I work as a delivery driver for a takeout restaurant. Inside, we can have up to ten or eleven employees working around each other and not a single one wears a mask. I would say 30-40% are likely vaccinated, most of them are high schoolers who don't see covid as a big deal.
If only one person out of 10 is wearing a mask, that's essentially useless, isn't it? It's my understanding that the point of the mask is to get enough people wearing them to grant group protection. If I'm not actively sick and I'm vaccinated, there isn't much of a difference if I wear one or not, right?
COVID isn't a binary yes/no - total viral load transmission is directly linked to how sick you get from it, how likely you are to transmit the virus, and the amount that you do transmit. That means that with a mask on, if you do catch it, it will be less worse, and if someone else catches it from you, theirs will be less worse.
If I’m not actively sick and I’m vaccinated, there isn’t much of a difference if I wear one or not, right?
Wrong. Remember, people are infectious for two weeks before they show symptoms.
Thanks a lot for this comment. I often fall into the thinking of seeing it as an all or nothing situation, even though I know that it's not.
the fact that Americans at large still don't know about/wear N95/FFP2 masks is insane to me. most progressive people in Brazil have been wearing ffp2 masks for months now.
and make sure it's properly fitted and you're following proper mask hygiene if you do. otherwise it's not especially useful.
I like to wear one because whenever some anti masker heckles me for it I call them a pussy for being afraid of a piece of cloth :big-cool:
I'm not ripped enough for that type of escalation, lmao
masks are mostly there to protect other people from yourself (not the other way around) so while yeah, 9/10 other people running around is not great you're one less person
where i live, people wear masks only in public transport (where they're legally enforced), i still wear a mask everywhere, i don't want to have anyone else on my conscience, people are gonna catch it and get ill and maybe die, but i won't be a part of it
if no one else is wearing a mask thats even more of a reason for you to wear one lol
Also struggle with this problem as well it's been about two months since I saw a mask in person other than my own I don't even fucking bother anymore after getting threatened by some beard guy it's literally putting me more at risk because I am surrounded by braindead psychopaths
Yes, I feel this hard. I'm in a rural area and every time I wear mine in the store, I get taunted by some huge country boy.
My friend got attacked at a bar a couple weeks ago for wearing a mask. A woman literally grabbed her by the hair and her sister had to punch this lady in the face to stop her.
Holy shit, that's scary. These yokels are fucking bold.
If someone coughs in your face and you only get 20% as much spit down your throat, your resulting infection may be less serious.
I saw in your other comment that you're vaccinated. I'm glad you're doing better, hopefully you're feeling all right.
How bad did it suck, while being vaccinated? And was this your first time getting covid?
Just a bad fever for a few days followed by shortness of breath for another few days. A general malaise the whole time.
My symptoms compared to unvaccinated people I know were super mild.
You obviously haven't been threatened/harassed by a lifted pick up truck, thin blue line t-shirt chud while working a service job the last 2 years
Yes. I'm the only one in my office that wore a mask regularly and most of the office got covid last year. Luckily I didn't get it
you can get a breakthrough covid infection still. which won't make you super sick but still sucks, and you'll have to take off of work for 2 weeks to isolate. i would wear it just to reduce the chances of that happening. you reduce your chance of infection by 30% by wearing a mask in a place where others don't.
“My sexual partner is not using any form of birth control. Is there any point for me to even wear a condom?”
Lol that's not how I intended the question to come across. I always viewed masks as not primarily meant for protecting yourself, but for protecting those around you (if everyone else is properly masked up). The reason I wear a mask is to protect those around me. But if literally no one else around me is wearing one, I viewed the act as futile. Not only is my mask like shooting a pea at a tank, I also open myself up for confrontations from the people I deliver to. I work in a 99.999999% white rural area, with coal-rolling trucks, confederate flags and flags supporting right wing militias, and people that like to throw their weight around at someone they think they can intimidate.
But I do also want to protect myself and my diabetic son, so if it's better than nothing, I'll keep wearing it.
Get a KN95 or an N95. They offer the wearer a high degree of protection. The biggest issue is that you might need a new one every shift if you're wearing it for +8 hours.
I bought mine from here. Forms a good seal around my face and is big enough to accommodate my nose.
Well, assuming 9 people transmission/20 percent asymptomatic infection with delta vaccinated/1% mortality rate/x general delta incidence in population: the risk is around 0.02 x without mask and 0.002 x with mask of lives, or 2 *x years/ 2 x month taken from population on average without/with mask. Unless you have known outbreak nearby xv should be kinda small to be meaningless, on the other hand with delivery comrades superspreading can be sucky
I sometimes idly think about death risks or labor in products in terms of parts of life :shrux:
