Covid News Around the World One Year Later

Mask craziness.

No mask anywhere since Thursday. Still seems strange as nearly everyone else is still wearing masks indoors and quite a few are still wearing them outdoors.

Kind of hard for me to fathom but I pay attention to the news and I suspect most people really don't.

Some retailers are still requiring them, some aren't. As you might suspect, Walmart, a "conservative" company no longer requires them. Target a "liberal" company does. I have not gone to Target yet but as I don't often shop there for a variety of reasons it hasn't come up.

We ate in a buffet yesterday, no mask required but you still have to put on gloves to go to the buffet.

The media is going crazy. All the leftists are screaming they are all going to die and they don't want to die because of some idiot is not wearing a mask. Probably why there are still so many wearing them. 40% of the adults in the state are supposedly vaccinated. Now this is skewed towards the older portion of the population with about 90% of the elderly being vaccinated and going down from there but the elderly were still wearing masks. I went into McDonald's yesterday and with 20 people going in and out while I was there, everyone wore a mask but me. And there were a lot of elderly in there. And the weird thing is, I'M GETTING NODS AND SMILES FROM PEOPLE STILL WEARING MASKS. Not a single negative remark or look. It's like they want out but are afraid to come out.

Went into an antique mall yesterday, everyone wearing masks. We get up to the counter and the two women working there immediately took theirs off and smiled. It is so weird. Soon as we left, they put them back on.

We also went to a botanical garden with a butterfly room, they even had signs up saying you didn't need to wear a mask if vaccinated and nearly everyone still wore their masks but here at least half the employees were not wearing them.

At least almost no one was wearing them at the yard sales for once.

If nothing else, it's an interesting study on human nature.

I should also point out that I live in Amish country and the huge farmers market near us they haven't been wearing them since this started and there has never been a huge breakout in the Amish community that never masked, never social distanced, never stopped their mass gatherings.

I got my second jab yesterday and am looking forward to stop getting swabs up my nose.
But I really don’t think we’ll get out of that stupid mask anywhere soon.
I never wear it when out, but most people do. Some also wear it alone in the car, with medical gloves also on...
Yesterday I met a guy apparently of my age, riding his bike with mask and blue medical gloves.
I wanted to throw myself down a bridge, but there were none close by.

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Originally Posted by Aragorn243

Mask craziness.

No mask anywhere since Thursday. Still seems strange as nearly everyone else is still wearing masks indoors and quite a few are still wearing them outdoors.

Kind of hard for me to fathom but I pay attention to the news and I suspect most people really don't.

Some retailers are still requiring them, some aren't. As you might suspect, Walmart, a "conservative" company no longer requires them. Target a "liberal" company does. I have not gone to Target yet but as I don't often shop there for a variety of reasons it hasn't come up.

We ate in a buffet yesterday, no mask required but you still have to put on gloves to go to the buffet.

The media is going crazy. All the leftists are screaming they are all going to die and they don't want to die because of some idiot is not wearing a mask. Probably why there are still so many wearing them. 40% of the adults in the state are supposedly vaccinated. Now this is skewed towards the older portion of the population with about 90% of the elderly being vaccinated and going down from there but the elderly were still wearing masks. I went into McDonald's yesterday and with 20 people going in and out while I was there, everyone wore a mask but me. And there were a lot of elderly in there. And the weird thing is, I'M GETTING NODS AND SMILES FROM PEOPLE STILL WEARING MASKS. Not a single negative remark or look. It's like they want out but are afraid to come out.

Went into an antique mall yesterday, everyone wearing masks. We get up to the counter and the two women working there immediately took theirs off and smiled. It is so weird. Soon as we left, they put them back on.

We also went to a botanical garden with a butterfly room, they even had signs up saying you didn't need to wear a mask if vaccinated and nearly everyone still wore their masks but here at least half the employees were not wearing them.

At least almost no one was wearing them at the yard sales for once.

If nothing else, it's an interesting study on human nature.

I should also point out that I live in Amish country and the huge farmers market near us they haven't been wearing them since this started and there has never been a huge breakout in the Amish community that never masked, never social distanced, never stopped their mass gatherings.

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I only put a mask on when I had to go into shops in town as they got upset when I didn't. Lots of people living outside of town not wearing masks. No bodies in the streets, life went on.
Millions of people in informal settlements and similar places also not wearing masks all over the country. Aids, TB, violence, etc still the major killers. Not covid.
Where I live we hug and kiss women and shake men by the hand to greet them. No people dropping like flies because of this. I help out with medical emergencies and incidents in the area so I have a pretty good view on what is happening on that front.
People that I do know that had covid related issues also had other health issues and compromised immune systems. And whether they were mask wearers or not didn't matter. Both groups of people had cases (not that the tests are in any way accurate or conclusive, very much the opposite in fact).
And I know two ladies that ended up in hospital as a direct result of wearing masks - the reason as given to them by the medical professionals (different hospitals and cities) that treated them.

Target has removed their mask requirements. Probably figured out they were going to lose customers to Walmart. Went in Home Depot today which has large new signs outside the doors stating everyone must wear a mask even it vaccinated. I guess they know more than the CDC, the PA Health Department, Governor Wolf and all the scientific evidence that's contradicts them.

I didn't wear a mask anyway. No one said anything. I expect that rule will be dropped in days. Still quite a bit of confusion.

The wife is not as stubborn as me, she wore a mask into the market yesterday.

Word is that everything will be going back to normal very quickly now although the school district just put out a notice they are planning on students wearing masks in the fall. Four months until then and I expect that will change long before then.

No mask for a week now.

The voters have spoken. It was closer than I expected but the Governor has lost his ability to be a dictator for longer than 21 days. He can still declare an emergency but his total abuse of the system made it so the state of emergency drops from a 90 maximum to a 21 day maximum. He also can no longer extend it like he has done for the entire past year. The Legislature must approve any extensions of a state of emergency.

so who has had the vaccine yet? what vaccine did you get and what were the side effects?
I ask because I've got my first jab of the Pfizer vaccine tomorrow; and I'd like to know what to expect!

I had been putting off getting the jab; but my boss died last saturday after several weeks in hospital with Covid. It sort of brings it home just how serious it can be if you've other health issues.

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Originally Posted by 30Three

if you've other health issues.

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If you don't then don't worry.

I've had Pfizer. Both jabs. No issues at all, neither after the first one, nor after the second.
Went as smoothly as could be dreamed of.

I've had Moderna. Slightly sore shoulder after the 1st one. After the 2nd shot, shoulder hurt the next day - plus needed to rest for the full day. Friends had Pfizer with no ill effects at all. - Bob

Quote:

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Originally Posted by 30Three

so who has had the vaccine yet? what vaccine did you get and what were the side effects?
I ask because I've got my first jab of the Pfizer vaccine tomorrow; and I'd like to know what to expect!

I had been putting off getting the jab; but my boss died last saturday after several weeks in hospital with Covid. It sort of brings it home just how serious it can be if you've other health issues.

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It will not stop you from getting the virus nor will it make you less contagious if you have the virus. So why bother/worry?
You might have had it already without even knowing. Here in SA the blood transfusion services tested blood that they had collected in various parts of the country and came up with a +- 50% figure for antibodies present and people not being aware of having the virus.