what the what

[kaydeefalls]

Vacation, yay? This is the first proper trip I've taken since pre-pandemic, which is simultaneously great and kind of terrifying. So, sure, restrictions have eased a great deal in recent months, but in NYC, everyone still wears a mask in stores and on public transit, and often on the streets as well. I am currently in Colorado, where NO ONE WEARS MASKS EVER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES apparently, which is just...freaking me out a bit. Like, yes, I am vaccinated, but not everyone is, and there's no way to know who is or isn't, so like...it just feels safer and more courteous to wear a mask regardless, at least in small enclosed public spaces where you have a lot of one-on-one contact (like, you know, grocery store). Instead everyone gives us weird looks like we're the freaks for still wearing our masks indoors. I do not like this kind of peer pressure. There's still a pandemic going on! The Delta variant is on the rise everywhere, and also specifically in this state! WHAT THE FUCK PEOPLE.

Am I the crazy paranoid one? I hate this feeling.

We're here primarily for family, and that part is fine, though I'm already exhausted (three days in) from having to play extrovert constantly. I'm just...not used to interacting with people anymore, apart from my wife and occasionally my parents or individual friends. Lots of people all at once is exhausting.

I'm gonna go back to work more burned out than I left it, aren't I? But hey, at least that's not a thing I'm thinking about this week. Work.

(It's mostly good, honestly. I just feel like I've stepped into a parallel universe and it makes me super uncomfortable.)

Comments

[jadelennox]

Yeah. We did a family trip last month, and went from greater boston (ubiquitous masking in public transit; extremely common indoors in non-eat-in stores; substantial minority in crowded outdoor areas) to a place where literally the only other masked people for the week we were visiting were: one older gentleman, two kids clearly on their way into a school that still required them; and the employees of the Hilton I'd selected because I called them and interrogated them about their covid precautions. And that's an area which has high vaccination rates for the state we were in -- which is to say, well under 50%. There were many weird looks and some outright snide comments and it got to the point where we were masking in places where we felt safe just in case anyone else needed to see other people masking in order to feel like they could wear theirs.

Coming from one of the most masked, vaccinated parts of the country, I have to say there are some serious myths about maskers in some places. There was a lot of "maskers will yell at you and peer pressure you!" which was maybe true last winter when people up here were dying so much, but ever since we got vaccinations, masks in public places here are clearly a personal choice which some people make and others don't. You can tell there's not that kind of pressure because the masking rates vary so much. Whereas in the place we went to visit family, it didn't seem like a personal choice, because it was 100% unmasked except for the people who were obliged by rules.

[quinnish]

Yeah, I'm currently in rural VA and the lack of masks is WEIRD and DISTRESSING (though I haven't noticed as much sideeye as it sounds like you're experiencing there). And also just being out in the world instead of at home and interacting with mostly my sweetie. It's so much!

Incidentally, yesterday I drove past your old place and thought of you. I cannot believe how long it has been.