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They work and I don't want covid
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I want to people to see me and be forced to remember that the pandemic isn't over and it's killing thousands everyday
Everywhere I go you'd think the pandemic has been over for years, a distant memory. No, it's still killing thousands a day and hurting countless others. This is completely preventable and we know that because of the successfully handling of it in China.
I love it when people look at me strangely or question why I have on a mask. I want people to be forced to remember that covid isn't over
My university ended all COVID precautions to the point that it hasn't restocked hand sanitiser dispensers outside the cafeteria since August. They sent an email bragging about having the most-ever applicants for student housing this semester. Usually only one or two other students per class wear a mask beyond me, and none of my professors despite them being scientists. The rattling COVID cough is just a passive background feature of common spaces. One professor called out with it on Friday, was back on Monday unmasked saying that she's now had multiple students email about COVID absences, and the students in the front row were unmasked.
It's just insane. Wearing a mask is such a non-issue that I mostly do it because I don't want to shave every day, one of those wonderful innovations of Japanese culture that was light-years ahead of the west. Mostly liberal-ish students 1m away from a COVID-positive professor telling them the students next to them are developing COVID pretend none of it is happening.
In a fucked up way, I'm glad I'm not the only one experiencing this. I was shocked at how my uni just fucking gave up, and a good 90-95% of the students right along with them. One of my professors is even recovering from chemo, yet she can't mandate masks in her class, only strongly encourage them (and even then some don't care). Just the most :doomer: stuff.
The faculty has full control over teaching assignments, and if she's a professor she's probably salaried. Her colleagues could just place her on sabbatical while she recovers. Not saying they're assholes, but I think my department has historically always shifted sabbatical around for people starting cancer treatment and stuff, even before covid made it more of a concern.
The only new thing is requiring student health insurance or charging them $300/mo for on-campus insurance that entitles them to being seen at the teaching hospital by other students. That's the singular COVID precaution, ensuring that the student can continue paying their tuition fees because something absorbs their medical bills.