So now those anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers can all claim they are vaccinated even though they're not and start spreading again. Feel real bad for health departments in heavily anti-mask/anti-vaxx areas. Grocery stores and restaurants aren't going to request vaccination cards for entry and even if they do, they're easy to fake or pretend you left it in the car or at home or something. Not a fan of this one. Prefer we go on a state/county level for percent vaccinated to life masking orders. Localized health rules are better than national ones anyway as they can be tailored to a population. What a shit show this is gonna be for a lot of the country. Hoping it doesn't allow a variant better able to escape the vaccine to spread and rip through our country again.
ohhhh... so you've met my sister-in-law. Yes. Now she says "I identify as vaccinated" so that she can not only insult science, but throw a little side-jab at the trans population. ahhhhhh family.anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers can all claim they are vaccinated
tinfoil hat time? If you're halfway vaccinated, this is enough to scare you into being all the way vaccinated. If you were on the fence? This pushes you off the fence one way or the other. If you're vaccinated? You're fine. If you're not vaccinated? You're most likely in the age group that experiences mild symptoms. And if you're not, you're sick now. And all your friends see it. And the places that are not prepared for this are about to show their asses and everyone gets to go "whoa holy shit vaccines work." I think this is the United States public health apparatus going "we double dog dare you." 'cuz let's be honest: if you haven't gotten vaccinated by now, it's probably a choice. And if you have gotten vaccinated by now, you are 100% protected from severe COVID.
I think it's a tacit acknowledgement that everyone who wants a vaccine has a vaccine and everyone who doesn't won't so either we wear masks forever or we change the calculus. I mean, the Republicans have been saying for over a year they'd rather have mass death than economic hardship so fuckin' take 'em at their word.
Day 1 out in the world feels no different. I went to a physical therapy appointment this morning and everyone was masked as per usual. Wondering whether this guidance is going to affect local rules around here. Unfortunately, the CDC has gone all in on ruining their own credibility, so my guess is not much will change from the previously announced rules.
Note that we have a burn unit-grade HVAC system and our staff is fully vaccinated, but we also have two Brazilian employees who are not at all ready to deal with maskless clients at the moment.In case anyone is asking, Yes, Jay Inslee announced yesterday "fully vaccinated people no longer need to wear masks unless they're in crowded indoor settings like schools, buses, planes, hospitals, prisons and homeless shelters." He also said that business can continue to require masks if they choose. We will be continuing to require masks at this time and I wanted you all to hear the exact language that was announced. We also can say that we are a (relatively) crowded indoor setting with vulnerable populations and therefore we will continue to require masks.
100% the right call to let businesses decide and to also place some reasonable limits on what constitutes a crowded environment. I know people who are in high exposure occupations who have gotten covid even after the vaccine. That's the trouble with lack of herd immunity. 90% effective is 100% effective if everyone is vaccinated, but 90% is truly only 90% (read:10% ineffective) when you're still bathing in the cesspool. Funny to watch the anti-vax movement go from fringe to mainstream this last year. Must have been what it was like when Christianity took over the Empire.
Just sent this to all staffThere will come a time when the masks come off. I recommend everyone consider for themselves, individually, what milestones would make you personally comfortable with seeing an unmasked patient, and what would make you personally comfortable not wearing a mask yourself. We value everyone's health and safety, but we also value a return to normalcy and we need to be cognizant of the point where the mask ceases to be safety equipment and becomes a teddy bear. Is it case counts? Is it percentage vaccinated? We've had it easy so far because the enforceable bare minimum was adequate to our needs. The enforceable bare minimum is now "nothing" so whatever our "something" is we need to be able to justify it, and we need to be ready to let go of it when we can't anymore.
I actually laughed out loud at the teddy bear line, because it's exactly the type of thing that I would want someone to say to me and also exactly the type of thing I could see a bunch of oversensitive types (such as you might find among doctor's office staff) having a pissy fit about. It's perferct.
I'm still serving out the front door and no one came to the stand without a mask today. One guy asked if he could quit wearing it when he comes to buy coffee. I asked if he was vaccinated (he was) and I said hell yea. I'd say almost half my costumers said they would like to come without their mask but didn't want to put others out. I told them that when I'm fully vaccinated in about a week I'm going to open and not wear a mask. An artist friend is going to do a project where we take a polaroid photo of costumers without masks holding their vaccination cards up and put the photos in the front window with some pro vaccination propaganda. It might turn out cool.
I found a happy medium this weekend... most of my masks are ones that have elastic that go around the back of my neck; they don't hook over my ears. So I always have my mask around my neck - to show I'm not a Republican ;-) - and can pull it up any time it looks like it would make others around me more comfortable. The first word of every conversation this weekend was the two of us looking at each other and saying, "Vaccinated?" And then using masks as appropriate, according to their response.
But anyway, I'd like to see more people not wear their masks and be super happy to be at my shop. I don't know how your joint feels about those kinds of things. I took covid very seriously. I closed my shop a few days before the government told me I had too and had a very safe and sanitary set up so that people who were very worried made buying a coffee from me one of the few public things they would do. I'm going to embrace the latest rule set as soon as my final two weeks is up. I'd say ask them if you can come in without a mask. I'm going to make a point of being very warm and welcoming to all my customers who don't wear one. We should be celebrating this.