Mask On!
We got vaxxed quite a long time ago, just as soon as the shot was available for us from the City of Cleveland Department of Public Health. It was an easy, safe and confidence-building mass vaccination event staffed by helpful, friendly people. And firemen. My wife kind of has this thing for firemen.
So the truth is government does many things quite well, and much better than the private sector. This was one good example. Democratic socialism really works, doesn’t it?
And everyone we know is vaxxed now, and we trust them when they say they are. The people we know are decent, trustworthy and, to a man and women, politically progressive. We don’t really interface much, or at all really, with any extreme right wing zealots or fascists, and often now they just seem to be one in the same. We live in a multiculturally strong, intelligently inclusive, beautifully blue, wholesomely enlightened, left wing bubble, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
So, when the CDC masking guidance was lifted last week for those that had been vaxxed, a collective sigh of relief flowed from the national media. “It’s almost over,” I heard.
Really? Not so fast. We’re not quite ready to say that, and so our masking efforts aren’t going to change much at all in the early going here.
In public it’s still going to be mask on for us. We’ve had friends and family over and gone to their houses and not worn masks and felt quite comfortable. Because we do trust the science, and we trust them.
But when we go out we’re still masking up. And it appears people in our forward thinking, intellectually bright and deliciously liberal bubble agree with us. We’ve been out recently cornering the market on every possible thing that could ever be planted, and everyone is still masked up. Smart people live in our delightfully progressive paradise.
But here’s the rub with a lot of public spaces. We understand that it doesn’t seem likely now that we will get to herd immunity at 70% vaccination levels. Mmm. Interesting number. So, more than 30% of the population refuses to get vaccinated, and it’s not because the shot isn’t readily available. It is.
But here’s this 30% or so of people in our country, maybe even a little more, who won’t get it. It’s probably the same 30% science-denying dimwits that wouldn’t wear masks, believe climate change is a hoax and enthusiastically voted for a lying, incompetent fascist for President.
Approximately 30% of the population is so stunningly selfish, peevish, crabby, obstinate, paranoid or just plain stupid that they wouldn’t think of doing something simple the government asked them to do to help the country and its people.
A high percentage of these people also believe the Bible is historical fact, angels are real and that God will protect them from this virus because they believe. Okay, fine, if you want to be deluded that’s okay with me, it’s a free country, until you spread a killer disease and unnecessarily suck up the precious resources of a strained medical care system that is trying to save lives. And, just so you know, Marjorie Taylor Greene is quintessentially nuts, okay?
So here we are swimming around in this once massively contaminated human petri dish, knowing full well that 30% of the people you may connect with may have the Covid cootie swirling around in their bodies and are quite willing to pass it on to you and anyone else they come into contact with.
And I know that if you’re vaxxed you’re likely not going to get deathly ill, but that’s not the point. We’re trying to stop this thing in its tracks and not spread it around, so we’re staying masked in public for the foreseeable future to protect us and everyone else from the breathtakingly narcissistic yucky yahoos who refuse to get the shot.
Think of it this way. You’re in high school science lab working on an experiment. 30% of your classmates will act in a way that could blow up the lab. Feel safe?
I guess I just don’t know what the hurry is. Don’t we want to see a little more data demonstrating that taking off masks now is actually safe? Sure, retail business is hurting and we all want workers to be able to make a living. But wear a mask while you are shopping, and seriously, you know the mask goes over your nose, right?
Here’s a point though I can’t ignore: why should anyone hurry back to a physically demanding or dangerous job that pays starvation wages, especially if you can’t find childcare. But Republicans just don’t like the idea of paying people when they’re not working for any reason, so Red States are cutting the people’s relief benefit they don’t actually give but get from the Feds. Such amazing jerks, it’s hard to believe.
It’s interesting too that those big retail businesses are raising their wage scale a little now to entice people to take a job there. That’s what happens when people refuse to be exploited. Companies are forced to compete for workers. It makes you wonder if we are on the cusp of a resurgence of unions in the United States. Wouldn’t that be cool?
But back to the matter at hand here. Wearing a mask is still smart and makes a statement, too, and it’s not a signal that we haven’t been vaxxed.
It’s a signal that we still care about our brothers and sisters in the human race, and we want to protect them. And it’s a signal that we will not be bullied by the mind-controlled, fact averse, anti-intelligence robotic zombie lemming cult that dominates the Republican Party these days.
And guess what? Next year in the cold and flu season, I think you’re going to see a lot of masks around, especially on us. They work and prevent disease, and we just hate being sick.
