And I'll bet you fool people like me into getting stuff off of the top shelves at Walmart, huh? I was out doing my weekly shopping today and I still saw a lot of older folks wearing masks...maybe more so in Charlottesville than in my rural area, but there were still a few out my way. I don't watch the local news anymore...is there a new strain scare out there?
Yup, a dreaded omicron variant. I am not having flu problems but ticks and chiggers!!! Ya think a mask would help?
A mask story from this afternoon: Went to a blood draw center today for PSA test. Sign on door "MUST WEAR A MASK." I walked in sans mask. 3-4 people in waiting room all diapered up. You sign in on a PC, don't see any employees til they call you in the back. So I get called and walk back, the nurse asked about mask, said I didn't have one, she hands me one says I must wear it. So I put it on and sat down. This was the convo as I recall: Me: "You still doing this mask thing?" Her: "Yes, until the CDC withdraws the law." "Law?? There is no mask law. What legislature passed it?" "Well we have to do what they say." "You know that last week they told the truth finally about the vaxes, distancing, etc.?" "Yes, but they still have the mask mandate in place." "The CDC doesn't run my life and we should get back to the private doctor-patient relationship." She agreed. Then I told her my story that I've posted here before, on Twitter, elsewhere online and IRL, dozens of times. "The entire medical system is like the jilted husband who is the last one in town to find out that his wife is running around. The medical system is the last place to figure out that masks are not effective against respiratory viruses." Still me: "You know that they tried masks over a hundred years ago during the Spanish flu and they had no effect? And they've done dozens of studies since then, proving the same thing?" "Yes, I know. I don't like wearing this thing all day long either." So on the way out I crumpled up the mask and threw it in the basket in the waiting room. A woman waiting there pulled down her mask a ways and smiled at me. I bet she heard the whole conversation and silently agrees. I wish more people would grow a pair and speak out though.
The medical profession, as a whole, isn't all in on this. My previous doctor left her position at a federally-funded medical clinic because of the nonsense surrounding the coronavirus scare. As a physician, she required the masks because it was a federally-funded clinic where doctors are not allowed to think for themselves. As a friend, she wouldn't wear a mask when we had lunch with her, and it was clear that she didn't agree with the quasi-government CDC requirements. My current doctor, after asking whether I was interested in a COVID vaccination, simply said "I had to ask" after I told her that I was more afraid of the vaccine than the virus. The CDC had no authority to mandate anything but when the government (Trump Administration included) backed their play, any medical facilities that accepted government funding, even so far as accepting Medicaid or Medicare, were not in a position to act differently, and very few general physicians are in private practice anymore.
Well sure, this is socialized medicine at its best. ObamaCare pushed it to the top of the hill, and Covidstan pushed it over. My doc is part of a hospital chain and all that goes with it. He/they have either: 1) Been paid a hefty sum to go along with everything 2) Have been threatened in one way or another and don't want to lose their position I can't think of another reason. But if the public just goes along like sheep, then it will continue. But if enough people start pushing back, making it unenforceable, then it will end. LA recently rescinded their mask mandate which was supposed to go into effect the end of July. But because of public resistance, they realized it would be unenforceable so they withdrew it. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why did you feel that it was necessary to give the nurse a hard time over something she had no control over? I saw someone else do that recently. I thought to myself, "What a bitch,' I'm sure that nurse thought the same about you.
I would think it depends on one's demeanor when saying those things. Perhaps the nurses appreciate someone saying out loud the words they are not allowed to utter but would so dearly love to. This control stuff only wins when people think they are the only ones who have a problem with it, and censorship is meant to maintain that state of thought isolation. I think it is more insulting to a medical professional to require them to play along with these things that are medically nonsensical. We all know that masks do not work, yet the .gov is making our medical professionals embrace it through enforcing compliance. That's highly demeaning to them, and it is intended to be so. So I agree that shooting the messenger is not warranted. But acknowledging the position they are in is way more respectful than putting them in that position in the first place.
The gym where we go is owned by a hospital system and all the guys and gals that work there including the outside trainers have to wear masks albeit no one else working out or training has to have one. That said, I’ve often chided the workers about the masks and whilst they may quietly say something in agreement with me they definitely will not say anything very loud for fear of losing their jobs. The workers know it’s a joke, the doctors and nurses that go there to train and workout know it’s a joke and even the CEO of Huntsville Hospital must know it’s a joke because he doesn’t wear one either when he’s working out. Whatever government agency is pulling at the short hairs of some of the medical establishments here just isn’t letting go.
I got a notice from a medical clinic today that masks are optional. The VA still lives in terror though and mandates mask usage. Glad to see the private sector adopting a more thoughtful way of doing things.