Here We Go Again

 

Here We Go Again

With the resurgence of the new Covid variant, it looks like we (New Jersey) will be required to mask up again.  Not mandatory yet, but more and more I see people with masks at the supermarket.  I would bet anything that all these people are vaccinated. 

Why so sure?  Because 70% of those over 12 in Jersey are vaccinated.

Also, those that don’t get vaccinated are prone to avoid the masks.

How do I stand on masking?  As if a cranky old man’s opinion means anything, I give it a big MEH!

I do believe in science.  Science is by my Googled definition;

the intellectual and practical activity encompassing the systematic study of the structure and behavior of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.

Key words being “Study” Observation” and “Experiment.”

So, the SCIENCE of masking and Covid still involves study, observation and experiment.  The science has not been established; current science opinion has been established by a majority of scientists.  Not the same.

Still, wearing a mask can not, for the most part hurt, especially for retired old cranky people who spend about 30 minutes a week in a “Mask Up” environment.

The mask thing reminds me of meal time in college.  

In our fraternity, we were required to wear a jacket and tie for meals.  A nice tradition going back to the hoidy-toidy frat rules of the early 1900’s.  Many members loved this rule as they were still hoidy-toidy.  Many did not like the rule as it was antiquated and stupid.

The hoidy-toidy (maskers) demanded the jacket and tie, or you could not eat.

Everyone else (anti-maskers) wanted to eat, so all wore a jacket and tie to meals. 

But rules can be sticky and results are not always what rule makers are expecting.

The hoidy-toidy all came to meals fresh scrubbed and in their finest jacket and tie.  The rest came to meals with outrageous flowery clip-on ties and flamboyant seldom washed and stained with Chef Boyardee’s finest sauce, jackets.

Masks are kind of the same.  While some double mask with hospital approved masks, many, if not most, strap on crappy cloth things, often not covering their main breather…THE NOSE…and removed whenever they need to…TALK UP CLOSE. 

Further, when wearing the mask and within 20 feet of someone smoking a cigarette, I can smell the smoke.  Pretty sure the covid shit, which I can not see, can get through the mask as easily as the smoke which I can see.

You can require a tie; you cannot require class or taste.

You can require a mask; you can not enforce the behavior.

Still, it can’t hurt, so rather than get the stink eye or get into a political hoo-ha with others, I will wear the damn thing.  As a protest that only a few old-school college friends will understand, maybe I will also wear a crappy tie clipped on to my tee shirt.

Meanwhile, unless you have the antibodies or have a doctor’s recommendation against it because of some other condition, you might want to get the shot (s).