The Last Holdouts - What it's like to be one of few still wearing masks

[Demovictory9]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/26/us/covid-masks-risk.html

The Last Holdouts
What it’s like to wear masks for Covid when most others have long since moved on.



For many Americans still at pains to avoid infection with the coronavirus, this has become the loneliest moment since the pandemic began.

Exercise classes have largely suspended remote workouts. Families and employers have expected attendance at holiday events. The vulnerable and the risk-averse are finding themselves the rare mask-wearers on public transportation, in places of worship, and at offices and stores.

“I feel now that I’m getting stares wearing the mask, and I’m not a paranoid person,’’ said Andrew Gold, 66, who was recently the only guest masking at a small housewarming party in his Upper West Side neighborhood in Manhattan. “The vibe I’m getting is: ‘Is this really necessary?’’’

More than 90 percent of Americans said they wore masks at least some of the time in December 2020, and 69 percent did so in December 2021, according to polls by Ipsos, a research firm. That number has this month dropped to 30 percent, with only 10 percent saying that they use masks at all times outside of their home.

[SheltieLover]

1. Call me one of the 10%!

I get a lot of strange stares. Don't care.

[wnylib]

21. Same here.

[GoCubsGo]

36. Same here.

Still waiting for someone to make a snide comment, at which I will tell them to mind their own goddamn business.

I would love to go back to spinning class and Zumba, but there's no way in hell I'm stepping foot in those poorly-ventilated rooms at my gym. Everywhere you go around here, people are coughing and hacking and snorking up their own boogers. I will just get my workouts in elsewhere, thank you.

[AllaN01Bear]

2. wears mask in large groups and or when i dont know their vaxx history.

[Elessar Zappa]

3. I still wear it in crowded places

like when I go to concerts or plays.

[Alpeduez21]

4. Anytime I'm inside someplace that's not my home

Outside I feel ok not masking plus it’s easier to maintain distance. Which I still do. No one has said anything so I like that. I still practice a lot of what we did in 2020 and I feel good about that

[we can do it]

17. Same.

[onetexan]

5. I still do & am not shy of it. If that bothers other ppl then their bother is bothering me

I could give a rat's foot if anyone takes issue w my masking. I do it for medical reasons.

[area51]

29. Me too. n/t

[Ms. Toad]

6. This article (or at least the headline) conflates two very different responses to COVID

I mask indoors (except with members of my household) at least 95% of the time. Even in red Ohio I don't get hassled. I don't get stared at. I just go on about my business wearing my mask. I can recall only two snotty people - one of whom was not directing her comments at me. (My spouse - who in incapable of keeping a mask on her face, so she repeatedly prods me to remove mine in public on the rationale that others can't understand me; the director of the musical I was in - who blamed COVID for actors not interacting with each other (despite the fact that the actors standing miles apart from each other were not wearing masks and I was).

I am NOT staying in my house or avoiding face-to-face contact. Aside from mandatory stay-at-home orders (through ~ August 2020), I never avoided face-to-face contact.

The article is primarily about people who fall into this second category - which is a much more extreme reaction. Because the headline suggests it is primarily addressing the former, it is unnecessarily provocative.

(I am NOT suggesting there is anything wrong with the choice to stay at home (and some have very good reasons). I am merely suggesting that it is a more extreme reaction (and a much, much smaller group of people than those who are the last hold-outs wearing masks))

[wnylib]

22. I wear an N95 indoors everywhere except in

my apartment. I do not allow anyone inside my apartment without an N95. If they do not have one, I give them one from my store of them. If they refuse to wear it, they do not come in. Period.

I go to stores and to a few social events, but avoid ones that are very crowded, like concerts, plays, guest speakers who come to town, etc. I just don't feel safe, even with the mask, when I am shoulder to shouder with someone indoors for a long period of time.

I have been to gatherings where food and drinks were served, but have politely declined to eat or drink because it would require me to take off the mask indoors. For the same reason I do not go to restaurants.

I have good medical reasons for my precautions. It's inconvenient to me, but not to anyone else. I miss activities that I used to do, and sometimes despair that this is how the rest of my life will be. But it is what it is. I still manage to maintain contacts with friends and avoid being completely isolated by doing whatever I feel is safe to do.

[Ms. Toad]

31. I'm generally in the same boat as you.

But even on DU, far people think in binary terms -

You either engage with abandon, or you are terrified and cut off all contact from everyone else and live in isolation.

This article perpetuates that binary thinking by conflating taking reasonable precautions with complete isolation.

[MOMFUDSKI]

7. Right there with you.

Husband and I have not stopped masking since this whole thing started. My brother-in-law gave us a 20-minute notice that he was going to stop over on Christmas Day with his new girlfriend. Shit. Too cold to suggest staying outside. I just sat way away from both of them and they didn't stay long. They are out and about, unmasked barflies. Shit.

[sanatanadharma]

8. If we were living a Rod Serling story the lat holdouts would be wandering ...

... a depopulated land with empty houses and stocked larders looking for other masked survivors.

[arlyellowdog]

9. Mask wearing is very accepted here

Although many don’t wear one. I guess that’s blue Arlington, Va.

