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#Post#: 794--------------------------------------------------
How to not feel like "a Mask-hole" when everyone else
has abandoned masking?
By: Steve Date: May 14, 2023, 6:55 pm
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While I was on my break, it was stunning to see how few people
were masking. At times, it legitimately made me feel
uncomfortable that I was the only one (or one of the very few)
to be masking out of hundreds or even THOUSANDS of people at
these gatherings.
How have others coped with being a "mask-hole" (or, as I've also
heard, "an unicorn") in an age where everyone thinks that the
virus has vanished and we've all been transported back to 2018?
For myself, I keep thinking to myself, "It's still out there, it
still sickens people, it still kills people and I don't want to
get other people sick or myself to get sick."
However, I can honestly say that, at times, the weight of social
pressure to not mask was extremely great. I'm glad that I kept
my mask on and, hopefully, my example made it easier for others
to keep their masks on (or to put masks on) as well.
#Post#: 2261--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to not feel like "a Mask-hole" when everyone e
lse has abandoned masking?
By: Masked Man Date: September 21, 2024, 11:02 pm
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I am very interested in this topic as I remain a diehard masker
since the pandemic began.
I for one am extremely uncomfortable simply being around the
maskless. I consider the maskless a danger to me as well as to
themselves and to each other. I have shunned the maskless as
much as possible. I do every thing remotely, keeping to myself
caring for my immunocompromised elderly loved one. We stay at
home.. avoiding visits from people including family and
neighbors all of whom don’t seem to respect my masked way of
life enough to wear a mask for themselves. This is my preferred
way of being safe.
I have retired from what I consider ‘the rat race’ of maskless.
I am at peace with shunning the maskless and consider this as a
rational response considering the reality and effectiveness of
the current diseases. I don’t do drugs, nor do I drink, nor am
i sick in body, so I am of sound mind and believe in myself. I
have the advantage in life in that I wear the mask. The maskless
certainly don’t have any redeeming qualities insofar as being
impervious to diseases go.. the maskless are weak and might even
die .. that’s not my cup of tea. I don’t want to suffer or
possibly die from a disease (I lived with allergies and asthma
as a child)
.. I guess that helps me.. simply knowing I’d rather deal with
the psychological repercussions of wearing my mask than to get
sick like the multitude. There are too many instances in history
where the multitude are in denial when it comes to diseases …
look at the Spanish flu during 1918.. nothing but denial .. same
as today.
Since 2020 covid levels in my state fluctuate but the threat and
covid itself remains.. currently it’s September 2024 and here in
my state wastewater levels of covid are sky high and shown as
bright red all over my state..
Covid has not been eradicated. There is data and proof of this
that there is covid not too mention other diseases occur amongst
us at a fairly high rate .. this unacceptable to me for what
it’s worth.. Not only covid, but many other airborne diseases
seem to prevail as well that could be prevented by masking.
I guess I’d rather be a prisoner to the mask than my body be a
prisoner to a disease..I'd even rather be a prisoner to the mask
than prisoner to the fear of disease. Wearing a mask alleviates
the rational fear and genuine concerns of catching a disease
during this pandemic as I have bigger things to think and worry
about it. Simply worrying about disease exposure is time
consuming and is remedied by mask.
The discomfort of the mask is reversible in other words, the
discomfort if any of the mask goes away when I take off the mask
after use while the disease like covid or long covid is
irreversible in other words I can’t take the disease off or out
of me at my own will.
I am interested in hearing whatever inner dialogue or
psychological tricks people use when they do go out in public in
their masks.
In my mask, I feel fairly comfortable zipping around outdoors
through public areas on my bicycle because I feel I can avoid
people.
One thing that helps me is knowing I am overall healthier and
happier now in my masked way of life than in prepandemic
days/times and I have no desire to go back into the past before
I was masking. Ive never gotten covid. After four and a half
years of masking I’m not about to stop masking now.. lol
I would prefer to do only business with only maskers… I
currently allow mailman ups and fed ex people to drop off goods
onto my front porch .. I don’t approach them because they are
maskless. That being said anybody knocks on my door without a
mask I never answer the door or I come out my back door with my
mask on and from a distance I firmly holler or announce “ this
is private property ! You must leave!” Then I walk away avoiding
confrontation back through my back yard and back door and wash
my hands , clothes and take a shower.
