this post was submitted on 17 Aug 2023
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[–] taiyang@lemmy.world 64 points 1 year ago (36 children)

You know, even before COVID-19, there would be flu, rsv, etc. outbreaks and there would barely be a blerb about it. People would send kids to school sick, literally everyone would catch it, and it sucked. Maybe less lethal, but it still sucked. And I always caught whatever was going around cause we just didn't have the culture here.

At least now there's more recognition, some people might wear masks, and there's a fighting chance I don't catch the thing everyone gets that season (at least in California where it's still ok to wear a mask without ridicule).

Except my sister gave me COVID two months ago since I let her stay here to avoid homelessness. Can't fix bad habit family members, and getting a false negative on a test gave her confidence to get me and my baby sick. Ugh, bad times.

[–] rndll@lemm.ee 39 points 1 year ago (17 children)

where it's still ok to wear a mask without ridicule

Serious question, why are people being ridiculed for wearing masks in the US? Is this generally how it goes in all of the US?

I'm from Asia and most countries here have been wearing masks even before the pandemic for multiple reasons - pollution, not wanting to spread sickness including the basic cough and cold not just flu or COVID, when at a clinic or hospital, etc. I wear a mask even when I just have allergic rhinitis just so that I don't accidentally blow snot all over somebody else. No one would bat an eye here if you wore a mask.

I don't understand the negative connotation to wearing masks and why anyone would care if you're wearing one.

[–] snooggums@kbin.social 43 points 1 year ago (5 children)

US culture is founded on individualism at the expense of everyone else. A lot of people buy into the idea that any kind of government imposed action, even as minor as wearing a face covering that even helps the wearer, is a horrible tragedy and assault on their ability to make bad decisions. Those people are belligerent and numerous.

[–] spriteblood@kbin.social 22 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The US government were also months late to handling COVID, and the conservative leadership in power was actively demonizing safety protocols such as masks, vaccines, social distancing, etc not to mention their own Center for Disease Control, to the point that a fair percentage of the population is distrustful of medical science and unwilling to consider those safety protocols.

A lot of the news media (left and right) focused on things like getting people back to work in spite of the ongoing pandemic so it really forced the narrative away from collective safety and survival into economic prioritization and the illusion of normalcy.

[–] snooggums@kbin.social 5 points 1 year ago

The news media also focused on the demonizing by conservatives for more advertising clicks instead of promoting the safety measures by the CDC as reasonable and worth listening to.

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