Okay, I’ll do it. Only because I’m soooooooooo frustrated. I’m 62 tomorrow. I have a compromised immune system. A double-whammy. So, I take extra care to make sure I’m safe when I’m out and about. I live in the South, so most of the folks around me watch and believe the news from a certain major news channel and don’t bother ever reading for themselves. (I’m trying not to be nasty, really!) The problem is that these folks believe that wearing a mask somehow infringes on their freedom, and they choose not to. Which means, I have to be extra cautious when I’m out and about, which is rare because I know they aren’t taking precautions to save my life.
They think masks are inconvenient, mess up their makeup, their hair, that they look stupid wearing them. They hear that masks aren’t effective keeping them from being infected but don’t seem to get that the masks do help prevent the droplets they breathe out from getting into the air and onto other surfaces. My wearing a mask means I’m doing my part to keep you safe. You not wearing a mask is telling me you don’t care about my life. That’s how I see it, and it angers me when I pass someone who smirks at me who isn’t wearing a mask. And anger is not too strong a word for what I feel, because I think my life is worth protecting just as much as yours is.
Am I wrong? Here’s your chance to vent, whether you’re with me or ag‘in me.
I may not comment on everyone’s post, but I will read your words. I have work to do today. I’m a writer and an editor. I work seven days a week.
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I live in NYC. I can’t believe some ppl usually from out of town, think it’s their civil right to be selfish enough to expose me, (also your age) to an, as yet, incurable virus. Best protection is when we all wear masks outdoors not just me. The willful ignorance is astonishing. The nastiness, the violence over this issue is appalling. The giant orange panda has made it about red and blue- when it’s clearly about health. And surprise-now it will take even longer for the economy to bounce back.
I grew up on stories my mother told me about how her mother came to this country as a 23 year old widow with three children because the three year influenza pandemic killed her husband in 1918.This virus kills.
Sorry for the rant. People need to educate themselves so we can flatten the curve everywhere till there’s a vaccine.
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Well, I’m in Va Beach and I wear my mask pretty much everywhere. And most folks are wearing masks. We have gone out to dinner 3 times now at local places that used 50% capacity and distancing inside. I’m 64 with no other risk factors, but hubs is 65 with mild diabetes, so we are careful. I think you are smart. You can’t control others, only yourself. The stupidity of some folks just amazes me though. Damn.
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I also think people are being inconsiderate, rude and basically stupid for not wearing a mask. I don’t actually have a compromised immune system although I have exercise induced asthma but I care for my mom who is 87 and has severe Alzheimer’s who will not make it if she gets it. My daughter and son live upstairs and mom and I live downstairs. My daughter and granddaughter have been to a store twice since March 13 but I haven’t been to a store since March 13. I did however have to go to the DMV for a driver’s license because I had an eight year license and had to get a new picture. They took by appointment only. I live in Idaho where we started stage 4 of reopening and because of the self serving people we started spiking at 100 new cases a day and the county I live in slid back to a modified stage 3. I’m so frustrated with these people who want schools to open in the fall but refuse to wear a mask to try to curb this virus. I think anyone who goes to an event center, fair, concert, car race, or anywhere in public, etc should be told in no uncertain terms to wear a mask, stay home or be fined. Their rights are no better than mine.
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Well here is my rant! My college girlfriends and I have a Girl’s Weekend every summer for the last 30 years. Now I wear my mask, socially distance and don’t go to the bars & restaurants open here ( Wisconsin). I grocery shop for my 87 year old father. Now someone my husband knows goes to bars with his wife and are now positive. Found out the night before I was suppose to go on the aforementioned weekend. Everyone has a choice to wear masks and follow guidelines, but when it affects me, I want to kick them! Now I am stuck at home while my friends meet!
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I am with you. I am 77 and have good health. My daughter is 47 and has immune disorders. Her husband needs to stay well and take of her and help me. We all wear masks and gloves and/use hand sanitizer. We might slip up, but if everyone is careful we should all be safe. Our younger folks are paying now for their careless. Some of their parents are paying, too.
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I live in a state (Colorado) and an area (Denver/Boulder) where most people wear masks. People who don’t get heavily shamed. And I don’t feel bad about it. I’m an old lady and I want to live to see my grandchildren again.
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I’m with you! My family wears a mask each time we shop. My husband and I both have diabetes plus he has congestive heart failure. My next oldest daughter works in a grocery store. All workers are required to wear masks.
Georgia is having a rise in numbers. And yet, people are complaining that they can’t get service at certain establishments without a mask on. Tough noogies, dumbass. I’m trying to keep you, your family, MY family, and myself, safe. Someone has to care. You not wearing one proves you don’t.
People who try to argue saying, if your that concerned, don’t go out, but then yell and complain their rights to getting a hair cut or a manicure are being infringed upon, are spewing nothing but confusion. If YOUR rights to those are being infringed upon, then MY rights to go out wearing a mask are just important. Correct? Or do these people embrace the orange ideology of me first and screw everyone else?
Miss Delilah, I’ve been around long enough to know some of your family’s medical history. Wear your mask and eff the naysayers.
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I commend you for your beliefs and applaud your sticking to them! Good for you! Me? I am a tad bit older than you (only three years) and also have a compromised system. But, I hate the mask. It actually scares me to see people wearing them. My solution? I stay home. I haven’t been out of my home since this began. Sad really because I was just starting to recover from agoraphobia after being housebound for ten years. I could go to the grocery store and occasionally out to lunch during off hours. I had even gone to my brother’s for Thanksgiving last year and had a good time. Now, well, I am back to the beginning. Someone else shops for my groceries and I stay home. I am having anxiety attacks more often again. Frankly, even if there wasn’t the issue of “to mask or not to mask,” I don’t think I would go out. It’s damn scary out there these days. I will stay in and read, or listen to, my books. Do some crafting. I’ll just stay in my safe place.
