Any of you still masking?

[+ Tygerscent]

14 hours ago, Xavitv said:

On a cruise? Like outdoors on a cruise ?

Yes… Personally I do wear masks in public. I have a number of clients who have diabetes, cancer, cardio issues, Parkinson’s, ages above 70… I never want to infringe on their health and so I take care of my own. I just don’t wanna put my Clients at risk that way~ 
 They have enough risk factors… Wearing a mask is not that big of a deal for me… It’s not a religious or political issue… It’s just my personal consideration for me and those around me~ 

Edited October 27, 2022 by Tygerscent

[Xavitv]

Not judging about masking but I was just wondering how would masking work on a cruise. I guess in dining rooms and stuff?

[+ Tygerscent]

Dining room in cruises and conferences: you have to take your mask off to eat but, some dining experiences offer more space between tables. I tend to choose those~ I eat and then mask up again if it seems crowded or if people are coughing.  

Edited October 27, 2022 by Tygerscent

[Cooper]

Administrator’s Message:

The moderators have received a few reports re: Personal Attacks. 

Let’s try to attack the issue and not the person.

Cooper

[Monarchy79]

I’ve grown accustomed to wearing masks. 
whenever I’m in an inclosed environment, I wear my mask. 

The only inclosed place I don’t wear one is the gym. That’s because my gym had mandatory vaccination requirements, has a good air purification system, and it’s never crowded there. 

Also, the masks serve so many other good purposes. 
1.) They definitely were helpful in lowering Flu Transmission rates.

2.) They’re good in cold weather for some light protection against the wind. 

3.) Also  helps with other public fumes, like vehicle emissions, inhaling paint and cleaning fumes (I thew on a mask when cleaning my oven last week) and not to mention (other people’s bad breath. 

For those who choose not to wear a mask, no judgment. I’m just always wondering why people who choose not to wear masks are so irritated and bothered by people who do. 
 

 

 

 

 

[EZEtoGRU]

In conclusion, the majority of respondents to this thread continue to mask-up in some situations that they deem potentially risky.  Well-done guys for being prudent and considerate.

[TorontoDrew]

I always mask indoors.  Don't eat out unless I can do so outdoors.   Makes for a long Toronto winter.

[liubit]

In Hong Kong masking in every single public space -whether indoors OR outdoors- is absolutely mandatory, and you get steep fines if you don’t wear it, even on the street. In restaurants, you can only unmask while eating or drinking. The moment you leave your table for whatever reason you have to wear a mask again. So, no choice: you wear a mask everywhere, except in the privacy of a home. It has become a habit, just like wearing socks…

[Larry2020]

I had stopped wearing the mask, but seeing the numbers starting to tick up, I'll start again. 

I had reached a point where I wanted to wear a mask if I felt I had symptoms of anything, to keep it to myself.  I think there is some data that masking also helps the wearer stay healthy, and that is why the phrase is something like "the wearing of masks slows the spread..." - that is certain - rather that who is getting the protection...the wearer, or the other person's in the wearer's presence.

I really liked feeling like I did not need to wear a mask this summer.  But, that's a little naive and selfish of me to stop there with that momentary joy, and not go further to consider what is the best practice for my well-being (and the well-being of others is part of my own well-being) in the long run.

We'll see how it shakes out, but I'll be carrying one for situations where it is crowded, or the ventilation is bad, or when numbers are up.  

[FrancisCA]

Yup especially winter is around the corner with flu season.

Also I see my parents very often so I want to mask up for them

[Guest]

16 hours ago, Xavitv said:

Not judging about masking but I was just wondering how would masking work on a cruise. I guess in dining rooms and stuff?

We just went on a cruise from Iceland to Greenland, St. John's, Halifax, and Boston in late August. Although vaccination was a requirement, and everyone was tested (negative) within 48 hours of boarding, the virus ran pretty rampant during the cruise, from what I heard, though no one got seriously ill. Every single person I talked to who tested positive was an N-95 wearer (a small minority of passengers). (This was probably because those people were probably more obsessive about the virus than others--I don't know anyone else who got tested). If your health is extremely precarious, you may not want to risk going on a cruise--though this virus is probably one of the least of your worries. Masks offer little protection. You'd definitely have to stay out of any dining area, for example, to avoid any exposure, as well as many group activities. And it's rather silly to go on a cruise just to stay in your cabin and order room service for the whole trip, not that this has been shown to prevent spread. 

