I Know I’m in The Minority But I Have To Ask

As someone who has been "locked down" in California, it's really not that bad. Yes, we have protocols in place but we're very densely populated.

I wear a mask in public and in large groups. If I'm outside walking down a normal street on a normal day I don't mask.

The only thing they are asking of us is to wear a mask (is it really that big of a deal?!) and in order to get service inside in some places you need proof of vaccination.

If you refuse to get vaccinated there are still options for you (IE: proof of negative covid tests to get in large gatherings like sporting events, outdoor seating vs. indoor seating at restaurants, etc).

We were relying on herd immunity to help this covid wave past but the ones who kick and scream the loudest and cry the hardest are the ones prolonging this. I will wear my mask until whenever, it really is no bother.

And for the record I wear a mask over 10 hours a day standing in front of an open-flame oven that reaches temps over 700*. And I'm just fine.

I go to Disneyland. I've flown on a plane to see my parents. I'm not living in fear. It's called responsibility or maybe even decency. Yanno, good old fashioned common courtesy.

That’s absolutely ridiculous, and for you, that’s really something. 

It’s like saying people who wear seatbelts are “living in fear.” No, it’s not. No one is getting in a car and thinking, “I’m so afraid I’m going to get in a car accident.” It’s basic knowledge that there are risks involved with riding in a car, and doing what can be done to mitigate those risks. Second nature.

I agree with everything you wrote! I’m also a healthcare worker and have worked throughout the pandemic. I’m mad that we keep repeating the same nonsense and am just plain tired and overwhelmed. If you don’t believe in the science of the vaccine then don’t go running to the hospital when you get Covid and screaming for the same science you don’t believe in to save you.

Sadly, this last go around, we ran out of beds. They were doubling patients in single occupancy rooms. Nurses were given too heavy of a patient load and we are severely understaffed. This means that if you do go to the hospital, then you probably won’t receive as good of care because the system is severely overwhelmed and it’s not going to get better.

I’m not living my life in fear at all. I am just tired of this merry go round that will keep repeating itself. The area my hospital serves has less than 40% vaccine rate but plenty of people who run to the hospital for treatment and then complain that their call bell wasn’t answered more quickly.

Indeed.

They are literally one case away from seeing the other side. If one member of their family is suddenly seriously ill with Covid thanks to Omicron it might all make a bit more sense perhaps. Having been 'lucky so far' is a precarious place to be.

Just this week a 34 year old I’ve known all his life died of Covid. But at least he was living his life. A dear friend had the heart surgery she desperately needs rescheduled because the hospital is short of staff due to the pandemic. But at least all those Covid patients in all those hospital beds were living their lives. My sweet niece, just a couple years into her nursing career is already feeling burnout, and begging people on social media to vax, mask, and stay home when sick.

I had a pretty decent summer, ( well, except for healing from a trip down the stairs). Once ,vaxxed, I visited family in another state, attended several concerts and plays, and enjoyed having friends over for dinner. It’s because my state is so careful that I felt comfortable doing those things. Yes, we talk about our vaccinations. Why wouldn’t we? I have worn masks since March 2020, and I have no intention of stopping anytime soon. Frankly, I’m hoping people will feel comfortable wearing one whenever they feel it’s right for their own or others’ sake from here on out. I intend to.

I have big plans involving Billy Joel, Mockingbird, and the Big Apple in February, but I’m seeing the Omicron variant, and even closures happening on Broadway right now, and am not too sure how this will play out. I seriously don’t understand the idea that it’s possible not to even think about Covid. It’s just a fact of life at the moment.

I see 60-100+ people each week for work. I have only ever been terrified of unknowingly giving it to someone else & killing them.

That is still my fear.

I wear a mask & carry on. I’m as vaccinated as I can be. If there’s another shot I’ll get it too.

The only thing I’m not comfortable going back to is ultra large gatherings. But I was not a crowd person before all this. Like theater. It’s a combination of risk vs reward and the fact that I never liked crowded situation pre pandemic so. Movie theaters are probably a never again thing for me as I had way too many issues about going to one prepandemic that when I add in the fact that I could unknowingly infect a whole theater of people if I didn’t know I had is too much. I can wait to watch it at home. But that was my usual take pre pandemic as well.

