mazzag said:
It should be an individual's choice to wear a mask.
i believe that was tempelton's point. they're not in favor of forcing anybody to wear a mask, but if we're saying "if you have a mild cold, just wear a mask and go about your day," is great in theory and i completely support that. it's just that people aren't always honest or just flat out could be spreading it unknowingly.
it's the people that are sicker than a mild "cold" and don't want to report it for fear of being banished home from work or school or being forced into wearing a mask. so we have people that probably think it's just a cold, but could indeed be COVID/Omicron that probably should be wearing masks (i subscribe to the idea that masks are helpful for spittle or sneeze particles, but that's it) or staying home.
just this week i had a co-worker that came in to the office Monday (i work remote) and sounded pretty bad over a few phone calls. after a few conversations and i could tell the dude wasn't feeling good. i told him to just ask to head home. he was convinced it was a mild cold and that was all, he didn't need to go home. didn't want to go get tested... despite the fact that he had been tested 2x before this month when he had 0 symptoms. i finally had to tell my boss "John feels really awful and i think he's scared to ask off." So my boss talks to him and he goes home... and tested positive. We were all scheduled to be in the office Tuesday and it would have been a prime spreading event... all because the dude was too scared/stubborn to go home when he wasn't feeling well. and i can assure you that dude wouldn't have been wearing a mask in our meeting.
i'm as anti-mask, anti-lockdown, anti-mandate as anybody on TexAgs. the problem with any of this is the anecdote of my co-worker. he's not a dishonest person. he didn't want to be lazy and stay home from work. but because of the stigma and possible consequences of having COVID, he was instead trying to push through and carry on his day like everything was fine, when he should have just stayed home, or if we had all been in office the next day, worn masks around him (we ended up cancelling the meeting) because he was honest about not feeling well.
all this to say, it's an incredibly complicated place for employers, employees, teachers, and students to be in because nobody wants to get (what they feel like is) punished for a runny nose. Masks are an attempted mea culpa to not have to go crazy and send everybody home for every runny nose.
ETA: none of this is a defense or proponent of masking or current quarantine procedures. i'm simply saying that for schools in particular, i find it to be a difficult place to be in. especially with the poor leadership from the CDC.
my 15 year old was in the room when my wife and i were talking about
another CDC change to the rules a few weeks back and he said something along the lines of "those guys don't know what they're doing. why is anybody listening to them?" and i went over and shook his hand and said "welcome to your first day of realizing the government doesn't know what they're doing. it's going to be a long journey." i don't mean to make him inherently distrustful of the government or doctors, i have wonderful friends on both sides of the aisle with great and stupid opinions about COVID. i myself, have plenty of stupid opinions about COVID. it's just not easy to "make policy" to allow freedom and do the best to protect others without pissing off half the populace.