I would feel comfortable if it was planned out hanging out or
visiting with another person who also masked in an outdoor
environment away from the maskless.
I guess my Masked philosophy is:
I prefer to deal with whatever psychological repercussions my
masking and isolation practices might lead to rather than to
deal with the psychological repercussions of having exposed
myself to long covid that day and/or the physical non reversible
repercussions of contracting, carrying and exposing others to
long covid or any other disease at this point in my healthy
apparently disease free life.
I mask ever time I go out the door even in my own yard.. I
haven’t gotten covid or any other illness in four and a half
years of my masking practices. When the pandemic first came out,
every time somebody said their was a cure or answer for covid, I
said to myself I’ll mask for six months or so no matter what to
see if anything actually eradicates covid. I sort of pledged
I’ll wait six months maybe 9 months until people stop getting
sick before I even consider going around unmasked.. the pandemic
was declared over by a few so called leaders in this world more
than once .. I never took my mask off and those leaders got sick
and made their loved ones and their constituency sick .. that
inspired me to continue wearing mask.. now I’m used to my masked
way of life. My mask is like a pair of glasses for me. The Heck
with disease is my attitude…
My philosophy is in the long run “only the masked will survive”
I’m sort of counting and banking on the masked way way of living
and that the public masked way of life is the way of the future
.. not many people feel like me but I don’t care what people
feel .. if things continue like they have since 2020 .. that is
if these diseases continue for yet another four and a half
years I can safely assume almost all the maskless will at least
have long covid.
For the maskless I ask how many bouts of covid can their brains
and hearts handle and what will the next variant do? I’m
thinking the disease might get the upper hand because of many
factors and cyclic movements amongst population, rate of travel,
mutations proving people wrong..climate change creating
favorable conditions.. etc..
I treat the mask like a tool… people use filters for water..
they use filters to protect their cars..why not filter the air
with a mask in this day and age being witnessed to all the
politicians and superstars making each other sick and simply
looking at the history of covid thus far and the mere threat of
a mutating virus I personally think it wise for me to invest in
personal strategies to avoid diseases.. I like reducing my
chances of disease. I consider people that mask to be highly
intelligent. I do not think highly of taking any chances with a
tiny microscopic entity that could and will whup me. I’m a tough
guy but I know my limits.. I know to never accept a fight I
can’t win. tough as I am I am not impervious to disease..I hate
and despise useless chronic suffering.. those are just some of
the reasons I mask.
I think onto myself if I am right or wrong about wearing the
mask nobody dies for my masking advice while when politicians
and so called experts are wrong about about pandemics being over
or wrong about cures people die.
Lol.. Im a real “Maskhole”…lol I really can’t stand the maskless
and I avoid the maskless like the plague. I haven’t suffered for
having worn my mask.. I’m ready for the next pandemic and this
one too.. I don’t know how the masked can stand even looking at
the maskless. It’s almost like I see the germs .. those germs
are proven by electron microscope.. covid is a real phenomenon I
guess There’s something in me that makes me hate disease enough
to guard against them. As soon as the pandemic of covid hit in
2020 I instantly decided I’m using a mask! I didn’t think twice.
I just knew in my gut I didn’t want to play with covid.. I knew
instantly there might be long term repercussions from the
disease and that’s why I masked and lo and behold I was right
for fearing this as it turns out there is long covid.
All I know is I think most Americans have had it too good never
been sick or something as I had allergies and asthma as a child
for many years and so maybe I’m more humble and I know what it’s
like to have suffered a little disease while most other people
never have been sick enough to fear or respect a disease enough
to wear a mask..
i respect the disease and In the long run I’m better off in my
mask even if the disease only affects 10 percent of us, I’m not
rolling a one on that 10 sided dice over and over.. I wear a
mask and roll less dice! lol .. even if theoretically the mask
was not always necessary for me to wear I am glad for my
wearing it anyway .. who would not want to master such a skill?