Broadway I am also still hesitant but I assume someday I’ll find something I want to see bad enough to tip the scale. Broadway theaters are kept more clean and exterminated more often so my only pre pandemic ‘issue’ with them was affording it. So it is easier to envision eventually going back.

I don't think mitigating your risk is loving in fear. I have been on the conservative side of this the entire pandemic. I kept a tight lid on things until vaccination. I took off my mask for a little while and resumed mostly normal activity levels.

I live in Michigan and covid is running rampant. So I have put my mask back on. And in some respects I have minimized my exposure level. Like for instance before Thanksgiving and Christmas. Because I wasn't going another holiday without my family like we did last year. After the holidays I will isolate for a bit to make sure I'm not sick to go on my Florida trip. But I will go on a Florida trip which I wasn't willing to do a year ago.

And I will finally attend a small concert in February. In a venue that requires masks. I would not choose to attend if they didn't require masks unless it were outdoors.

I locked down for a long while and I'm not willing to do that again. However I am willing to weigh risk against mental health benefit. And I am willing to try to make smart decisions. Not just for me but for everyone around me.

I'm not living in fear. And I don't even think a year ago I was living in fear. I think I was just being respectful of the people around me, the medical system, and protecting myself. But now that I'm vaccinated, I'm willing to take more risks. And I've accepted that it is probably a matter of time before I get covid because there are so many idiots who refuse masks and vaccines.

Locking down for a while was hard. And I've come to my decision to expand my willingness to put myself at risk specifically for the mental health gain. But I think it is incredibly judgmental to call out people doing it differently than you are. Everyone needs to take the risks or not take the risks they are comfortable with. I have no judgment about any of that. But I will judge you hard if you choose not to get vaccinated or wear a mask. Simple things to protect everyone.

It's also quite funny about people's vaccination status. Most of my friends are smart and looked forward to vaccination. I have some really dumb family members though. I know exactly who the antivax crowd is. They wear it like a badge of honor. They post meme after meme talking about it. Just like some of the posters in this thread, they've made it clear they think everyone who is not living like it's 2019 are sheep or living in fear.

I think of it like the seatbelt analogy.

This is an excellent point. In many parts of the country, our healthcare systems are strained. Doctors and nurses are exhausted and disgusted-for very good reason. Whether you want to believe it or not, that is a very big problem.

What ever happened to “doing your part?” Is it really so much to ask that you get vaccinated and wear a mask in crowds?

You would think this is happening but a lot of times it’s not.

I see it at work and in my personal life.

Even if their family member goes home watching them recover isn’t enough either. It’s mind boggling.

You said it perfectly. Well done.

I wholeheartedly agree. I don’t know why I keep coming back to this thread, because it just raises my BP to read some of the very predictable responses. 

And, as has been true since I got my first vaccine in February (I’m another person who is high risk and also regularly sees my high-risk mom), I have absolutely no problem telling others my vaccine status and my opinions regarding vaccination. (one look at my avatar says it all). I can’t fathom wanting to keep it a secret, unless you are like Aaron Rogers and lie about it in order to disregard rules put in place to protect others from your stupid choices.   

I believe in science and think that people who willfully don’t get vaccinated (save for those who medically cannot), are akin to flat earthers or people who think that the sun revolves around the earth. I don’t have to see atoms with my naked eyes to believe that everything is made up of them, because science says so. Vaccines work - they protect both individuals from serious cases of COVID, and would protect society from raging spread and hospital overload if more people got them, in addition to masking indoors. 

Because of the unvaccinated, thousands more people will die - either of COVID or because the hospitals are so overloaded with COVID patients that they won’t get the care that they need for other conditions. 

I made the choice to go to work in K-12 schools this year, so I am hardly living in fear. Our schools have a 100% mask mandate though. The only time anyone’s mask can come off is at lunch or during outside recess. If the kids were unmasked, I don’t know if I would have made the same choice.

