I’ve encountered a new phenomenon this week: people on the leftier side of the spectrum who may be fully vaccinated but won’t give up wearing masks or demanding that other people wear them, even when the CDC says it’s safe. They not only want to wear masks themselves, but want to be able to tell people around them to wear them, so they (who don’t want to give up their masks) will feel more comfortable.
I don’t get this. The place where I work (that still doesn’t pay me directly) is easing into bringing people back to the office in a “pilot program” they’re clearly still trying to figure out as they go.
I’m fully vaccinated and quite tired of spending ALL of my time in this office of farting dogs, so I was happy to join the group that will be in the office 2 days a week, socially distanced on staggered schedules, while still working from home the rest of the week. Of course I still wear a mask in places that require them, but I am comfortable with the CDC guidelines that say fully vaccinated people are safe. Wasn’t that the whole point of getting vaccinated? Did I miss something ?
So, apparently people in my work group volunteered to be part of this return to the office program, but suddenly had a million questions about how the company will enforce mask wearing for those who don’t “feel comfortable,” with the idea of being around other people.
A very long and very stupid discussion ensued, and I could feel the group’s managers biting their tongues and getting frustrated. The core of the argument was “I don’t feel comfortable.” They want to be able to tell their coworkers that they have to wear masks around them, no matter what.
And lest you think this was coming from the usual suspects, nope. All of the vocal “I don’t feel comfortable,” issues were raised by the men. Educated men, who can read and comprehend information. The managers are not allowed to say, “So if you’re not vaccinated, go get vaccinated and quit whining!” because this is such a politicized and “sensitive” topic, they’re forbidden to ask anyone’s vaccination status. Me, I cheerfully volunteer mine. I might buy one of these to wear at the office.
I wrote this yesterday, and today I saw this article in the New York Times.
UPDATE: This could get interesting, because the company released its new mask policy and it follows CDC guidelines: the fully vaccinated are safe to go maskless. So, let’s see: We are not allowed to ask vaccination status, thanks to a misunderstanding of the law, but we have co-workers who want to be able to tell everybody they must still be masked? I’m so glad I’m not in management.
I swear to GOD, if we’d acted like this with smallpox or polio, humanity would have died out by now.
Which leads me to a woman on Facebook. I’m not going to name her but she has a significant following, especially among crafty women of a certain age. She announced with great drama (she’s greatly dramatic at times) that though she is fully vaccinated, she’s not leaving her house yet, because “even the fully vaccinated are getting COVID and dying!”
I saw the Likes piling up, so I asked her for her source for that information. She told me to Google it, so I did. I didn’t find any dramatic stories of fully vaccinated people dying in droves, so I asked for her source again.
She linked to an article that said…the opposite of her dire drama. It accurately stated that the few breakthrough infections were to be expected as with any vaccination, the vaccines are working. I am more worried about being struck by lightning, for real.
On a far happier note, now that the first rush of vaccines by appointment only has slowed, I was in Publix yesterday and saw a small but steady stream of people lining up for their shots. The media makes it sound like we have this huge population of anti-vaxxers, but I really don’t believe that’s true. We have a huge population of apathetic people, who finally noticed it’s really easy to get vaccinated now and you can do it while grocery shopping.
President Biden made this happen. He mobilized the resources, beat on the drug companies, forced the hands of Governors who were playing Evil Vaccine Concierge, like mine, by ordering the vaccination of the teachers and first responders, which was the wedge to lower the vaccination age, and the dominoes fell, and now we are maybe near to normal.