I have just F#### had it with anti-vaxers and anti-maskers

[spinbaby]

I live in a red area where covid is sky high and the majority of the population is ignoring it. Now my grandson had been exposed to covid at school AGAIN and needs to stay home for two weeks.

We don’t know who exposed him this time, but his last exposure was from his unvaccinated pregnant teacher. Masking in Pennsylvania schools is supposedly mandatory, but completely not enforced.

We’re all—including my grandson—fully vaccinated and boosted to the max, so we’re not terribly worried about catching covid, but we’re completely fed up with the constant interruptions to schooling because of covid exposure because we live in an area where half the population is against disease prevention. My grandson loves his new school and doesn’t understand why he can’t go. And if he can’t go to school or childcare and both parents work, guess who gets him? That’s right, grandma. You know, the vulnerable old person.

[Sherman A1]

1. I completely agree

This is one of the reasons I am curtailing my participation in my hobby. Normally I would love to get together with the guys and engage in some spirited table top miniatures gaming, but there is a group that simply will not wear masks even though most of us are Seniors with underlying health conditions. One of that subset did stay home for awhile during his daughter's pregnancy to protect her, but the fellows he claims to be friends and/or hobby buddies he seems to care less about.

As I write the group's newsletter each month I have begged and pleaded with everyone to wear masks as our public events and be courteous towards their fellow hobbyists. My requests have fallen on deaf ears and I have just given up. My hobby will be solo gaming from here on out.

[Sherman A1]

12. Yeah, it is a shame that some folks just are too much into themselves

and can't wear a mask for a few hours when we get together.


As to the hobby, the topics can vary considerably. What we do (or in my case did) was mostly historical wargaming. Last week was WWII coastal naval action, coming up in January there will be Napoleonic, American Civil War and some Cold War games. First week of December I ran a Jurassic Park themed game. Sometimes it's Sci-Fi, sometimes it's Ancient battles, sometimes it's World War I in the air. Just depends on what folks want to run. We usually have one person per game table as the Game Master and a varying number of players depending upon what the scenario and GM can handle.

[Sherman A1]

17. The local place we gather is a very nice and large facility

lots of space, great tables and well kept. It doesn't have much for us old fart historical guys as it's mostly board games, roleplaying and collectible card games, but the staff is really nice and very tolerant. The store manager is a great gal in her 20s I would guess and likes having us there. As it is the store front of a large internet/mail business she said that she really doesn't need to make money on us, but wants the activity that we generate.

I enjoyed gaming there, but as I said I am just up to my eyeballs with the can't wear a mask crowd and I am going solo.

[tanyev]

19. Yep. I finally went back to my line dance class for the session that started in early November.

I wear a mask and so do a couple other ladies, but most don't. Thankfully, this session wraps up this week and doesn't resume until mid-January. If the Covid numbers in mid-January are where I suspect they will be, I'll pass on registering for that session.

[oldsoftie]

25. Can you just meet with a smaller group who ARE respectful?

[livetohike]

2. We're in bad shape up here in Jefferson County. I think the

vaccination rate is 46%. We have our booster shots, but I dread going out to grocery shop. No one wearing masks other than the cashiers. Husband had a doctor appt yesterday and no one in the office, including the doctor, was wearing a mask.

[gab13by13]

4. Jefferson county, Pa.?

[livetohike]

21. Yes! n/t

[gab13by13]

3. I'm pretty sure the Pa. legislature

overruled Wolf's school mask mandate. I will have to double check. My grandson goes to a school in Pa. that wore masks and he tested positive a couple of months ago from school. I was taking care of him, so when I went home I took a rapid test because I felt crappy. The test came back negative but I don't really trust the rapid test. It took me a couple of weeks to feel better.

I also live in Trump country where no one wears masks, even store workers. Our rural hospital is filling up.

I follow college wrestling and there is a tourney scheduled in Florida for this Monday and Tuesday. This is where I found out that Cornell has shut down, gone to on line teaching and testing but last word I heard, the wrestling team is still going to Florida, what could go wrong?

When sports starts getting canceled again people will start beoaching. But hey, 1,500 deaths per day isn't that bad to the pro-life crowd.

[Freddie]

13. Welcome to Pennsyltucky

Allowing the (RWNJ) state legislature to overrule the governor’s emergency powers was one of those questions slipped into an off-year primary. Guess who won.
Now the Type A flu is going around schools too. My granddaughter got it despite wearing a mask at school, and gave it to her parents and siblings. Her dad was so sick he went to the ER, thinking it was Covid although he is vaxxed; test was negative for Covid but positive for flu. The bigger kids missed a week of school, one of their teachers said 7 kids in her class were home with flu. Last year when we were all masked, stayed home and kept our distance hardly anyone got the flu. DH and I get flu shots every fall but my daughter (a nurse!) kind of forgot about it this year while getting everyone but the 3 yo their Covid shots. She won’t do that again.