[guy7777]

I live in NYC and I currently don't mask up much. I'm b/w jobs right now, so I never mask up at the gym & I usually go to a couple of gay bars every other weekend. I don't wear masks at the bars. I even stopped wearing masks on the buses & subways even though I might revert back on public transportation. Depends on how many people are getting covid in the city. 

Ill be leaving for Florida soon to stay there for the next six months or more.  I'll be staying n a more suburban area, so I don't expect to be wearing masks. 

[+ sam.fitzpatrick]

1 hour ago, Unicorn said:

... Of the 20 people in 1st class, not one wore a mask. Although quite imprecise, I suppose one could fairly assume that 1st class represented passengers who were more educated and/or intelligent/talented....

When making this statement, did you overlook the factor that first class passengers are more spaced than those in coach and that may affect a masking decision?

[+ WilliamM]

1 hour ago, Unicorn said:

Well, you can count me in as being extremely surprised, because the respondents to this string obviously don't represent most people I see around. I just got off an A321 from Baltimore to Charlotte, and I counted 12 people who were wearing masks of some sort (I was in 1st, so I was able to capture everyone in the Trial of Tears to the main cabin). Of the 20 people in 1st class, not one wore a mask. Although quite imprecise, I suppose one could fairly assume that 1st class represented passengers who were more educated and/or intelligent/talented. Of those who wore a mask, 6 wore N95's (and it's known for an absolute fact that these are no more effective than surgical masks), and 3 wore cloth masks, which allow passage of large particles, and there's no reason to believe they would have any effect. I'd have thought that the people on this message center would be more intelligent than average, but that doesn't seem to be the case for many of the respondents to this particular string, hence the surprise.

There has been a lot of scientific study on this virus, and lots is known. First of all, as noted in prior strings, there have been 6 randomized controlled trials comparing surgical masks with N95's, done in medical settings, plus one meta-analysis of these trials, and they all conclusively show that there is no difference in transmission between these two masks. This is an established fact. Anyone who believes otherwise doesn't just have "another opinion," he's simply factually wrong. I can immediately tell when I see someone wearing an N95 or KN95 (even worse) that they either have not kept up with science, or believe that their "feelings" are more important than scientific fact.

Another known fact is that the virulence is down by a factor which is certainly more than 100. In its original form, the case-fatality rate was around 0.5% (compared to 0.1% for the average influenza virus), and it's now under 0.01%. The new variant has resulted in an exponential rise in prevalence (to the point where the virus cannot be avoided, no matter what false sense of security a mask may provide), as well as an exponential drop in case fatality. 

A third fact one can count on is that the virus's ability to mutate and adapt to our vaccines assures us that it will NEVER go away. By May of 2021, vaccinated people were transmitting new variants, and they will continue to do so. Anyone who thinks masking is needed now will either have to adjust his thinking at some point, or wear masks for the rest of his life. The only difference between this virus and other colds is that we're able to document it readily. We have been spreading coronaviruses and rhinoviruses probably since the dawn of man, and this will continue for any foreseeable future unless someone invents a vaccine which will evade any mutation, and which will be enforced on every human on the planet. 

Finally, the only randomized clinical trial I've ever found (feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) which actually looked at mask efficacy at actually reducing the virus's transmission, showed a maximal efficacy of 9.5%. If anyone feels reassured by that, well, that's up to that person, but I can only shake my head in amazement. Certainly this should not be the basis to tell other people that they should wear masks. 

The only place where officials are still alarmed by the virus is the Peoples' Republic of China, and the reason for this is that all policies come down from President Xi himself, who, unfortunately, is not educated in matters of public health. Of course, some, at the New York Times, for instance, have speculated that China's tragic policies are simply a ruse to control the populace, prevent travel, etc. Others feel it's because China doesn't want to publicize that its vaccine is ineffective compared with the Western vaccines, and refuses to import Western vaccines. Whatever the reason, China's failure to adapt to science and adopt its findings has clearly had disastrous effects not only on its own economy, but for the world's economy (due to its size). 

Why would you think passengers in first class on a flight were more educated and/or talented?

I never fly first class. My most recent flights were to Bosnia and earlier to Stockholm.