In other words to me it’s like martial arts it’s great to be
trained and capable and well practiced and know you can defend
yourself yet you hope and pray you never have to use your
martial arts.. to me it’s the same with mask.. I wear it as self
defense and although I am most likely to be impervious of
disease in my mask I don’t look for a fight or enter into a
group of disease carrying people or maskless people on purpose.
I prefer not to test my mask. In other words my mask is on but I
try not to dirty my mask by being around the maskless.
If I did want to or have to collaborate in person with others I
prefer to be around other masked people who have the same
respect and rational fears or rather concerns and understanding
that I have.
I am very interested in how others feel when they mask.
#Post#: 2264--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to not feel like "a Mask-hole" when everyone e
lse has abandoned masking?
By: Steve Date: September 22, 2024, 3:52 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
I must confess that the public's current inability to appreciate
the potential dangers of remaining maskless during this pandemic
is disturbing and short-sighted.
I do not endeavor to wear a mask in public for the rest of my
life. Yet the public at-large does not appreciate the basic
concepts of our current situation.
The pandemic still exists. This is a fact. A common
counter-argument is that other ailments, such as colds & flus,
also exist and we historically have not taken such uncommon
measures (ie wearing masks in public, social distancing, etc.)
before.
The response to the counter-argument is that Covid-19 is not the
same as "the common cold" or "the flu." Covid-19 is more
contagious than the flu. Covid-19 is also deadlier than the flu.
When society encounters a disease that is both more contagious
than the flu and deadlier than the flu, it must take enhanced
precautions in order to protect itself.
Another response to the counter-argument ("we have had the flu
and colds in the past and our prior precautions have been
adequate in protecting the public") is that our response to
these ailments has changed over time. For instance, more and
more businesses, even before the Covid-19 pandemic, had begun to
encourage people to stay home when they were sick with these
"more common" and "less deadly" ailments.
Yet another response to the counter-argument is that other
nations have had different precaution standards than just "Let
'er Rip." Asian nations, for instance, have citizens that
routinely wore surgical masks (and better) even before the
Covid-19 pandemic in response to prior outbreaks of ailments in
their own country or their region. Granted, some of the reasons
for wearing the masks were non-disease related (ex. the air
quality in some of the nations are poor and they wore the masks
to avoid the consequences of breathing in poor-quality air).
Our society needs to continue to recognize that Covid-19 has not
gone away. Its ability to infect people has only increased while
the mortality rate has only decreased relative to our own
current population and not as an objective measurement of its
own ability to cause deaths. Put simply, a bullet striking a
person who isn't wearing bullet-resistant armor will not be
affected as much as a person who is not wearing that type of
armor. However, the bullet is still the same and we do not have
adequate means to objectively judge how lethal that bullet
changes over time, just that our population is wearing more
layers of armor (either through infections or being vaccinated).
#Post#: 2275--------------------------------------------------
Re: How to not feel like "a Mask-hole" when everyone e
lse has abandoned masking?
By: Masked Man Date: September 24, 2024, 7:41 pm
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I like Steve's viewpoints,
Yes, There's so much more that could be done.
I'd like to comment, To me, its so ironic that while the the
9/11 events of terrorism forever changed the way airports handle
security, four and a half years straight of an insidious
mutating virus has done very little to change any policies or
practices at medical institutes. Insofar as masks go, the
practice amongst medical teams vary and change as often as the
seasons (while there seems to be a new variant on the rise every
season or two). Not to belittle how many lives were lost during
9/11, we are still losing lives to covid and I expect doctors
and those in the medical field to lead the way and take every
measure of protection available to accommodate the the type of
people that seek medical help. It seems preposterous to me that
the very thing that prevents diseases such as masks, antiseptic
cleaning of all surfaces in front of patients, etc. might be
lacking considering the nature of the work at hand.I'm sure
there are some medical institutes out there taking every
precaution but I would expect all medical institutes to take
this pandemic more seriously than most institutes have. Medical
institutes are dealing with people in a 'weakened state' and its
not fair for them to risk getting sicker because of lack of
protective measures being taken on the part of a medical
institute and the people who work there. I'd include and
pharmacies in my list as worthy of being called a medical
institute considering pharmacies dispense medicine, medical
equipment and are supposed to serve and protect those that
require such products.. Yeah doctors who want me to keep calling
them doctors need to protect people in their waiting rooms and
reception areas from infecting one another..that's what I'd do
if I was a doctor. Its in the Hippocratic oath to do so. Doctors
are definitely supposed to prevent diseases..its one of their
job requirements.
