unwellsnail

They're being downvoted because it's not a good comparison that's relevant to this topic, it's a distraction and a tired, oft repeated one to boot. Poor diet is not a communicable airborne disease.

Have you wondered why you don't see people masking in the settings you mentioned? Maybe because people stopped caring, so the people who do care, who need to mask, have been further marginalized and pushed out of public life?

Why do you feel this isn't a worthy issue to care about?

Why are you pro an environment in which your life isn't valued, and so bothered by people who aren't?

Yea, no one cares about disabled and vulnerable lives. That's the point, that's what we're trying to convey. Thanks for clarifying for yourself.

I'm not mischaracterizing I'm illuminating an issue many have overlooked. Yes, the vaccines are effective against most variants at reducing serious illness and death for many. But they aren't preventing infection or long term impacts from infection, have waning effectiveness, and there are many for whom they aren't effective enough or at all (those vulnerables I mentioned). Many are still dying every week and last info we had showed in the US about half of those dying were vaccinated.

This part is mostly a rant- Covid (and others diseases) disrupts lives and can cause serious medical complications for many, yes even now. Those people's needs have largely been ignored, now and before covid. We have a better understanding of how disease spread impacts everyone and how we can prevent it. We learned these lessons at the expense of millions of lives and instead of honoring that and implementing changes to better all our lives we're squabbling over inefficient vaccines that many won't take. I'm pro vaccines, but they're currently not a solution to covid.

Posting what I said on this in another thread-

So, this decision is really bad for reasons that go beyond sick workers. It’s really unpopular to mention but COVID isn’t over, it’s not gone. We just normalized the suffering and shunted the most vulnerable into its path. As one of those vulnerables still trying to survive, masking has been an exhausting situation. I mask, I have to, and antimask sentiment makes it hard to operate in a world that already wishes I wouldn’t. Decisions like this cause harm in wider ways. I wrote an email to In-N-Out Owner/President Lynsi Snyder about this in response to this policy. I don’t think she cares what this policy does, but I’m sharing here for others who may want to understand.

I’m writing to ask you to please reverse your recent decision to ban employees from wearing a mask unless medically exempt. This decision shows not only a complete disregard for the health and safety of your employees and customers, as everyone is affected by disease spread, but is also profoundly ableist and lacking an understanding of current (and historic) context. Requiring employees to not only divulge their medical information to their employers but also openly to the public is a mindset rooted in othering people who are disabled or otherwise medically vulnerable. In general, it’s bad when a marginalized group must publicly declare their status as such, but especially now when people are already struggling to survive an ongoing pandemic amidst the hostility of antimask sentiment. This decision furthers that othering and hostility, making those employees into targets. But this decision doesn’t just impact your employees directly, it feeds into that larger cultural antimask sentiment and perpetuates ableism. This lack of understanding of the impact of your decision is a clear message that it’s not just those employees your company does not value, but all disabled and vulnerable people. Please show your abity to learn and understand the impacts of your decision, as well as your disapproval of ableism, and reverse this decision. Further, I urge you to demonstrate actual value for your employees and customers by adapting to our reality and implementing measures to reduce the spread of covid and other pathogens in your restaurants and other workplaces. This can be achieved through simple measures like improving the ventilation and filtration in buildings, improving sick leave policies, and other actions including, yes, masking by employees.

Thank you Xxx

PS This company push to ignore our current reality and new cultural understanding of disease spread is not just callous, it’s boring. Be better.

So, this decision is really bad for reasons that go beyond sick workers. It's really unpopular to mention but COVID isn't over, it's not gone. We just normalized the suffering and shunted the most vulnerable into its path. As one of those vulnerables still trying to survive, masking has been an exhausting situation. I mask, I have to, and antimask sentiment makes it hard to operate in a world that already wishes I wouldn't. Decisions like this cause harm in wider ways. I wrote an email to In-N-Out Owner/President Lynsi Snyder about this in response to this policy. I don't think she cares what this policy does, but I'm sharing here for others who may want to understand.

I'm writing to ask you to please reverse your recent decision to ban employees from wearing a mask unless medically exempt. This decision shows not only a complete disregard for the health and safety of your employees and customers, as everyone is affected by disease spread, but is also profoundly ableist and lacking an understanding of current (and historic) context. Requiring employees to not only divulge their medical information to their employers but also openly to the public is a mindset rooted in othering people who are disabled or otherwise medically vulnerable. In general, it's bad when a marginalized group must publicly declare their status as such, but especially now when people are already struggling to survive an ongoing pandemic amidst the hostility of antimask sentiment. This decision furthers that othering and hostility, making those employees into targets. But this decision doesn't just impact your employees directly, it feeds into that larger cultural antimask sentiment and perpetuates ableism. This lack of understanding of the impact of your decision is a clear message that it's not just those employees your company does not value, but all disabled and vulnerable people. Please show your abity to learn and understand the impacts of your decision, as well as your disapproval of ableism, and reverse this decision. Further, I urge you to demonstrate actual value for your employees and customers by adapting to our reality and implementing measures to reduce the spread of covid and other pathogens in your restaurants and other workplaces. This can be achieved through simple measures like improving the ventilation and filtration in buildings, improving sick leave policies, and other actions including, yes, masking by employees.

Thank you Xxx

PS This company push to ignore our current reality and new cultural understanding of disease spread is not just callous, it's boring. Be better.

Yes. All our relationships changed and I don't know if they'll ever recover. I'm disabled and from the start it's been a struggle. I remember in early 2020 a family member sharing a post on fb that said only the vulnerable were dying to covid and reminding them that's me and the ensuing kerfuffle. Several family members got it, were hospitalized, and refuse to get vaxxed later on.

What's caused the most upset to me and my partner though is my in-laws' reactions. My FIL has copd and MIL has cancer and received a transplant last year. They live near my SIL and her family. They've all had covid multiple times, 3x last we heard. FIL was hospitalized, MIL was in hospital for a year after her transplant due to one complication or illness after another. Her health is very delicate and no one seems to care about protecting her (or themselves). None of them mask not even around her. We've tried talking about it a few times, cancer patients have been masking and being cautious about illnesses long before covid and we have such a better understanding of mitigation tools after these last few years. But they just do not care, nothing to be concerned about. My partner is so worried about her but at this point is ready to hear the worst should it come. It's just baffling to me.

After all the news recently about lab grown meat the last half of the title really took me a moment to process.

Genetics has far less impact on health disparity among race and ethnic groups than social determinants of health, things like acces to care, finances, living situation, etc. Relevant article from the Mayo Clinic - Why are people of color more at risk of being affected by coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)?