[EZEtoGRU]

1 hour ago, Unicorn said:

 I'd have thought that the people on this message center would be more intelligent than average, but that doesn't seem to be the case for many of the respondents to this particular string, 

So now you are attacking the intelligence of people that responded to your thread.   As the OP, you knew you would get a variety of responses.  As it happens, the responses indicate most folks are still masking under some circumstances.  So what.  What do you care?  You just wanted to attack people for doing something different than you?  Sad.

[SirBillybob]

Well the efficacy (9.5%) compared assumed that baseline wearing controls remained 10% pop’n usage and that intervention wearing was about 40%, with a consistent differential of 4-fold. However it would be akin to taking a state the size of Bangladesh (eg, Georgia) and cluster-randomizing in 600 (300:300) geographic pockets where mask allocation pockets and control pockets are in close proximity yet with, it’s hoped, no cross-contamination of wearing rates. Analogy-wise, a more robust design would compare, say, Georgia and Michigan, and would increase the differential in mask-wearing uptake. [Thoughts about cooperation should one or the other be allocated masks for all with an offer to contribute to science?]

So it’s not a nice and tight RCT design and it’s difficult to reconcile the relevant infection acquisition variables in terms of whether the approach subverted a truer or better wearing effect or lead to a spurious result. This would be an example, perhaps, as @Unicorn has mentioned regarding research overall, where the result suggests feasibility of further investigation. The problem, however, at the risk of beating a dead horse, is designing a RCT with an incontrovertible binary (usually dichotomous) intervention. Health care workers, for example, if they are the research pool for comparing PPE variations, acquire infection attributable to settings (eg, household) where PPE is not utilized. If vaccinated, in contrast to unvaccinated, they have the clinical effect stabilized on any given day irrespective of life setting. Similarly, for Bangladesh and elsewhere, masking is not always consistent or used where risk is highest. 

The self-selective differential within the current genpop minority of voluntary wearers, between N95 and procedure (have I got that right? latter = surgical?) versions, as well as wearing or not and context-decided, and so on, is not surprising because the total body of research, including PPE behavioural and ecologically mechanical, etc, has not heretofore been summarized and integrated into a cogent consumable format for the public. Even here, the information is scattered and fragmented through nobody’s fault, often personalized, peppered with N=1 anecdotes, and contributed in repeat topics. It is like a microcosm of the challenge for the overall community to interpret and decide what guidance applies. It’s like trying to track the written minutes of related topic seminars jumping from academy to academy and school term to school term.

As far as the question of face covering type, there seems often to be a piece of research that cracks open the ongoing discourse and calls for renewed attention, suggesting a hierarchy of relative PPE protection, or when in the pandemic trajectory a tactic might be more or sufficiently worthwhile, and so on. And always non-controversial and cool-headed, right? 

One making the Twitterverse epi rounds more lately suggests that the possible hierarchy explored is comprised of mask format, facefit-integrity, and the supplement of mechanical air filtration extraneous to wearing. One sentence describes the lack of difference between fit-fail N95 and surgical (fitfail by default, I think), highlighting that N95-fitpass is prophylactically superior within the hierarchy. To my way of thinking, some folks may erroneously interpret that as  N95 superiority because subjectively the tendency is to perceive that its fit is snugger. They are not about to cart around portable generators and the information is packaged in such a way that a hierarchical gradient of positive effect exists, hence, some possible benefit is inferred as a heuristic: mask wearing is helpful, yet the essential difference (ie, none evident) in mask type is sublimated. The N95, then, is extrapolated as better. This is just one example of people attempting to mitigate risks to health and continuity of daily life (ie, avoiding infection-poz adjustments) through trying to make sense of what might work. 

https://academic.oup.com/jid/article/226/2/199/6582941?login=false

Edited October 27, 2022 by SirBillybob

[SirBillybob]

Another article making the rounds this year in epi circles, notwithstanding the reality that it was apparently very deeply peer critically appraised prior to publication, ensuring that all limitations were accounted for, would seem to provide to the average person with basic science literacy a convincing argument that the null hypothesis of wearing effect is not definitively not rejectable. There is likely a population subgroup that is fully aware of the changing picture and has decided that wearing not be abandoned or that wearing be context-specific … for them. Therefore, a HCW conference, airline flight, etc pattern of uptake is transcended and, as mentioned, the wearing standard in certain settings bleeds into other settings. They may even be aware of the futility of attempting infection prevention and source transmission control without majority uptake reciprocity, while cognizant that the evidence for benefit remains unfounded. This might be described as maintaining comfort in a position despite ambiguity. 