[jaxexpat]

24. Right you are. They'll make it up in "un-abortions" with change to boot.

It's a win-win for those guys. Babies out the wazoo and social security collectors dropping like flies.

But then........Maybe by the time those babies are eligible to vote the trumpuglicans will all be gone. (offer void if babies don't live long enough to vote)

[Lovie777]

7. I'm glad I live in a blue state......

at least majority in my area adhere to mask wearing and vaccinations. It may be expensive as hell here, but majority feel more safer when to comes to COVID. A former co-worker's daughter moved down south to get away from the mandates, recently I found out that she caught COVID and died.

[ShazzieB]

31. Wow, what a high price to pay for "freedom"!

By comparison, wearing a mask and being fully vaxxed plus booster seem to me to be a very small price to pay for the "freedom" of staying alive and healthy.

Fortunately, I live in a blue state like you. The vaxx rate in my county is high, and there's a statewide max mandate that most people adhere to with no fuss. (Around here, at least; as blue as this state is, there are some very red areas that I'm sure are a lot different.)

[Busterscruggs]

8. I encounter

Unmasked people every day. It almost brings me to tears when I see their blatant disregard for human life and simple social norms. I went up to a police officer the other day while at the local nursery (decorating for the winter holiday) and asked him about all of these unmasked people. He had to have heard the frustration in my voice, but he just shrugged and said there was nothing he could do. Even he was unmasked! A whole section of the population has such disregard for the safety of others and even law enforcement doesn't care

[gab13by13]

11. 1,500 deaths per day isn't being paranoid.

Your Israeli example is truly misleading since I'm betting that most of the people in Israel are smart vaxxers.

What you need to focus on are deaths and hospitalizations. Coming to DU with anti-vax bs is pretty brazen man.

[AllyCat]

10. Ugh. Our district kids that are vaxxed

Stay at school unless they have symptoms. But we do enforce masks.

[Freddie]

14. In our district kids that are exposed

Can get a free rapid test at the local county office and they can go back if it’s negative.

[spinbaby]

16. Vaccinated

The grand was barely two weeks after his second shot when he was exposed, but that seems not to matter. We’re going to do a quick test in another day or so just in case.

[PatrickforB]

20. I don't know, man, I still worry. I too have been vaccinated and boostered.

But a couple weeks ago I got the flu so bad I thought it was COVID. My wife and I went and got tested, but it was negative.

My point is be careful cause you can still get really sick.

Anyway, best wishes to you. Thank goodness we live in a generally blue state, though we are in an area that tends to vote red. And yeah, we do have some of the crazies, but nothing like you have, it sounds like.

[IronLionZion]

22. There's a major red-blue county divide on this

so by next election there may be fewer GOP voters in swing states like PA. Do what you can to stay safe in the meantime. The other side is trying to achieve "herd immunity" the old fashioned way, by Darwinning themselves out of the herd.

[OneCrazyDiamond]

23. Almost 2 years in

And still dealing with the same crap.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

26. Last weekend, my youngest son and I met some friends in a bar

Apart from Noah and me, the only person masked was one of the bartenders.

[AngryOldDem]

27. It's enraging.

I don’t care about them. I DO care about all the innocent people their selfish ignorance affects.

[CrackityJones75]

28. I know viruses tend to get less deadly as they mutate

I know viruses tend to get less deadly as they mutate but that isn’t a hard and fast rule. I just feel like anti-vax/maskers are playing with fire here at everyone elses expense. I have this awful feeling we are going to see a more deadly and more transmissible variant before this thing is done.

[Desert_Leslie]

29. Omicron Breakthrough Cases

Sad to say ... but with the new Omicron variant, you CAN catch Covid, even if you are vaxxed/boosted. Latest data say vaxxed/boosted gives you ~ 75% immunity against Omicron. And Omicron is much more transmissible. Look at the case rates skyrocketing in the UK, for instance. What happens there will happen here soon.

There has been lots of news out about people getting breakthrough cases of Covid, particularly from indoor groups.

IF we are lucky ... and we just don't know yet, too soon to say ... Omicron will be less severe.

But in the meantime, I mask up with at an N95 or higher everywhere I go. Not a cloth mask or the blue paper surgical earloop masks. Wear the real thing for peace of mind.

I plan on being around to celebrate the indictments.

[traitorsgalore]

30. People will mask up when it gets bad, to which I say "well why did it get bad in the 1st place"?

Red Americans are selfish, greedy, lying, insurrectionist, delusional, anti-science, anti-intellectual death cultists. They have no place in an advanced country or a normal, socially responsible environment.

[roody]

32. True.

I just spent two weeks in El Salvador and Costa Rica. It seemed like EVERYBODY was masked, even on the streets. It felt safe and respectful.