As a child a hospital saved my life as I had a horrible
allergy/asthma attack which required hospitalization. I was very
lucky in the doctors and nurses had the sense enough to mask
around me and even construct a tent around my bed while I was in
a weakened state so as to protect me. These precautions kept
patients and visitors from breathing on me and giving me
anything contagious like a silly cold. A silly cold might kill
someone in a weakened state ... my doctors and nurses knew this
in the 1970's even when no mutating viruses were circulating and
no outstanding diseases were prevalent like they are now and
have been since our covid pandemic began around 2020. So anyway
I find it hard to believe many maskless doctors, maskless nurses
, and especially their maskless receptionists and people in the
waiting room don't do as much as was done for me back in the
70's when I was in a weakened state in the hospital. I am
somewhat in shock that in the year 2024, given how levels of
covid are showing up in wastewater proving to us all that covid
is traveling around that all medical care facilities aren't
doing more like airports did and continue to do when 9/11 hit.
Think I mind airport people checking my baggage for bombs or
knives at an airport?..I don't mind after those two buildings
went down... think I'd mind masking up in a doctor's waiting
room during a pandemic? Heck no, I don't mind masking under
these conditions. I welcome Masking..Ive already got my mask
on! :) Currently I live in NC and currently according to CDC
all 34 wastewater sites in NC are reporting very high covid
levels. Covid is teeming here in NC.
Today I rode my bicycle in my mask and a jumpsuit past a college
university and did a six mile round trip in my town and as far
as I know I am the only one in a mask. It's all right there in
the wastewater. Covid exists. I'm taking it seriously. Nobody at
the local university has their thinking cap on much less their
mask. Some people insist on learning the hard way. I saw a lot
of college kids give me the looks when I rode by on my bicycle
in a mask.. hopefully one or two of them will think about it and
maybe even wear a Mask next time they get on that bus. Methinks,
maybe the maskless people think of me as the little boy that
cried wolf as I ride by on my bicycle in my mask while covid is
the wolf.. who knows what transpires in the minds of the
maskless, , I do know I'm no match for a wolf nor am I match for
a mutating virus from which at any given moment a deadly variant
could emerge... this could go any way.. the virus could fade
away but it could get worse far worse than ever. I'm not taking
any chances. I don't roll that dice. My health is valuable to
me. I have my Mask and my own code of conduct and my own set of
rules.. hopefully society or the general public will develop or
become more in tune with what it needs insofar as being more
conscientious and developing better 'customs' and practices that
make sense during a pandemic to make things more safe for one
another if they are deserving enough...lol.
Certainly we would ridicule some guy for leaning over and
sniffing on a dead animal on the side of the road but we don't
ridicule the maskless doctor or maskless person enough in my
opinion for sniffing on one diseased person while breathing on
another. That is precisely what is happening in my area because
currently Covid levels are very high in all 34 wastewater sites
in my state as I type this. People are infecting each other and
my entire state is evidently the perfect grounds for breeding
viruses amongst one another. The very high levels covid in the
wastewater prove me right. That's proof that more needs to be
done. Note I have never taken down my guard or my mask off
regardless of viral activity levels in my area. There's no
travel restrictions here and the reason the viral activity is
high is because of the stuff that is coming out of people's
faces. We know that much or rather we know that little about the
matter.
It never ceases to amaze me how good people are with everything
other than their own own bodies: people use filters in their
cars(in fact a car won't run and its engine will be destroyed
without the filters). Then many people use a filter for to keep
their water clean and make it safe to drink..I see nothing wrong
with breathing through a filter to simply protect my pink
inwards from breathing in a microscopic entity that's already
more than proved its capabilities of wreaking havoc and
destroying more than enough lives to be comfortable with...
A mask a day keeps the doctor away,
The Masked Man
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