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2119266119

Edited October 27, 2022 by SirBillybob

[+ Pensant]

On 10/26/2022 at 5:27 PM, Unicorn said:

But you will continue masking until you kick the bucket rather than admit to anyone you're wrong. This virus will ALWAYS be with us. Keep buying those masks. You'll need them until you draw your last breath. 

My friend calls them the the “bitter-Enders”.

[+ Pensant]

I was in Portugal for four weeks beginning on September 14 and rarely saw anyone in a mask, with the exception of a very few Chinese tourists, who aren’t traveling to Europe in large numbers anymore because of their totalitarian state’s draconian Covid measures.

Although I rarely wear a mask, I also don’t care for packed venues and never have. So I don’t mingle with big crowds. I flew business to and from Lisbon, so there was plenty of space.

I got one booster last December but don’t intend to get any more. They just don’t appear to be all that effective. I will reluctantly get the flu shot this weekend, since my RN sister has been badgering me.

I'm in the minority here, but I respect others’ desires to mask since it’s none of my business. I just ask others to respect my choices.

[+ FrankR]

42 minutes ago, Pensant said:

I was in Portugal for four weeks beginning on September 14 and rarely saw anyone in a mask, with the exception of a very few Chinese tourists, who aren’t traveling to Europe in large numbers anymore because of their totalitarian state’s draconian Covid measures.

Although I rarely wear a mask, I also don’t care for packed venues and never have. So I don’t mingle with big crowds. I flew business to and from Lisbon, so there was plenty of space.

I got one booster last December but don’t intend to get any more. They just don’t appear to be all that effective. I will reluctantly get the flu shot this weekend, since my RN sister has been badgering me.

I'm in the minority here, but I respect others’ desires to mask since it’s none of my business. I just ask others to respect my choices.

Have not masked up in weeks. Will mask up if requested, otherwise back to normal. My supply of KN95s are on stand by. With vaccines easily accessible, in my mind the public health emergency has ended. Had a booster last November before a trip to PV and dont plan to get another for a while.  Will get the flu shot in the next few weeks like I usually do. 
 

When I stepped outside this morning to do some shopping, I noticed a fair number of people still wearing masks. Many of them heading to the subway - I respect their choice and as a frequent passenger I may also mask up if the train is packed.  
 

Plan to grow a Movember mustache which makes masking awkward! 😋

[pubic_assistance]

I only wear a mask in the subway or an airplane. And that's really more out of respect for others, when I notice multiple people wearing theirs.

[+ Lucky]

I will be traveling next week and will wear a mask anywhere indoors. Colds, flu, Covid...they are out there. I am banking on the mask being at least helpful in preventing these bugs.

Don't worry @pubic_assistance...if I see you in the subway I will recognize the back of your head! Assuming that is you in the avatar. Or should I just look for your multiple MAGA and Trump buttons? 😃*

*Not political, just a little kidding here!

[pubic_assistance]

40 minutes ago, Lucky said:

I will be traveling next week and will wear a mask anywhere indoors. Colds, flu, Covid...they are out there. I am banking on the mask being at least helpful in preventing these bugs.

Don't worry @pubic_assistance...if I see you in the subway I will recognize the back of your head! Assuming that is you in the avatar. Or should I just look for your multiple MAGA and Trump buttons? 😃*

*Not political, just a little kidding here!

I have noticed that besides never catching Covid I have also not had a cold or flu since masks were worn on transportation.

Yes. That (was) me. Several years ago when I joined the site. Older and wiser now. 😉

[Harryinny]

1 minute ago, pubic_assistance said:

I have noticed that besides never catching Covid I have also not had a cold or flu since masks were worn on transportation.

Yes. That (was) me. Several years ago when I joined the site. Older and wiser now. 😉

Here the same...five shots...masked on public transport and crowded places like airports (security).  Performance places have removed the requirement but I will continue masked...just careful given the uncertainties about variants and what not.

[+ Pensant]

Always the variants.