I just realised we still need to wear masks [vent-ish]

Submitted by lamppost in lobby

Covid cases are still rising in the US [https://peoplescdc.org/covid-this-week/] and Canada [https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/current-situation.html] & it's still killing immunocompromised people & leaving those infected possibly disabled from long covid. (Granted the situation in Canada where I live is better but that doesn't change anything)

To say "I just realised" was a lie, actually; I knew this all along somewhere but made a point to ignore it. Because me and my family & friends are all able-bodied, young and physically healthy. I wanted to move past 2020, and I could afford to not care about the consequence so I didn't care-- the cognitive dissonance is so fucking scary.

I also realise I'm making this post all about myself, but I'm trembling so much I could barely type. I'm a Chinese immigrant and I remember the start of the pandemic when I felt so helpless that the government did fuck all and people laughed at the Chinese diaspora urging precaution while our loved ones at home were dying. And in the first 2 years I was so, so angry at people not masking, getting together, attending events and pretending everything was okay when it's not. I think I didn't want to stomach the fact that the majority of the population was fine with leaving the most marginalised to fend for themselves anymore so I just became one of them.

Regardless, I'll definitely return to wearing an n95 in public and you should too if you aren't doing that right now. God I feel terrible

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Comments

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Exlurker wrote

Don't beat yourself up, i've been wearing a mask when inside shops all this time and I know that my mask wearing has hardly been seamless and universal. It's a tough thing to keep swimming widdershins in a world that pretends covid-19 no longer exists.

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Burwicke wrote

I haven't stopped masking since the pandemic started (I remember tearing up t-shirts to make masks out of when PPEs were in short supply at the very beginning) and I might never stop at this point. I truly see no reason why I should ever stop.

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OnlyCirceOus wrote

exhausted from dealing with a house full of covid picked up by the kids the first full week of school

Exactly this, thank you. Even before considering long covid this is the polar opposite of fun. Please be safe.

💜💕💜

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mindforgedmanacles wrote

I'm the only one masked in college and the indifference of my peers is driving me insane. My immune system was throttled through a bad COVID infection last year and people I thought I could trust are just showing me how much they don't give a shit about my existence, or of the immunocompromised in general. It makes me suicidal, tjis is passive eugenics in action.

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DenardosBae wrote

Quite late to commenting but just wanted to say, I super-duper feel that too. My entire family has genetic collagen and autoimmune disorders, basically from the start of the pandemic hitting when people were like "oh it's just going to kill the elderly and infirm, NBD" it has been a real mind fvk. It absolutely is passive eugenics in action. And maybe not always so passive since a huge portion of the population was determined to blow their coronavirus germs everywhere and ignore mask mandates. I hope you are as well as possible today.

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persepolis wrote

you "should" do this and that. general harm reduction put on its maxium is suicidal at least in spirit. but there's a trouble that you "should" people need to consider is which causes more harm: mask pollution or not participating to this particular subset of plastic industry

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Radriendil wrote

All the reasons people come up with to excuse why they don't want to mask are weak, but plastic industry pollution is a novel one.

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rockshow4070 wrote

Yeah if you’re that concerned get reusable fabric masks. It’s a whole hell of a lot better than just no mask.

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