I Kinda Felt Safer Last Year In The Thick Of Pandemic Quarantine Than I Do Today.....

[global1]

When we first learned of Covid and the Pandemic and were told all that we can individually do to prevent us from being infected - I felt more in control.

I masked. I self distanced. I gloved. I wore an eye shield. I kept away from shopping. I used hand sanitizer. I wiped down all my mail and groceries. I liberally sprayed Lysol on all surfaces. I quarantined and stayed away from other people. When going to a store - they required all people to be masked. They had sanitizing wipes and hand sanitizer readily available for use. If you weren't masked you weren't allowed in the store.

In essence all precautions were taken by self and others. We took things very seriously and felt protected.

Then the vaccinations were made available. I remember how I felt the day I got my first Pfizer shot and even better 2 weeks later when I got my second shot and was fully vaxxed.

We saw progress. Cases, hospitalizations and deaths started to go down. The positivity rate plummeted. Things seemed to be returning to a new normal.

But that's where I think we went wrong. We rushed into this new normal and started to throw caution to the wind. Stores couldn't wait to ditch the hand sanitizers and the wipes. They couldn't wait to make their aisles two way again. We were told by the CDC that those vaccinated didn't have to wear masks in public - but the unvaccinated had to wear masks if they were in public. And things turned to crap.

Even though I still could do all those things I did at the beginning to keep myself safe - I had no faith in the ability of others to do the same.

Today I mistrust just about everyone. I still take all those same precautions. The mask. The social distancing. The gloves. The eye protection. Wiping down my groceries and isolating my mail. BUT - am very wary of others I come across along the way that don't do the same.

How do I know that they are vaccinated? I really don't. Even if they have a proof of vaccination card - there's no guarantee that it's not a fake one.

Are they not wearing a mask because they are vaccinated or are they anti-maskers and anti-vaxxers that are turning their noses up to all precaution.

Essentially - are they putting me in the crosshairs of these new Covid variants that we are still learning about and not really knowing if we're protected.

I think the CDC made its mistake when they told vaccinated people that there was no need for them to mask up anymore. That they're protected.

Now we don't really know who is vaccinated and who is not. And going back to a mask mandate will be much harder now that people have settled into this so-called new normal.

So I'm actually more scared now than I was at the height of this pandemic last year.

Yeah - I still can protect myself and do all those things I did last year - but I don't feel as safe as I did when I was doing them last year - because I just don't trust others out there to take things as seriously as I still do.

I tried to do the maskless thing and then I found myself in the midst of a July 4th celebration crowd in my town - filled with maskless people - and I literally froze. I panicked and couldn't wait til I was safe in the confines of my own car and home again.

I hope that someday I'll be able to shake this feeling - but - by listening to all the reporting that's going on. All the dis- and mis- information. All the talk of new surges. I'm skeptical.

I realize I'm bringing this all on by myself. I think I'm in need of some good counseling.

[XanaDUer2]

1. we've started masking again

started shopping in a less-busy store. Too hard to distance at Wally World. Wish others around me were masked. Saw one woman yesterday with a mask.

Been vaccinated, but don't want any case of covid. We don't know the long term effects.

[leftstreet]

2. DURec

The CDC fucked this up

[MontanaMama]

3. We're masking again.

Lots of other people in town are too. There’s no reason not to do it.

[dalton99a]

4. Both the CDC and the FDA have little credibility anymore

and for damn good reason

[BlueMTexpat]

5. I am planning to wear my mask everywhere

except in my own home.

Period.

[Arkansas Granny]

6. The honor system for the unvaccinated to wear masks was a bust. Only 26% in my county are

vaccinated, but there's hardly a mask in sight.

I have continued to avoid crowds and wear a mask in public.

[Skittles]

56. any idiot could see what would happen

if MAGAts had any honor they would not be supporting a fascist piece of shit

the CDC truly dropped the ball

[StarryNite]

7. Very similar feelings here.

I think the CDC felt that by telling people who have been vaccinated that we don't have to wear masks it would encourage the unvaccinated to get the shots. They forgot to factor in the asshole factor though. Now we're in a worse mess than we were before.

