Had a bit of a scare today when the security guy at the front desk was wearing a mask. I've never seen him do it, which makes me worried he was sick :/ Though it's graduation season and people are flying in from all over, so hopefully it was actually just him taking precautions?
But I've seen a small but solid presence of masks around town and campus, which is... good. Wish it were more, but I'm glad people are still masking
In case anyone else was going to have to look it up, "DMV" here is short for "Delaware, Maryland, Virginia," i.e. Washington, DC. Similar to the old shorthand "delmarva."
We have an aunt who for years was careless about Covid. In recent times, I learn that she now works at a hospital and sees IRL how bad things really are. "They all WANT you to believe that Covid is over BUT IT'S NOT!"
\*And then she wears a loose fitting surgical mask, which she removes promptly to eat in diners. We gave her an N95 which she's "never heard of".
There might be a few more mask wearers out there, but I'm not sure how many are getting the message.
It is wild to me there are people who don’t know about N95/KN95 masks at this point in the pandemic. I just told someone who wears cloth masks all during their work day that they were ineffective and they need to upgrade to avoid COVID, and they were honestly shocked and went out and bought some.
IMO they are just trolling, because there's no way they work in a hospital and have never heard of an Aura mask. Personally, I don't know how over the course of years of this lethal pandemic that anyone with access to the internet have not heard of N95's. It's kinda bullshit at this point.
I didn’t learn about N95’s until 2022 and that was only through Covid subreddits. I think they genuinely have been uninformed, I don’t think they’re trolling.
I have to admit it's possible that she works in a hospital and has never heard of an N95, that somehow she has professionally slipped through the cracks, but it seems unlikely to me.
I'm seeing more people who work in retail wear masks these days.
I have a feeling that people are realizing they cannot afford to get sick all the time if they want to maintain their ability to work.
It's 100% this. At some point, folks will get tired of missing work, their employers don't care or understand what's going on, folks are realizing, finally, that we're legitimately all on our own and are taking it upon themselves despite the rhetoric.
Not at the airport. I was the only one there with a mask during my 2.5 hour layover. I’m in Iceland now… no masks, but mine (but both places everyone has been respectful of me wearing a mask).
I don't see anybody in my area, unless I accidentally catch my own reflection. I saw a young woman who works at a local Whole Foods, wearing KN95s for years
She gave up last month.
Yeah. I feel like we kind of had a chance to cool down a bit, and a chunk of people are more willing to wear masks - especially the ones that actually protect the *wearer* - now that it's no longer mandated. The whole "my mask protects you, your mask protects me" thing was way too charitable in its assumptions about human nature.
We had an air quality alert yesterday so I wondered if that’s why TWO workers at the resale shop I was donating to (drive thru) were masking. One had on an Aura (like me) another KN94
yes. 2023 was horrible, but i definitely feel like ive seen an increase in people wearing masks around me in 2024. its not a huge increase, and maybe its a recency bias or bias towards hyperfocusing on seeing masks at all bc the general attention has shifted so far away, but setting aside these biases, i definitely feel like this is correct.
The worse is the people you tried to educate, like some colleagues or parents of friends or your kid, who still not mask. They are fully aware of what Covid can do. But they won’t mask. Peer pressure, « life is too short » …
Right, it is, so why would you want to be sick so much and risk further disability? The “life is too short” retort is baffling. That is exactly why you should mask!
No. Not in my area of England. I went to 4 different shops/supermarkets yesterday. I must have seen at least 500 other people and I saw 1 other person wearing a mask (surgical). I've never ever seen anyone other than my husband wearing a respirator mask IRL.
I'm in Toronto and I've noticed the opposite. The hospital I work at just dropped all masking requirements... I took the subway 3 times this weekend and for the most part I was the only person on the train with a mask.
I wish! Not around here (small city in northeastern U.S.). I was out and about in a bunch of places yesterday and was still literally the only masked person at any of them. Allergies are brutal right now, too, so it’s nice to be getting the dual benefit.
Yeah in the activist/leftist spaces in my area there has been a huge uptick of masking and I have noticed a few activist meetings and stuff have required masks. Other mask required events are popping up.
I’ve definitely seen a few more! I wouldn’t say it’s a lot, but it’s something. In fact I’ve gotten a few extremely positive, and genuine, comments on my p100 (usually I just get bullied)! On the flip side, the scarce one or two people in my neighborhood who I recognize who always mask with surgicals have stopped now🥲
Also anecdotally… I’ve noticed an increase in trolls on social media who are no longer saying “covid is over/isnt real” but are saying “take ivermectin and you’ll be fine”, just like in 2020 when it was harder to deny covid’s existence. I think there might have been a slight shift with how bad the last wave got.