I am fortunate to live in an area where 94% who can are fully vaccinated (I just double-checked the data, so it is accurate). I still wear a mask indoors when I am out and about - most places of business have a mask mandate and no one seems to mind. Wearing a mask is no big deal and since it protects others, I willingly do it. That isn’t fear, it is a belief in science and a desire to protect the well-being of my community. 

“Living in fear for years is not the answer for everyone”. That the sanctimonious bullshit pinklady is talking about. You sit here and tell everyone that YOU have to decide what’s right for YOU but then you sit in judgment of those that make a decision that’s different than your because according to you upthread you can’t wrap your brain around it.
Everyone’s comfort level is different, everyone’s living situation is different. I’m not living in fear but I am living with the knowledge that 800,000 Americans are dead, and millions of people are mourning those losses. I live with the knowledge that my podunk little town of 2000 may get away with our current standing of 2 deaths but that people that live in NYC or Boston (whom I am wedged between) have not faired as well simply because of the close proximity in which they live. I also have the knowledge that people are dying of things other than Covid because they can’t get medical care because the hospitals are under staffed and overwhelmed. My sons girlfriends sister just had the worst imaginable birthing experience because she had to have an emergency C-section and the doctor was ALONE because there were no nurses available. But what choice did he have, lose 2 patients or get that baby out?!? Thankfully they both lived but she will never have another child again. That shit would less likely have happened if people had taken Covid more seriously in the beginning.
You think we are living in fear, no we are living with the great burden of doing our part to help our fellow man and to keep others from joining the ranks of the 800,000 lives already lost.
You are confusing choices with fear. I choose to not to go to a venue that doesn’t value their employees by not mandating masks, I choose to not eat at a restaurant that doesn’t ask for vaccine status or a negative Covid test because they don’t value their patrons, I choose to mask up, wipe down my shopping cart, and hand sanitize with I get back to my car because I value the lives of my kids who have respiratory issues. I choose to stay healthy and avoid unnecessary risks because I value our overworked healthcare providers. Everyone keeps talking about their mental health, which I whole heartedly agree with, but what about the mental health of the people who are watching fellow Americans die every day in a wretched and painful way? Think about how many phone calls those nurses and doctors have made day in and day out to families. What kind of burden are we putting on others because of our choices?!?

So call it fear, call it not living my life, whatever. I call it choices for the greater good.

I read some of these posts on here (see bolded) and have the same reaction. I am dismayed by the human capacity for self-delusion, for the catastrophic selfishness and lack of compassion displayed here.

My life is as normalized as I feel comfortable: I go to yoga and the gym and to restaurants. I have traveled by both car and air, and have a trip planned to Arkansas in January, another dumbass hotspot, to see my 85-year old father who is on oxygen. Yet I will hunker down and restrict indoor activities in the 2 weeks before the trip, so as not to bring Covid with me, as I could never forgive myself. I make sacrifices because I love.

I see a lot of references to "fear" on this thread. Bullshit. I'm not afraid. I'm furious. Furious that we are pushing our healthcare workers to the brink, furious that dumbasses who refuse to get vaxxed are taking up precious space in ICUs where there's no room for others who need treatment--who might be my father, my husband, my son, me, anyone I love. Furious because we did not have to be here. 

I'm not afraid of Covid--I've done everything I can to mitigate my risk. But even while I act responsibly, I won't deny it can be an inconvenience. Friends took me out to dinner for my birthday this week. Hugs, kisses around the table. Woke up the next day with a sore throat. Self-quarantined so a friend dropped off an instant Covid test. Negative. Went for PCR test. Negative. But in the meantime, I impacted the activities of 5 other people, as well as myself, had to cancel 3 appointments at the last minute, which, again, impacts other people.

And herein is the crux: this isn't a disease of rugged individualism. We are all in this together, and our actions affect other people. And it's people like you two, living in a state of denial, who have put the rest of us here. To that I say, fuck you.

I’m not sure if I’m misunderstanding you, but the unvaxxed are the ones crowding the hospitals, and vaxxed/breakthrough cases are resting at home, how are they adding to the fatigue?  We have lots of healthcare frontliners in our family, and it is unvaxxed who are crowding hospitals, not breakthroughs.