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I am all for the masks right now. I am not in one of the groups who is more high risk, nor is anyone in my immediate family. But I have older relatives who would be in the high risk groups, and even though they’re far away, there are plenty of older people here who are someone’s family, and I wear the mask not just for me, but for them. It’s simple human decency.
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Howdy. I’m 70…the hunk is 73. Both of us have a long laundry lists of compromising medical issues. Except for doctor appts., I stay home. Always wear a mask outside. The hunk does our shopping, always with a mask. This is life as we know it for the foreseeable future.
Staying home is not an issue for me, but I grew up in an era where we entertained ourselves. I love reading, writing, and needlecrafts. I’m not much for TV, etc. I think many of those who don’t do well at home don’t know how to deal with being on their own.
I absolutely believe everyone should wear a mask. Period.
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Delilah, I think right now wearing a mask is a sign of consideration and courtesy. It’s shame that some people care more about their supposed freedoms and rights than about a simple thing they can do to help protect everyone around them.
Our family wears masks when we are out in public; we will not always when exercising (outdoors, away from other people), but otherwise, absolutely. It’s the least we can do.
Now finding comfortable, durable masks? We’re still working on that, LOL!
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Preach it sister! You are absolutely correct.
Like any good capitalist, I’ve started to vote with my pocket book, and will not patronize a business where employees won’t wear masks. I also take the time to thank the employees I run into when their business does require masks.
Freedom is great until the exercise of that freedom adversely affects others. We all have the freedom to wave our arms around, but when it connects with someone else’s face that freedom ends. Not wearing a mask could adversely affect the health of others. This is a public health issue. Such a simple thing to do for our fellow humans.
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Speaking up from Ohio, as a 50-ish 😉 year old with a middle-schooler in my house along with college-bounce-backed twins who worked through quarantine at essential businesses (grocery and a food delivery joint)…
We are mask wearers. We are shelter(ers)-in-place. We are a politically split household (although The Man has now been turned off of his political party so badly that they may NEVER get him back)… and we don’t watch “that” news channel. I have an elder 90 miles away I haven’t seen other than over Zoom since February because I’m scared to possibly transmit something to him (did you see that my two eldest kids have been working in essential businesses throughout all of this??).
Here’s my philosophy on it, and on people in general (based on generalizations, in the US)…
I equate this to when my kids starting driving a car. We made sure they did the lawfully mandated practice hours, while some kids they knew had parents who “fudged it”. We made sure they did in-person classes, while some kids they knew did them online and just turned on the videos and walked away while they played. We made sure they passed our driving “test” before we let them take the state test… and then we just hope for the best every time they leave the driveway. Why? Because it’s not my kids I’m worried about on the road – IT’S THE OTHER PEOPLE ON THE ROAD. The people who feel they are ENTITLED to “get through that light” because THEIR needs supersede anyone else’s. That feeling of entitlement is PERVASIVE in our society and WOW could I go on forever!
I’m an introvert. This hasn’t been as hard for me as for other people. However, YES, I REALLY would like to have one of my monthly social gatherings here at the house. Have I? Even outside? NO. While I may trust my friends to do correct protocol, I can’t trust in what they people THEY are exposed to are doing… so it’s just not worth it to me.
I’m also worried about August and school starting. Our school system thought it would be a good idea to start football practice with “light contact”. Well, now that is shut down because 2 kids have COVID. DUH!!!!! And I’m supposed to send my kid to middle-school in 2 months wearing a mask, and hope that all the OTHER kids are wearing masks – while leaving this “policing” up to the overworked teachers who can barely fit in what they need to get done in a day to the point that they can’t even control the use of cell phones in their classrooms? No. Just no.
There’s just no sense of service or compassion in many people nowadays; and I’ve been thinking lately about the sacrifices the WWII generation made and what the world would be like NOW if THAT generation had had the same sense of entitlement that many do right now. The whole landscape of the world might be completely different…
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I’m with you 100%. As an older lady, like 69 older, I try to do all I can to protect myself and others.
I mean, what the hell can it hurt, right? I’d rather be safe than sorry. Really irritates me when I see older people at the grocery story with no mask, even 1 man in the motorized cart with oxygen in his nose!! Now is that ignorant or what??
Like I said what can it hurt??
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I am in Florida and our cases are sky high now. I put my self into isolation again. Someone needs to smarten up and wear masks. I am so disappointed in some people. Requiring you to wear a mask does not violate your rights any more than seat belts do.
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I have been staying home mostly, but when I go out, I always have my mask on. I admit to seeing a good number of others wearing them, but occasionally I will see a family out and about with only one person wearing a mask.
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As Debra G. said, the numbers are rising in Florida. I am mostly staying at home and always wear a mask when going out. We have been out to eat once with trusted friends who were leaving to go back north until January. We hadn’t seen them in 2 months even though they only live a couple of streets away in our mobile home park.
With the cases rising so much I’m ready to go back to full on lock down. I hope we all make it through this trying time.
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I am with you all the way. I wear a mask when I get out of my car unless I am home. If I am waiting for someone to come to the house, I have a mask on when I answer the door. I now say thank you to people wearing masks and try to point out that a mask has to cover your mouth and nostrils to work!
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I wear my mask, I see it as a sign of respect to others. It is amazing how many people don’t….
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Wow!! Thanks so much for sharing. I caught a note of frustration throughout your posts. Now, with Fauci predicting we may reach 100,000 new cases a day, and others saying we are still in the first wave of this disease, it’s imperative that everyone get on the badwagon.