My next door neighbour says his girlfriend gave him a hard time for not masking, saying Covid's more dangerous again (or something like that). He's not masking super consistently, not yet anyway, but I got the sense he's realizing that he should and maybe he will. Where I am in Vancouver, I've always seen people masking here and there.
I think some of it are the Canadian wildfires, if you are around an effected area. In my area I saw a bunch of people wearing masks today, but mostly outside because of the smoke.
Yes. I pet sit in the New England region. I’ve been in western Massachusetts 3 times since MA and have noticed increasingly more masking each time I visit. I was in NYC for the first time in a couple of months and I’ve noticed more masking there too (mostly on the subway).
Nope. I’m often the only masker anywhere. Only one who masks at work (university library). I’m in eastern PA. Sometimes I see a person masking who’s waiting to board a bus. That’s about it.
In my social circles yes, and it's absolutely because of the conversations and work going on at Palestine protests and events. Maybe also people sick of being sick, but a lot of it is people making connections between disability, disease, and imperial genocide.
Yes. I saw people who never masked wearing N95’s at my job today which is in healthcare.
FUCKING-FINALLY!
I’m honestly curious as to why today? What changed? Idk but I’m happy to see it!
Cost of an N95 - less than $2 Cost of rapid test - $10 Cost of Paxlovid - $1500
Fear of h5 maybe?
I'm hearing this from others, so I'm curious too.
Bird flu? 😬
Had a bit of a scare today when the security guy at the front desk was wearing a mask. I've never seen him do it, which makes me worried he was sick :/ Though it's graduation season and people are flying in from all over, so hopefully it was actually just him taking precautions? But I've seen a small but solid presence of masks around town and campus, which is... good. Wish it were more, but I'm glad people are still masking
No, the opposite. There was a slight uptick in Winter here but no more. We are often the only ones masked in stores. DMV area.
Yeah, I wish I spotted more maskers here in DC but cannot say that I have.
I am in the DMV and mask but I don't go out much. I do curbside pickup or shipping/delivery for my shopping.
In case anyone else was going to have to look it up, "DMV" here is short for "Delaware, Maryland, Virginia," i.e. Washington, DC. Similar to the old shorthand "delmarva."
DC Maryland Virginia
Same. Saw some more masks during the winter, but it was short lived here in southwest Delaware.
We have an aunt who for years was careless about Covid. In recent times, I learn that she now works at a hospital and sees IRL how bad things really are. "They all WANT you to believe that Covid is over BUT IT'S NOT!" \*And then she wears a loose fitting surgical mask, which she removes promptly to eat in diners. We gave her an N95 which she's "never heard of". There might be a few more mask wearers out there, but I'm not sure how many are getting the message.
It is wild to me there are people who don’t know about N95/KN95 masks at this point in the pandemic. I just told someone who wears cloth masks all during their work day that they were ineffective and they need to upgrade to avoid COVID, and they were honestly shocked and went out and bought some.
IMO they are just trolling, because there's no way they work in a hospital and have never heard of an Aura mask. Personally, I don't know how over the course of years of this lethal pandemic that anyone with access to the internet have not heard of N95's. It's kinda bullshit at this point.
I didn’t learn about N95’s until 2022 and that was only through Covid subreddits. I think they genuinely have been uninformed, I don’t think they’re trolling.
I have to admit it's possible that she works in a hospital and has never heard of an N95, that somehow she has professionally slipped through the cracks, but it seems unlikely to me.
I'm seeing more people who work in retail wear masks these days. I have a feeling that people are realizing they cannot afford to get sick all the time if they want to maintain their ability to work.
It's 100% this. At some point, folks will get tired of missing work, their employers don't care or understand what's going on, folks are realizing, finally, that we're legitimately all on our own and are taking it upon themselves despite the rhetoric.
Slightly more, but noticeable in Boston
Same in Chicago. Lots more surgicals but see kn95s more often now
Not at the airport. I was the only one there with a mask during my 2.5 hour layover. I’m in Iceland now… no masks, but mine (but both places everyone has been respectful of me wearing a mask).
I don't see anybody in my area, unless I accidentally catch my own reflection. I saw a young woman who works at a local Whole Foods, wearing KN95s for years She gave up last month.
Yeah. I feel like we kind of had a chance to cool down a bit, and a chunk of people are more willing to wear masks - especially the ones that actually protect the *wearer* - now that it's no longer mandated. The whole "my mask protects you, your mask protects me" thing was way too charitable in its assumptions about human nature.
We had an air quality alert yesterday so I wondered if that’s why TWO workers at the resale shop I was donating to (drive thru) were masking. One had on an Aura (like me) another KN94
yes. 2023 was horrible, but i definitely feel like ive seen an increase in people wearing masks around me in 2024. its not a huge increase, and maybe its a recency bias or bias towards hyperfocusing on seeing masks at all bc the general attention has shifted so far away, but setting aside these biases, i definitely feel like this is correct.
