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The tide may be turning for COVID but the damage done is decades away from full realization. How many families and close friends are now divided? More than zero, our family it is no exception. It does seem fall along the lines of people who think disobeying authority is completely unacceptable and those who think it is a moral imperative to do so. It doesn't seem to matter how many horrors can be attributed to that type of thinking of blind compliance, but the zombie armies have been created and they aren't going anywhere. People have chosen other people as their gods, suffering is inevitable in their efforts to please them.

I am sure the big statistics will come for all the lost value from optimizing the health and welfare 0.003% vulnerable (a great deal towards those who put themselves there from over consumption of garbage or lack of discipline in the fitness space), but the willingness for the society to prioritize the old, sick, and wealthy (after all where is all this cultural pressure coming from) at the expense of the young, healthy, and poor is just something straight out of a dystopian novel in this context. Buckle up, the next "emergency" is already here and sure to be followed by several more "world crises". The powerful are corrupted and I don't see them relinquishing any of it in the near future. I mean look at the all the well behaved citizens they have! Best find your people and build your life with community and meaning with orthogonal systems, and watch out for those zombies................they will eat your brains, defensive mindset required.

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For lots of reasons. I haven’t worn a mask to regular stores since the beginning of this fiasco. In the beginning they would sometimes have door monitors to nag you, but usually they didn’t actually say anything, and once I told them about my medical exemption, they almost always relented. I have never had another customer actually say something to me about not wearing a mask, though I imagined a couple of disapproving looks.

However, there are certain activities where it is nearly impossible to avoid a mask. These include any kind of appointment with the medical establishment, flying, and anything where it is necessary to make a reservation and where rescheduling someplace else would be hugely inconvenient. But for regular retail establishments, it is just too easy to tell them you’ll go somewhere else.

Certain kinds of stores are much more likely to enforce a mask mandate, like the “woke” REI store. A while back, REI had two mask monitors guarding the door and you also had to get your temperature taken before you could go inside. I inquired about a medical exemption and they replied that they had made accommodations for persons claiming medical exemptions by allowing them to wear a face shield or another kind of face covering. I told them I would go someplace else. I noted their huge parking lot was almost empty.

On the other hand, places like Tractor Supply often had fewer than 50% of patrons wearing masks and places like the Archery/gun store had zero masks.

I used to feel slightly self-conscious being the only customer without a mask, but it wasn’t long before I started walking just a little taller because I knew I was one of the few people who wasn’t afraid to use my own judgement and not give in to peer pressure. Not that people wearing masks weren’t thinking for themselves too, but it never seemed that way.

I just got back from visiting Virginia and caught covid from my niece while I was there. I feel pretty tired and weak, but it would be worth it if I thought having already acquired immunity would shield me from having to obey mask mandates and passport requirements in the future, but of course I know it won’t make any difference. So far, I’ve been able to evade the persistent contact tracers, so I do have a little bit of satisfaction from that.

Welcome to the world of visible faces. I hope they don’t put too much pressure on you at work.

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I've seen way more people being lax about masks, especially people who've been vaccinated. Looks like the state bureaucracy is still enforcing masks on restaurant workers and distancing on lots of businesses https://www.georgia.org/covid19bizguide

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Dude I stopped wearing them (for the most part) in July. Only once did I have another customer freak out on me, and in a store I rarely go to.

The grocery store I frequent everyone seems to have gotten tired of asking or they don’t care anymore. I couldn’t be bothered to anymore and that’s the only way things will change. I’m in New York too, so they’re a bit slower.

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deletedApr 16, 2021Liked by Peter R. Quiñones
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