[boston bean]

19. They gave in because the antivax arseholes were saying what good is the vax if you have to wear a

mask. They caved to those fuckers. And I have been so pissed off about it.

[gab13by13]

26. I am vaccinated

but my 8 year old grandson is not, therefore grandson and I wear masks when shopping or gathering indoors.

[StarryNite]

63. We're vaccinated too but of course our 5 year old grandson is not.

We have never stopped masking. And in fact, our grandson or our kids have not even been in our home since March 2020. We do all our visiting outside. It's not comfortable when it's 110° but we just do not want to risk the chance of getting our grandson sick.

[StarryNite]

62. Yup, that's exactly what they did.

They need to be honest about things. It was just like in the beginning when they said masks didn't help. They knew they helped prevent the spread but weren't truthful because they didn't want the average public buying them up and making the shortage to hospital doctors, nurses, and other staff worse. But that false claim about masks not working is still hung onto by people who don't want to mask. They should have been truthful all the way through this. They have lost a lot of credibility.

[mopinko]

30. i suspect they also saw what was happening, and who ended up enforcing this shit.

they, sadly, had to factor in low wage workers attacked for trying to enforce it.
this is where we are.

[CrispyQ]

8. "So I'm actually more scared now than I was at the height of this pandemic last year."

Me too.

We never stopped wearing masks & now it looks like we never will. When the CDC made the announcement dropping masks, my county was about 57% fully vaxxed but at the stores, less than 10% were wearing masks. A few employees wear masks, but most don't. Stores that put up plexiglass separators are taking them down.

[PortTack]

9. You would be in good and plenty of company should you decide to get some counseling

Having been seriously ill once in my life for an extended period, to keep from going crazy, I really had to draw back, learn to let go and be more settled with what was going on in my life at the time. This is the same, took me a while but I’m focusing on what I do have and not looking to far forward.

Take care....

[3catwoman3]

10. "Today, I mistrust just about everyone."

I feel the same way. I am willing to bet that at least half the people not wearing masks are not immunized.

My local Trader Joe’s has taken down the plexiglass barriers that had been up between the cashiers and customers - so ordered by their HQ. If it were up to me, I’d leave those things up forever.

[Earth-shine]

11. Last year, we had hope that the pandemic would/could come to an end.

This year, I'm convinced that the Republican party and other anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers won't let it end.

I have a friend who's super liberal, and will not get the shots. Her belief in holistic medicine is way too strong to allow a virus to enter her body.

[Texaswitchy]

15. That so silly.

I use herbs but I got my shots.

[Earth-shine]

17. I had another friend who died for her beliefs when she had breast cancer.

Why go to doctors when one can apply herbs and directed energy to the problem?

[Texaswitchy]

21. Herbs have uses but not just herbs.

Many are going to die.

I use CBD oil for PTSD and it works.

I still have a Dr. I talk to.

[mopinko]

31. lest we forget that lefties get duped, too.

the anti-vax propaganda is the entry level conspiracy of the left.

[wnylib]

47. "entry level conspiracy"?

What is that?

[appalachiablue]

37. +++

< This year, I'm convinced that the Republican party and other anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers won't let it end. >

[smirkymonkey]

67. I am sure the virus will respect her belief and completely leave her alone .

I have a friend just like her, also liberal, and with a few risk factors including a compromised immune system and I can't convince her to change her mind. It's so frustrating.

[brooklynite]

12. No idea why you think sanitizers and wipes aren't being sold anymore...

I see them in stores in multiple States.

[leftstreet]

13. stores stopped making them available at the door

they didn't stop selling them

I think that's what the poster meant

[Texaswitchy]

14. Me to.

Never stopped the masks.

My housemate and finished stocking up.

We are now staying home.

I do feel safe except at home.

I watch news from India when Delta was breaking out.

I lots of projects to keep me busy.

[Hugin]

16. The we're all in this together has been replaced by YOYO.

You're On Your Own.

Risk has been socialized and profit privatized.

I admit I was naïve in the late winter of 2020 and thought that Americans were better than we have turned out to be.

COVID is hardly mentioned on TV anymore, in hours of TeeVee there may be one ad even showing people in masks and being responsible.

I don't even see the CDC ads anymore. They used to be fairly regularly shown on certain channels. Even under TFG's administration.