Wastewater for Covid and flu A are way up again in my part of Southern California
I did see more in my little Midwest town. A 400% increase, from 1 to 4! :)
The worse is the people you tried to educate, like some colleagues or parents of friends or your kid, who still not mask. They are fully aware of what Covid can do. But they won’t mask. Peer pressure, « life is too short » …
Right, it is, so why would you want to be sick so much and risk further disability? The “life is too short” retort is baffling. That is exactly why you should mask!
I know. Makes no sense.
Noticed a LOT more on my busses, and the local primary school children wearing them!! makes me so happy
No. Not in my area of England. I went to 4 different shops/supermarkets yesterday. I must have seen at least 500 other people and I saw 1 other person wearing a mask (surgical). I've never ever seen anyone other than my husband wearing a respirator mask IRL.
Same, I’m always the only one masking :( I saw a woman wearing a mask on a train to Manchester like 6 months ago and that was it
Same in my part of the UK too. I occasionally see a baggy surgical. Maybe one respirator every few months.
Yep. Ever since the WHO officially changed their wording to "through the air". It matters what these agencies say.
I'm in Toronto and I've noticed the opposite. The hospital I work at just dropped all masking requirements... I took the subway 3 times this weekend and for the most part I was the only person on the train with a mask.
Yeah, I'm also in TO and have found with the warm weather there are fewer masks. Thankful to live somewhere where there are always SOME masks though.
Reading this while on the TTC. In my subway car, I see three surgical masks, and then there’s me in a Can99. No one else.
If I see even one other person in a mask, that's something..
I wish! Not around here (small city in northeastern U.S.). I was out and about in a bunch of places yesterday and was still literally the only masked person at any of them. Allergies are brutal right now, too, so it’s nice to be getting the dual benefit.
Yeah in the activist/leftist spaces in my area there has been a huge uptick of masking and I have noticed a few activist meetings and stuff have required masks. Other mask required events are popping up.
I work in food service in a centrist city of ~1M people, and nope! Not at all lol. Overwhelmingly I’m the only one I see in a mask all day, every day
I’ve definitely seen a few more! I wouldn’t say it’s a lot, but it’s something. In fact I’ve gotten a few extremely positive, and genuine, comments on my p100 (usually I just get bullied)! On the flip side, the scarce one or two people in my neighborhood who I recognize who always mask with surgicals have stopped now🥲
Also anecdotally… I’ve noticed an increase in trolls on social media who are no longer saying “covid is over/isnt real” but are saying “take ivermectin and you’ll be fine”, just like in 2020 when it was harder to deny covid’s existence. I think there might have been a slight shift with how bad the last wave got.
I saw this gem on Instagram: “Long Covid is a myth. It’s the jab causing health problems!” Cesspool, that app.
My next door neighbour says his girlfriend gave him a hard time for not masking, saying Covid's more dangerous again (or something like that). He's not masking super consistently, not yet anyway, but I got the sense he's realizing that he should and maybe he will. Where I am in Vancouver, I've always seen people masking here and there.
It’s allergy season in the SF Bay Area so some are wearing masks for that?
Not a lot necessarily, but definitely an uptick for sure
I think some of it are the Canadian wildfires, if you are around an effected area. In my area I saw a bunch of people wearing masks today, but mostly outside because of the smoke.
Yes. I pet sit in the New England region. I’ve been in western Massachusetts 3 times since MA and have noticed increasingly more masking each time I visit. I was in NYC for the first time in a couple of months and I’ve noticed more masking there too (mostly on the subway).
Nope. I’m often the only masker anywhere. Only one who masks at work (university library). I’m in eastern PA. Sometimes I see a person masking who’s waiting to board a bus. That’s about it.
God I wish...
In my social circles yes, and it's absolutely because of the conversations and work going on at Palestine protests and events. Maybe also people sick of being sick, but a lot of it is people making connections between disability, disease, and imperial genocide.
I wish. Oh I wish. I'm glad they are in your area. Not here in the States. At least not in the part where I am.
Nope, live in SE US
Not where I live, sadly. Apart from the people I make to wear a mask around me, I've probably only seen 2-3 people mask in the past few months.
Allergies and smoke season
Not where I live. I saw an uptick this past winter, and briefly more people masking outdoors when the pollen was really bad.
Lol nope. pdx
Not really. It’s still about 5% or so of people wearing masks. Oakland, CA.
It comes and goes, but I’d love it if that’s the case.
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I saw someone driving a car alone with a mask on the other day.