"COVID sucks"

[12string]

Just gotta vent.

Ordered takeout from a local restaurant.  Went to pick it up, they were complying with all of the capacity and table placement restrictions.  Of course, no masks on any of the diners, even the ones with no food or drinks in front of them.  Not even trying, it's not hard.  It was frustrated, and I was a little angry.

Why?

Right after ordering, got a call, my wife's cousin just passed from COVID.  68.  Quite healthy.  Primary caregiver to his wife who had a stroke about 15 years ago.  About the nicest guy you would ever meet, just a good man.  Apparently one of his coworkers was being careless and spread it around.

3 girls came in for a table, the hostess turned them away, restaurant is full.  As I left with my food right behind them, they all removed their masks and started the discussion about how they now would have to find ANOTHER restaurant with the phrase "COVID sucks!" 

Yeah.  It does.  Not like they think.  I did restrain myself, had I said anything it would have gone badly.

[donkpow]

Sorry about the loss of your relative.

[Kirby]

I'm very sorry to hear about your wife's cousin.  How sad.

[Prophet Zacharia]

1 hour ago, 12string said:

my wife's cousin just passed from COVID. 

Sorry, 12Strings.

My wife and I went on a walk on Saturday. I saw a huge majority of people without a mask on. Runners (which I can partially understand, I guess, but apparently gone are the days when joggers would pull a bandana over their mouths as they approached other pedestrians). Dog walkers. Baby stroller pushers. Teenagers. All types of self-determined exemptions from our governor’s mandate to wear a mask in public. My wife and I are both vaccinated, so aren’t worried about our own health, but wear masks to help prevent the further deterioration of society from this virus. People are just too self-absorbed.

[Razors Edge ★]

17 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Sorry, 12Strings.

My wife and I went on a walk on Saturday. I saw a huge majority of people without a mask on. Runners (which I can partially understand, I guess, but apparently gone are the days when joggers would pull a bandana over their mouths as they approached other pedestrians). Dog walkers. Baby stroller pushers. Teenagers. All types of self-determined exemptions from our governor’s mandate to wear a mask in public. My wife and I are both vaccinated, so aren’t worried about our own health, but wear masks to help prevent the further deterioration of society from this virus. People are just too self-absorbed.

I aim for keeping a lot of distance from folks when outside.  It is very easy to keep distance high and duration of being in the vicinity low with many outdoor activities, and a mask would generally be unnecessary.  I'm not sure what the PA order is, but I don't feel bad hopping out of my car in a parking lot, starting to walk towards the store while pulling my mask out of my pocket, and putting in on as I get near the door.  Maybe I'm doing it wrong, but it really is well-ventilated, not densely populated, and often in sunny conditions, so I'm pretty okay with it. Compared to folks eating indoors - even at 10% capacity, I'd rate it way safer for all involved.

[12string]

It's jut so infuriating.  The doctors are screaming "We're almost there, don't screw it up now" and, nope, we just gotta go sit in restaurants or go on spring break without a mask.  What infuriates me most is that this isn't even hard, but we humans are just too selfish to put out that tiny effort to save a few hundred thousand lives.

Ask any person what they would give to save the life of a loved one who is dying. I'd bet it goes way beyond giving up a dinner or two.

COVID sucks.  So do we humans.

[Dirtyhip]

Sorry for the loss of a family member. People here already know my opinion about the anti  maskers. I will refrain from saying what is going through my head at the moment. 
 

yes. Covid sucks

[Airehead]

Sorry for the loss in your family.  As a country we are going to mess this up right in the bottom of the 9th inning.

[sheep_herder ★]

I am still in the minority wearing a mask. Workers at Albertsons wear masks, but not so at Reynolds or Steadmans, and not sure about Walmart.

[maddmaxx ★]

No politics here.  Too many people are fucked up in the head.

[Ralphie ★]

3 hours ago, Airehead said:

Sorry for the loss in your family.  As a country we are going to mess this up right in the bottom of the 9th inning.