[yaesu]

10. Same thing, different day, l am and will continue to be the last mask wearer

I have gone my whole life not giving a rats ass what people think of me and that thinking pays off when doing the right thing goes against local consensus.

[judesedit]

11. I still wear mine in stores or crowds. I basically ignore everyone

If anyone says anything, I plan on saying, "Do I tell you what to do? Don't tell me what to do. You can get as sick as you want. I'm not stopping you"

[Mark.b]

12. Three weeks ago, I ended up testing pos for the flu...

And once I was well, I went about 8 or 9 days wearing a mask. Here in Arkansas, I was expecting the occasional comment, stare or eye roll. I was in restaurants, lawyer office, church, movie and other places. I was pleasantly surprised I never got so much as a vibe.

I think once masks were a choice for people, they chilled out for the most part.

[snowybirdie]

13. Kudos to everyone

Replying here! sure seem to be smarter than most! Good job folks!

[Deuxcents]

14. I still wear mine in stores or where's the a crowd.

I just don’t care what people think. I’ve had pneumonia twice as I worked with the public n no one helped me get over it so if anyone is bothered..they can get over it.

[EYESORE 9001]

15. I've seen an uptick in mask usage

throughout NE Ohio the past few days. It’s encouraging and, frankly, surprising.

[RussBLib]

16. The few, the proud, the sane.

We never stopped. Don't care if people stare. Not one person has approached me about it. Ever.

[SickOfTheOnePct]

18. Except for the short periods

It has been required at the office, I stopped masking over a year ago. I still see masks occasionally when I’m out and about and even at work every now and then, but I don’t give it a second thought. Much like vaccine status, I couldn’t care less whether other people chose to mask or not. Everyone should do what they feel is best for them when it comes to masking…none of my business.

[peacebuzzard]

19. still do; usually the only one around wearing one

I caught covid in July while eating breakfast with co-workers at a restaurant. That's the only time I take it off.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

20. I still wear my mask when i am out in public

I really do not care if people stare due to the mask

[Leith]

23. I still wear a mask

when I go out to where there are people.

We keep hearing about millions of people in China getting covid. Is it so hard to believe that it isn't here? At the very least, it's coming soon. I live in a town built on tourism and crowds (Las Vegas) so it would be crazy not to take precautions.

[Demovictory9]

24. China news may encourage people to pull out those masks

[Demsrule86]

25. I wear a mask. I didn't wear one in June at a wedding and ended up with Covid in the hospital..,

I almost died...most recently my son came over and has flu...so have been miserably sick with that for about two weeks!

[JuJuChen]

26. I ride the bus and if you've ever smelled someone covered in the own urine, I wear the mask.

Could care less what "Looks" I get

[EnergizedLib]

27. I still wear my mask indoors

I care not one bit about peer pressure or what others think.

[Mr.Bill]

28. I still wear mine.

No one has bothered me about it, but if anyone asks me why I still wear it I'm going to tell them it keeps random beautiful women from throwing their arms around me and kissing me right on the lips. It's a problem I've had all my life.

[GoodRaisin]

30. I still wear mine if I go inside public places. Also have all

my vaccinations up to date. No point in taking needless risks. I have no intention to stop masking up in public establishments. I haven't been sick from anything once we started wearing masks at the beginning of covid and I’m kind of enjoying that.

[GenThePerservering]

32. Good grief "The last holdouts"

Typical NYT drama-piece.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

33. Reasons to wear masks

Link to tweet

[niyad]

35. Excellent! Thank you.

[niyad]

34. Amazingly enough, I don't feel lonely. There are quite a few people who are

masked when I go to the grocery store. And even if I were the only one, I really don't care. The cases are rising again. One friend (fully vaxxed and boosted) has had covid for the second time. Her 3 year old granddaughter had it. I have immunocompromised friends. As much as I hate it, the mask stays on.

[Prairie_Seagull]

37. As more information is discovered, it appears long covid is debilitating.

The chances of getting it and having long term serious problems is significant enough for us all to keep wearing our masks.

New 'discoveries' always start as whispers.

What else will be 'discovered'?

Have to admit that we live ruralish and are retired, have food delivered. We wear masks, wash hands or use sanitizer frequently and still keep our distance on the very rare occasions when we do have appointments or shop for something...

Neither my wife nor I have had covid that we know of and still take action to keep it that way.

Good sanitation, covid practices and luck to us all.

[cally]

38. It's very lonely

My husband is severely immunocompromised and undergoing treatment for CLL. He basically has very little immunity and has one of the worst expected outcomes for covid. We are both extremely cautious and it can be very lonely. We live in a new area and are one of the few people I see still masking and taking precautions.

[Demovictory9]

39. ..😰

I can imagine

[RobinA]

40. I Live In The Philadelphia

'burbs, and although I don't wear a mask much, I see plenty of people doing so to the point where it isn't that strange. Mask wearing at the grocery store has increased, and when I went to a ballet two days after Christmas quite a few people were in masks, although it wasn't required. In my neck of the woods, mask wearers certainly aren't the majority, but a person wouldn't really feel weird wearing one.

[Shrek]

41. Very few masks where I live

But nobody bothers those who still do. The prevailing sentiment is to do whatever is right for you and leave everyone to do the same.