Sounds like you should just stay home. The rest of us are getting back to normal life. So there were 72 new cases. It’s a virus! Sooner or later we’re all going to come in contact with it just like we did the flu virus or the cold virus. I personally am glad to see that people are losing the masks and starting to act like normal human beings again.

I suspect most of us are being smart, wearing masks in crowds, when shopping, etc. But those people at the Squares with no masks! Duh!

:bigbow:

Agreed! I was in the UK in Mid March last year when the first lockdowns happened watching all the news. The day we left was the first day of restaurant closings. March 20th maybe? Hindsight is a wonderful thing... :)

It amazes me that after so many months of getting information from scientists and health experts we still have to have this discussion about masks. All the experts tell us we need to wear masks until everyone is vaccinated so we can slow the spread and keep the virus mutations to a minimum. Its not rocket science, yet some people either just don't "get it" or are in denial. Hopefully they a tiny minority, for the good of the country.

Why does this idiotic rumor keep spreading????? Again, I challenge ANYONE to cite a reputable source for this nonsense.

Think of it this way-----why would all the "experts" be pushing the vaccines as the method of obtaining herd immunity and ending this pandemic if the vaccines did not confer immunity. Why spend billions on vaccines that only prevent "death" in the 0.3% of the people who would actually die from it. In fact, in a cold-hearted but social Darwinian model, why keep people who can spread the virus alive?

Yet , on just about every COVID thread, some yahoo pops up with the "the vaccine only decreases severity of illness and reduces the chance of death" Use your brains, please.

Not that I disagree with the bulk of that post, but could you please explain how masks reduce viral mutations?????? Fauci and company would love to know that.

:ohdear:You really have to stop publishing these facts.
It ruin the flow of $£%!!

Absolutely agree. We certainly don't deserve a trophy for the dismal standing we have in this global pandemic. IMHO, at the beginning of this pandemic it boils down to the lack of leadership and the total lack of good examples being set for the American people. I'm mad as hell about that!

This is my take......viruses need hosts to perpetuate their 'dirty deeds' and circulate in the population. Without hosts to give viruses the ability to replicate, then the mutations will not be able to occur. That is how my mind understands the process. Masking and distancing from others, in simple terms, minimizes the spread of the virus. So....in turn, the virus mutations are also minimized. No???? Please explain where I'm going wrong with my thinking if that is actually the case. I value your expertise.

I'm aware you are not a fan of masking and I'll never understand that because you are a physician so I've always been baffled by your stance on masking. I am grateful, though, that you feel distancing is excellent for virus mitigation.

I found this informative explanation about virus mutations..........

How Do Viruses Mutate and What it Means for a Vaccine? | Breakthroughs

Agree. I do exactly the same thing. If theres crowds outside, well, avoid that area. Simple. Its not crowded everywhere. Ive yet to go into a store that doesnt require a mask,so, no one is being lax there. I think many you have seen without masks have probably gotten the vaccine and feel they are safe. Obviously that would start happening. Not surprised. Bottom line. Only go where you feel safe and dont worry about what other people are doing.
If you knew your neighbors dog would bite you every time you went over there, would you continue to go? No. Only a nitwit would do that but then again there are many nitwits around.
So? You see a crowded area of maskless people, would you continue to go there? No.
Simple

Sheep??
 

Isn’t 500,000 + enough?

Interesting. I guess I haven't expressed myself clearly in previous posts. I am not against masking, just can't see any value in "useless" making. Indoors, in a crowd, and when unable to socially distance a mask is valuable to reduce COVID spread. Alone in your house or car, outdoors more than 6 feet away from others---pretty useless. I was at Disney last week, at the edge of the parking lot of Magic Kingdom, and got a phone call. The person on the other end couldn't hear me well through my mask, so I lowered it. I was more than 100 yards from the next person, yet a security person came flying out of nowhere in a cart and yelled for me to put my mask back on. Totally IDIOTIC. Not that it was his fault, just doing what he was told, But the policy maker must be a MORON.

As for as mutations, you are right in general----the less virus circulating the less the odds of a mutation, although viruses tend to mutate in the wild anyway. If there was NO virus then there would be NO mutations. Also realize, even in viruses, just like people, most random mutations are fatal (to the virus). Apparently there are now over 4,000 mutations, but only 3 of them (UK, S. Africa, and Brazil) have had any medical significance (so far)

Cases,cases,cases! Hospitalization are way down. Treatments are working. Everyone should do what they feel is necessary for their own safety . If your uncomfortable in any situation , just leave. If you can smell fish through mask, it’s nor working

Now there's a new one! Wrong, but new.

Viruses are small, the droplets that carry them somewhat larger, but neither is anywhere near as small as the MOLECULES that you smell from fish