storewanderer wrote: ↑April 26th, 2020, 1:17 pmI think if you want to do something badly enough you will wear the mask. If I had to, for instance, go in an airplane (either for work or for personal reasons), go to a hospital or any medical provider really (either for personal reasons or for work or other reasons), I would feel much better wearing a mask for that couple of hours.
But now tell me I have to wear a mask to go to a leisure activity such as a movie or go bowling and I will just go without doing either activity. Wearing a mask isn't real comfortable for long time periods and it is hot and uncomfortable when it is summer.
The mask is only safe if you put it on, keep it on, and do not touch it. The second you touch the mask, the safety is compromised. In retail stores now I am seeing so many customers and employees touching their masks, taking them on and off, etc. This completely compromises the mask. I was guilty of it myself the first time I went out with one as I posted here 2-3 weeks ago.
We have gone from one extreme to the other here in the US where wearing a mask was not so acceptable to suddenly now being something of a "requirement" even blindly and even if not used properly. This mask situation needs some serious guidance and people need to understand how to use masks in order to get the benefit from the mask use and not negate the benefits.
Movie theaters - I simply do not see coming back very successfully with a mask requirement. Also this social distancing thing. Can they even be profitable at 50% capacity? I doubt it. How do you eat popcorn with a mask on? You don't. Imagine swallowing the popcorn wrong and coughing in a theater, wow, you will probably be thrown out and subject to a health check. How do you laugh or smile to whoever you are with at the movie in reaction to a movie scene with a mask on? You don't. I suppose people can adapt and make it work or they can just stay home where they do not have to worry about a mask and feel paranoid about catching some virus and be able to freely express their emotions during the movie.
Is this really the direction we want to be taking as a society?
My thoughts exactly. I can wear a mask to go to the grocery store, pharmacy or other essential things for maybe 30 minutes. I get the need and I'm fine with that. But for totally nonessential things like going to a theater, bowling, theme park etc, forget it. If there is such a risk involved that I need to wear a mask I'd just rather stay home and not need the protective gear.
I think most people would likely feel the same way.
Here in FL I read that theaters will definitely not be opening whenever the state opens. Whatever got into GA to reopen all the things it's opening, I think the majority disagree with.
This is not complying with the state criteria for a sustained 14 day drop in cases. Few if any areas of the country could fit that criteria at the moment, and I don't think we're anywhere close to doing it anywhere. I think the majority of people realize this.
I'm not entirely sure why the cases keep rising so much. It's not like we're dramatically increasing testing capacity and testing wider ranges of society.
I do not believe we will ever likely reach phase two or three of the CDC guidelines, if we're even able to get through the starting gate without having cases keep rising. This is a very contagious virus.
Our best hope at this point is probably a vaccine or other treatments that cut the virus risk far down. I was reading last night that there are actually some promising vaccines in the testing phases now. That's where my hope is at the moment with this mess. With this kind of an emergency they are really pushing hard. Some are saying at least one could even be ready for production by the fall if the testing goes well. The issue is manufacturing and distribution is a slow process, and imagine trying to get a vaccine to almost everyone in a population! That sounds like a very time consuming process as well.
So that said I'm not sure how we'll get out of this. I'd like to think it's sooner than later but the possibility of that is looking pretty low given how the cases keep climbing. I think we have pretty much flattened the curve in some areas, so I think people have taken the social distancing seriously, but the problem is we have to keep the curve flattened, which means we can't really get things moving again until the virus is eradicated, or is otherwise no longer an issue. And that's where the virus has us stuck. Unless we locked everyone into their homes and delivered everything they needed I don't think we could quash the virus with how well it spreads and how much it has spread. Some countries are in different situations on that.
I think the CDC downplaying mask wearing was entirely due to the lack of them. If you look at the 1918 pandemic, mask wearing was widespread. I believe San Francisco even made it law that masks be worn in public at the time. So I don't see why anyone would say it wouldn't be a help. Like anything they can be misused or give people false assurance that they are safe. To me masks are a preventative measure in the situation. Wearing them all the time is just not practical, so I'd rather limit doing the things that would require me to wear one in order to stay safe.