That sure does seem to be the case. 

[Prophet Zacharia]

6 hours ago, Razors Edge said:

I'm not sure what the PA order is,

The order is wear a mask when out in public.

This wasn’t at a park were it was easy to stay far from each other, or across the parking lot, or across the street from other people. It was walking past us on a commercial section of town, a few feet from one another.

I’ll take my mask off if I’m no where near anyone, but put it on before I’m 10’ away. These people made no effort.

[Razors Edge ★]

12 hours ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

The order is wear a mask when out in public.

This wasn’t at a park were it was easy to stay far from each other, or across the parking lot, or across the street from other people. It was walking past us on a commercial section of town, a few feet from one another.

I’ll take my mask off if I’m no where near anyone, but put it on before I’m 10’ away. These people made no effort.

But you see the inherent challenge there which even you are affected by - "wearing the mask in public" vs "nowhere near anyone".  What's the acceptable (or legal) "nowhere near anyone" distance?  10'? 50'? 1,000'?  Out of sight?

I am "in public" for pretty much every inch of my bike rides once I leave the driveway.  I might, out of a two hour ride, have interactions within 6' of other humans for cumulatively less than 1 minute.  With a mask in my pocket, I can readily put my mask on if conditions change, but riding with a mask on just for the sake of wearing a mask seems dopey.

 

[MickinMD ★]

21 hours ago, 12string said:

Just gotta vent.

Ordered takeout from a local restaurant.  Went to pick it up, they were complying with all of the capacity and table placement restrictions.  Of course, no masks on any of the diners, even the ones with no food or drinks in front of them.  Not even trying, it's not hard.  It was frustrated, and I was a little angry.

Why?

Right after ordering, got a call, my wife's cousin just passed from COVID.  68.  Quite healthy.  Primary caregiver to his wife who had a stroke about 15 years ago.  About the nicest guy you would ever meet, just a good man.  Apparently one of his coworkers was being careless and spread it around.

3 girls came in for a table, the hostess turned them away, restaurant is full.  As I left with my food right behind them, they all removed their masks and started the discussion about how they now would have to find ANOTHER restaurant with the phrase "COVID sucks!" 

Yeah.  It does.  Not like they think.  I did restrain myself, had I said anything it would have gone badly.

I've been to restaurants 4 times since the pandemic began, 3 of them after being Pfizer'd.  Yesterday, I got carryout pizza from a great ma-pa local Italian restaurant: my 2nd carryout since the pandemic began, the other was for double footlong hotdogs from a local "Best of Baltimore" award winning place.

Except for that first restaurant visit last October - 3 of us celebrating birthdays plus a kid - everyone I've noticed in the restaurants/bars has been wearing a mask when not eating or drinking.

The October restaurant was a major Baltimore area seafood restaurant and had at least 20 people sitting at the bar elbow-to-elbow with no masks and that bothered me even though we were about 20 feet away from the bar at a table with no other occupied tables near us - the barstools should have been an every-other-stool-occupied arrangement at the least.  Since then, I've noticed the groups I've eaten with and I take our masks off when drinks arrive before the meal.  But my relatives/friends always have worn masks when not eating or drinking.

[Prophet Zacharia]

21 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

But you see the inherent challenge

No, I see that you either wear a mask when approaching another person on the sidewalk, or you are a self-absorbed jerk wad. 

[Razors Edge ★]

Just now, Prophet Zacharia said:

No, I see that you either wear a mask when approaching another person on the sidewalk, or you are a self-absorbed jerk wad. 

Yeah but that is LITERALLY less than 1% of many (most) folks time in "public spaces".  Again, not to belabor the point, but why do you ignore the "rule" sometimes and abide by it at others?  Hopefully because you are using common sense and common courtesy, and perhaps a scofflaw like me!

