliver free masks to every household, back when they assumed that was going to happen. There’s a psychological barrier to overcome if people have to affirmatively choose to purchase (or make) a mask that would have been undermined if those things were appearing like unsolicited like junk mail.
Personally I dislike wearing masks - and everywhere I need them I need my glasses too. But then, my kid is working 12 hour shifts in an ICU full of unvaccinated near-corpses who insisted a mask was an infringement on their comfort.
I disagree. It is a public official empathizing with the public, acknowledging what a great many of us feel - wearing masks is a pain in the ass, but necessary for the common good, so we do it.
I’m guessing it is for the epidemiological studies to be completed
Your Wild Ass Guess is wrong. It’s not a small difference, either.
https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2021/s0806-vaccination-protection.html