[MustLoveBeagles]

18. I see very few masks when I go to the store

This is both customers and employees. Our county is only 56.5% fully vaccinated and the state is only 48% fully vaccinated. I'm vaccinated but my masks will bee worn for the foreseeable future.

[Tadpole Raisin]

20. Your unease is totally understandable

The honor system is a joke and the unvaxed take advantage of that.

If 50% of a community is vaccinated and given the
virulence and transmissibility of the Delta variant, you don’t have to have 50% of a group walking around unvaxed and unmasked.

You only need 1.

[LisaL]

22. My feelings exactly.

I don't think you need counseling, it's just common sense.
It should have been a "new normal" not business as usual (before pandemic). Covid is not over. Delta is much more infectious.
It's no time to behave as if pandemic was over.

[obamanut2012]

23. Every single store I go to has hand santizier and/or wipes at the door

Where I have been since Friday evening:

Burger Fi (takeout), Trader Joe's, Fresh Market, Fleet Foot, the driving range pro shop, Publix, Target, Starbucks, and Aldi. Not all in the same city, either. Since DeSantis has disallowed county mask mandates, much fewer masks, so we need mask mandates.

Just FYI: wiping stuff down with Lysol, etc. is not in the least needed, especially when you are at home. This stuff mainly spreads via air. Wash your hands with hot water and soap after an outing is all that is necessary. Packages and mail do not need to be quarantined or wiped, either.

[global1]

25. I Know Rationally One Doesn't Need To Lysol Or Wipe Down Store Bought Items & Mail.....

but I guess I'm not rational anymore. I still do all those things and probably will continue to do so. That's just me.

[StarryNite]

66. Yup, it's me too.

[SweetieD]

24. They knew when they lifted the mask mandates that unvaxxed people would be going maskless

[liberal_mama]

36. Yes, they did know the unvaxxed would take off their masks too

Unless the CDC Director is very naive, she knew this was going to happen. So why did she do it? This whole situation is appalling.

[Ms. Toad]

45. Fauci expressed surprise at the phenomenon.

My reaction is that only someone not living in the real world would have been surprised.

She did it to reward those who got vaccinated. First - it should not be a "reward" to go without a mask - that decsion should be based on whether it is safe. And second - even if it would work as a reward - there is using a reward to motivate behavior only works if there is a way of restricting access to that reward. And they never planned on that.

They were focused exclusively on personal safety, ignored community safety and the risk of creating varants - including in those of us who are vaccinated, and ignored the realty that none of us are more than a handshake away from someone not yet eligible to be vaccinated.

And, FWIW, I'm pretty disgusted at DU members who are viewing it the same way.

[wnylib]

50. The CDC was short sighted.

When Walensky said that masks were no longer necessary, the alpha variant was dominant. Vaccines held up well against alpha. Breakthrough infections were much rarer and hospitalization and death from breakthrough infections were even rarer. It looked safe. Delta was not yet a threat.

But with so many infections around the world, a worse variant was almost inevitable. There already were variants from Brazil and South Africa.

So, at the very least, Walensky should have advised that it might become necessary to mask up again if a more infectious or lethal mutation developed.

Delta developed and spread on the heels of the no mask option, simultaneously apparently, although not widely known yet. Allowing masks to be optional was premature.

[Ms. Toad]

53. What Walensky should have done was to wait until it was possible for everyone to be vaccinated.

While there is still a population that cannot be vaccinated, it is irresponsible to do anything that suggests COVID is history.

Delta started circulating in December 2020 - long before the CDC made its ill-timed announcement. I don't expect the average Joe on the street to watch it as closely as I do, but I certainly expect the CDC to do so.

I'm so pissed.

It's really not that hard to be relatively safe - especially with a combinaton of masks and vaccination, without too many limitations - if people would just adjust to thinking of the mask like they do shoes. Most places - you aren't wearing shoes, you can't get in. There's no reason a mask should be any different. I'm sick of this instant gratification society when it puts people at risk and contributes to the need for much more massive interventions.

[LisaL]

59. Yea.

Getting breakthrough infections don't seem like much a reward.