[Dirtyhip]

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

But you see the inherent challenge there which even you are affected by - "wearing the mask in public" vs "nowhere near anyone".  What's the acceptable (or legal) "nowhere near anyone" distance?  10'? 50'? 1,000'?  Out of sight?

I am "in public" for pretty much every inch of my bike rides once I leave the driveway.  I might, out of a two hour ride, have interactions within 6' of other humans for cumulatively less than 1 minute.  With a mask in my pocket, I can readily put my mask on if conditions change, but riding with a mask on just for the sake of wearing a mask seems dopey.

 

I do not wear a mask on my bike while outdoors.  My area is already a socially distanced sort of area.  It is not so congested that I feel that a mask is required outdoors.  I have on in my pocked in case, but it usually stays there for the duration of the ride.  

[Prophet Zacharia]

52 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

I do not wear a mask on my bike while outdoors.

I’ll assume you aren’t riding down the middle of a commercial district sidewalk without a mask.

 

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

Yeah but that is LITERALLY less than 1%

Your statistics suck, because it’s 100% of the people I encountered on my walk. 

[Razors Edge ★]

3 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

Your statistics suck, because it’s 100% of the people I encountered on my walk. 

You need better places to walk   Hell, even RG isn't in a place that dense!

[Dirtyhip]

22 minutes ago, Prophet Zacharia said:

I’ll assume you aren’t riding down the middle of a commercial district sidewalk without a mask.

 

Your statistics suck, because it’s 100% of the people I encountered on my walk. 

No.  I do use a bike path at times.  Most people I may encounter are like maybe two people on the way home.  

Mostly I ride on the road, bike path or these gravel alley ways.  I don't ride on the sidewalk.  There is one section near my work that looks like sidewalk.  It is actually an MUT and it is about 6 feet wide or better.  

[maddmaxx ★]

1 hour ago, Razors Edge said:

You need better places to walk   Hell, even RG isn't in a place that dense!

My trails are less than 6 ft wide.

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, maddmaxx said:

My trails are less than 6 ft wide.

You might consider California or Virginia.  Where you are seems to have real problems

[maddmaxx ★]

8 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

You might consider California or Virginia.  Where you are seems to have real problems

ESL?

[Razors Edge ★]

4 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

ESL?

I'm just suggesting quality of life improvements for you. What you do with that info is your choice.

[maddmaxx ★]

37 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I'm just suggesting quality of life improvements for you. What you do with that info is your choice.

English second language.  "Where you are seems to have" is the clue being investigated.

[Razors Edge ★]

1 minute ago, maddmaxx said:

English second language.

Well, generally you seem like a native speaker of English, so kudos on that!

[ChrisL]

My city and the neighboring one had put signs up to walk the direction of travel to avoid passing one another & to keep 6’ distances.  These signs are all gone now but it’s still a good practice so we follow it.  We also have masks when walking but don’t wear them unless approaching people.

When walking opposite traffic on the sidewalk most people  won’t bother to cross or move into the street, or wear a mask.   We generally move to the street since they won’t.  It also seems to happen more in Newport Beach where the bougie people don’t GAF about anyone else. 
 

 

[maddmaxx ★]

19 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

My city and the neighboring one had put signs up to walk the direction of travel to avoid passing one another & to keep 6’ distances.  These signs are all gone now but it’s still a good practice so we follow it.  We also have masks when walking but don’t wear them unless approaching people.

When walking opposite traffic on the sidewalk most people  won’t bother to cross or move into the street, or wear a mask.   We generally move to the street since they won’t.  It also seems to happen more in Newport Beach where the bougie people don’t GAF about anyone else.   If on the trail I'd go out with oldest son very early in the morning before lots of people arrived.  Yes, I had a mask around my neck that was easily pulled up when approaching others.
 

 

While everyone was out of work or possibly even working from home my trail was just mobbed with walkers and bikers.  It got so bad that for a while last year I just parked the bike and went walking in parts of the forest off the trail