[Sucha NastyWoman]

27. You shouldn't feel safe

Because you aren’t

Because of them.

[pandr32]

28. I completely feel you

Everything you wrote.

[Lilaclady]

29. Still masked

We are still masking, fully vaccinated, only go to the stores before 11:00 and after 6:00. Now we’re back to wiping everything down, mail and groceries. Our adult daughter is scheduled to pick up some furniture for grandsons to take to new apartments. None of them are vaccinated and I am afraid to have them in the house. On Fathers’ Day two of them visited in the house for the first time since December 2019 and I was fine but now I’m not. They all work and last week went to the beach. We’re trying to get as much furniture to the garage as possible and plan on having pizza and drinks outside. What else can we do?

[7wo7rees]

32. Feeling the same here in DFW area.

We've discussed what is coming and are preparing to go back into lockdown again. Not hopeful at all for what September and October are going to look like, not at all!

We too felt hopeful and had even ventured out to a few fave restaurants with patios. Dined inside a restaurant. 1st time when a DU'er came to town and once within the last 2 weeks after early am appt (Mr 7wo7rees wanted pancakes and we were right around corner from highly rated place, Maple Leaf Diner). Another experience on a patio of Texican place and we are out!
Back to curbside (mgr of place launched into tirade about being short staffed and it was because "everyone" was making more on unemployment, though Abbott ended that quite some time ago).

So yeah, right there with you. Scheduled for cataract surgery Tues am, ready to postpone.

We live in the land of batshit crazy and stupid, willfully ignorant!

[Native]

33. Not me! I feel much safer now that I'm vaccinated.

I liken this time to a lull before the storm, and I'm making the most of it. I figured that once vaccinated there would only be a short period of time in which I could pretend to live a normal, maskless life before either my antibodies wore off or a new, impervious strain appeared.

I'm in Florida, a virus hotbed that's only getting worse by the minute. We literally have no uncontaminated airspace anywhere, and no one wears a mask in my county. The way I look at it, my wearing a mask to keep these unvaccinated, assholey ignoramuses from getting sick would be pointless. And I'm more than willing to take my chances with my own health. I'm healthy and in shape, and I'm willing to gamble I won't be in that 1% of vaccinated people who get super sick or die. Unlike many people on this forum, while I didn't trust the "science" while Trump was in office, I'm much more comfortable with our current guidelines now that Biden is following the science.

[Ms. Toad]

46. I hope you will at least wear a mask to keep those unvaccinated

0-12 year olds safe.

I always trust the science - I just don't trust politicians. I take my information from original research, and I disagree that Biden is following the science on this - at least not the science related to community health and safety.

[Native]

48. Like I said, no one here wears a mask. My wearing one in a store would make no difference.

We're talking kids 0-12 with unvaccinated parents. I have a daughter in New York and another in Boston, and that's like another world. When I'm there my actions make a difference, but not here.

[Ms. Toad]

54. It certainly will make a difference if you one of the breakthrough cases,

and you are the one to infect those children. Everyone needs to continue to do their part to protect those who can't protect themselves.

[Native]

60. We had 10,000 cases today. It's a shitshow.

[Ms. Toad]

61. No question but what it's a shitshow.

BUT being generally a shitshow - and being THE person who infects an innocent child are two different things.

If I get infected, that affects more than just me. I worry about the strangers I encounter—many of them maskless—whose immune status I don’t know. I worry about the youngest kids in my social network, who aren’t yet eligible for shots, and the elderly and immunocompromised, whose defenses may be weaker than mine. I worry about the people in my community who have been structurally barred from accessing the vaccines, or who are reluctant to take the shots. My risk of getting COVID-19 is low. Theirs is very much not.

The COVID-19 vaccines come with the delightful perk of blocking some asymptomatic infection, but researchers are still figuring out how often vaccinated people can pass on the pathogen. The math gets all the messier with more contagious variants such as Delta. Inbound virus affects me directly, but it can also turn me into a pathogen pit stop, potentially allowing outbound virus to bop into someone with less immunological armor. “Masks protect both us and the people around us,” Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious-disease physician at the Medical University of South Carolina, told me. In the United States, inoculation rates have taken a serious dip. The proportion of vulnerable people is stagnant, yet still too high.

During a pandemic, personal safety can’t be the only consideration, as my colleague Ed Yong has written. The disease we’re dealing with is infectious; the repercussions of our behavior ripple to those around us. Many unvaccinated people belong to populations that have been marginalized by the country’s fractured health-care system. Saddling them with any increased COVID-19 risk, even indirectly, threatens to widen disparities

.

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2021/07/fully-vaccinated-masking-delta/619532/

[StarryNite]

64. I figure the fewer people there are wearing masks the more important

it is that I wear one. I'm vaccinated but I don't want to wind up with a breakthrough case and even worse chance spreading it to those I love including my 5 year old grandson who cannot be vaccinated yet. I don't understand the thought process that it's not important or makes no difference if you don't wear a mask when others aren't. Is it some kind of peer pressure taking hold?

[LeftInTX]

34. My daughter has Covid after being vaccinated....

She's stuck at home for obvious reasons, but is doing well

She took a test because she was exposed to someone who was not vaccinated and developed cold/flu-like symptoms.

She isn't really sick, sick....And hasn't gotten worse..

The worse part of her is being stuck at home...

Hubby and I both have nasty colds. We were convinced it was Covid because the colds are so bad. Our tests are negative.

Immune system is "use it or lose it" and that is probably why our colds are so freak'n bad...

I think hubby and I are sicker than my daughter....

I do not like the CDC guidance about the masks though, because it's an honor system. No one wears masks any more and I know many of them are not vaccinated.

[SarcasticSatyr]

35. The uncertainty is weighing heavy on me as well ..

and I'm running out of options ... Living in Florida has proven to be a bad place to ride it out.

[liberal_mama]

38. I feel exactly the same way. I feel much less safe now.

There are lots of people that are very distressed with the way the pandemic is being handled now. In one of my Facebook groups yesterday, someone posted a picture of a packed indoor concert in Texas that they were attending.

I think we're doomed. I don't know if the CDC can even fix their mistake at this point.

[SergeStorms]

39. I knew we were rushing things from the start.

It was all due to pressure, mostly from the right, but there were Democrats who wanted to speed things up as well, and some of those were right here on the pages of DU.

I knew this was going to explode in our faces. People were saying they "weren't going to live in fear". Yeah, OK. You don't walk away from the fire just because the flames are gone. There's thousands of embers still burning, waiting to flare up the minute your back is turned.

Thousands if kids descended on an "open" Florida for spring break, which spread those glowing embers all over the U.S. Then Sturgis. I don't have to tell you what Sturgis did. All the while the Corona virus mutated, defeating us at every turn because we were so impatient. Thousands of events blossomed across the U.S.A. because we wanted to get back to "normal". All the while COVID didnt give a shit if we ever got back to "normal", or not. Then came the 4th of July. And here we are.

No one listened to cautionary words, and there were many. They were too busy being selfish. That's the American way, after all.

[calimary]

40. I still wear masks. It allows me a small gesture of defiance to all the damn doubters

and deniers.

Especially the deniers.

[Warpy]

41. We had a strong mask mandate here backed up by fines

so people are still wearing them when they're out and about. It's not going to last, of course, and we won't be able to tell the GOP snot spreaders from the vaccinated, either.

The best idea is to get the shots, both of them. That way, if you do get it, you are unlikely to get particularly ill from it.

It's the only sensible thing to do.

[IronLionZion]

42. I feel safe surrounded by vaccinated liberals in my blue bubble

it probably is a very different situation for Dems in red states.

[AllaN01Bear]

43. its like stoopid police chiefs and sherrifs who dont enforce mask mandates either .

[Mickju]

44. You are not wrong to feel that way.

I feel the same way.

[Meowmee]

49. You are doing the right things

To protect yourself and your family from possible bt cases and to stop the spread of delta and of other possible variants. This is where we are now due to bad decisions / recs from cdc. Hopefully there is a light at the end of the tunnel at some point.

We never stopped masking and sd and will continue to as long as needed. A good mask is key, n95 / kn95. I stopped steaming every thing coming in at home, but I had been sanitizing a lot for other reasons before that anyway.

[Elessar Zappa]

51. You don't need to wipe down groceries.

Research has shown that contact has virtually nothing to do with transmission. It’s a waste of time.

[LisaL]

58. That was the original covid.

Delta covid is not your original covid.

[CrackityJones75]

52. You are clearly safer today than you were a year ago.

Sorry but it is a bit absurd to think otherwise. While there are variants about, clearly vaccinations are a massive help. You are vaccinated. We know more about surface contact than we did before.

I don’t know. I think it is time to stop some of the doom and gloom. The administration is doing a heck of a job and this type of dialog is exactly what the right wing would love for us to start up for them. We are CLEARLY in a mich better state than we were a year ago.

[GulfCoast66]

55. Lord, not me! I'm vacced and safe.

[lapucelle]

65. Here are two interesting articles that address why the CDC lifting of mask recommendations

so quickly was a major error.

What the science says about lifting mask mandates
With COVID rates dropping and vaccinations on the rise, the United States and other places are removing some requirements for face coverings. Are they moving too fast?

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-01394-0

The CDC’s latest blunder is really about trust, not masks

https://www.statnews.com/2021/05/27/cdc-latest-blunder-about-trust-not-masks/

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I think the CDC caved in the face of generally right-wing complaints about "mask theater" coupled with "concerned" media trolls relentlessly pressing them on why masks were necessary for vaccinated people if the vaccine were truly effective. I think that while the CDC might have feared been that keeping the mask recommendation in place would have further eroded confidence in the necessity (and benefit) of vaccination, they should have held firm.

Here's the trollish Jake Tapper pressing the "why are we still wearing masks" issue during two different interviews in early May.

"Should the president start following these guidelines and stop wearing a mask outdoors, stop wearing a mask indoors when with small groups of other vaccinated Americans, to show the American people there is a benefit to getting the vaccine, you can take the mask off?" Tapper asked Dunn, according to Mediaite.

The CNN host also made reference to a quote from former health commissioner of Baltimore, Dr. Leana Wen, who told the network on Friday that being "overly cautious" with face masks could actually discourage people from getting vaccinated.

"I think over-caution also has a price and that masks somehow become a performative act rather than a life-saving act when it's really needed, and also, it's really underselling the power of the vaccine," Wen said, according to Tapper.

https://www.businessinsider.com/cnns-jake-tapper-says-biden-not-following-newest-cdc-guidelines-2021-5

Tapper presses WH Covid-19 coordinator on vaccinated Biden wearing a mask
State of the Union
CNN's Jake Tapper asks Jeffery Zients, the White House Covid-19 response coordinator, about President Biden wearing a mask when he is in a room where all are vaccinated.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2021/05/09/tapper-zients-biden-wearing-mask-cdc-guidance-sotu-vpx.cnn

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Here are two informative articles contemporaneous with the lifting of the recommendation:

Confused By CDC's Latest Mask Guidance? Here's What We've Learned

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/05/14/996879305/confused-by-cdcs-latest-mask-guidance-heres-what-weve-learned

Some fear the CDC is moving too fast in lifting COVID-19 mask rules for the vaccinated

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2021-05-14/new-covid-19-mask-guidance-some-fear-cdc-moving-too-fast

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

While hindsight is 20-20, had the CDC continued the recommendation that everyone continue to mask (at least indoors), governors would have had a reason to keep mandates in place. The CDC should have held firm and taken the heat from the Rand Pauls and Jake Tappers of the world. It was a bad bet to think that the honor system would work in this environment.

[LisaL]

68. Lack of trust was fully warranted.

If I go to a store and 0% are wearing masks, yet state is less than 50% vaccinated, clearly un-vaccinated can not and should not be trusted to wear masks. And they don't wear masks.

[lapucelle]

69. I agree. Trusting people to simply do the right thing is / was a major blunder,

and the buck stops with the CDC on that count.

I went to church recently ( I just started going again earlier this month), and there were unmasked parents with unmasked children who were not old enough to be vaccinated. There was an unmasked set of grandparents with an infant. It was disgusting.

[lagomorph777]

70. I'm still doing all the things you're still doing.

And I am more worried as time goes by.

We have collectively chosen to breed ever-stronger variants of COVID. And ever weaker-brained humans. Not a good mix.