Trinsec @Qoto @trinsec@social.cleverlibre.org

@Infoseepage I know mine's a noname brand. So it's probably not of the highest quality. So long they cover my mouth and nose it is 'good enough' for now. I'd still need to see first how events unfold here. Face masks don't protect you very well, they're meant to protect others from you. Testing regularly is still advised here.

@Infoseepage I don't know what my masks are at. They're 'good enough to keep spit from flying around', which is what most masks worn are. Pre-delta that was good enough. So I'll just wait and see how the current events unfold. Especially now that masks are not mandatory.

@Infoseepage I dunno. Seems a bit weird to me. And not everybody can afford a $300+ protection. This was at the start of the pandemic. He got that protection gear pretty quick.

@Infoseepage I fully understand that, and I'd probably have done the same if I had to take care for my parents (also elderly, but independent). I felt a huge relief when they finally got vaccinated and visited them more often. And when I finally got vaccinated, I even visited them right after work instead of having a few days downtime.

Now the situation is a bit more relaxed, though we don't go out often except for walks or necessary shopping.

@Infoseepage Whenever I see a bus pass next time I'll look if they have open windows. Just out of curiousity. Not gonna use public transport, already disliked them before the pandemic anyway. ;) I'll rather bike!

@Infoseepage That first picture is roughly what that guy I know with the space suit is wearing.

@Infoseepage I think at the start of the pandemic so much went wrong here. First, masks were barely if any available. They got hoarded, and the majority of the population didn't get a chance to get masks and they were so expensive too. (To compare, I can easily buy 50 for under 2 euro now).

So our RIVM said 'masks do not really matter, it's the distance that matters'. That's still stuck in our heads...

Oh man, in hindsight there were so many lousy decisions made. Add to that that our society is pretty much individualistic (though not as bad as USA), and you've got a population who's very tired of all those stupid decisions and are starting to get recalcitrant.

@Infoseepage That's certainly extravagant. :P

@Infoseepage Here... we don't wear masks like N95 or N100 or so. We wear masks to limit the spread, not to fully eliminate it. That's why we need to keep distance. Of course, that was before the delta variant came into the picture. I don't know if we're going to get around to having to wear more effective masks. I have a simple surgical mask one for areas where masks are still mandatory.

I did once see a guy with a gas mask. :D You know, dark green... :D Wonder if that really helps.

I also know a guy who wears half a spacesuit... oh man.. But you could see his whole face at least. Just wonder how he's going to scratch his nose.

@Infoseepage It's also part of our government's mishaps. They have set up the slogan 'Dansen met Jansen' means 'If you get a Johnson vaccination, you can immediately go dance at night clubs after!' to promote vaccinations.

They had to pull that back after our infection rates increase... *boggles* And now they say that you have to wait 14 days before you're considered fully vaccinated, so no more immediately visiting night clubs after vaccination... jeez, people really can't think, can they?

@Infoseepage I wonder, were those buses with the windows closed? I see our buses have often windows open. Well, I think I saw that, I'm not really much paying attention but I wonder if that'd make a big difference.

@Infoseepage Mass transit here is relatively safe I've understood. Well, in my area anyway. Masks are mandatory. I don't use mass transit though, I bike around. Even healthier that way! Here, the main cause of spread are the pubs and clubs and big (dance) events. That's why now, with the rise of the 3rd wave, clubs and pubs and festivals have been limited again.

The club owners are all 'whine whine' and they claimed during the last lockdown that they weren't the cause. But since we opened them up and our rates increased unbelievably fast... they're still like 'whine whine' but I have zero empathy for them because it's now so friggin' obvious that their venues are superspreading areas. It's pretty frustrating to see people not getting it that they're part of the problem.

@Infoseepage The clear window mask is mediocre. You miss way too much of the nuances of facial expressions. It's not pure lipreading that deaf people do, it's the whole face. Thanks for the suggestion, though. I know you meant well. ;)

I do shop when I do need to shop, and the supermarket I consider 'fairly safe' due to ventilation (and I tend to go in early morning when it's not busy at all). I also do take walks out, we consider outdoors to be safe as well. Other than that, I'm pretty much staying home. But um... that was already the case before the pandemic, so not too much changed for me. ;)

We'll see if an event in late august will continue and whether we'll go there, depends on the severity of the infection spread. We've entering the 3rd wave now. This time it's the (still largely unvaccinated) youths of 19-29 years who absolutely have to go to dance events or to hotspot countries. Sheesh. We went from 100 infections a day to 10k in... 5 days? Wonderful. :P

@Infoseepage We don't take advice from the US CDC thankfully. We have our RIVM who advises our government. Though our government sometimes allows a bit more than the RIVM would've liked.

@Infoseepage It probably also makes more sense that I don't like masks if you know that I'm deaf and rely on lipreading... :P

@Infoseepage It helps that I'm usually at home just doing my own thing. But since the masks aren't mandatory anymore, I've stopped wearing them. I accept that I run a higher risk. I'm fully vaccinated, and I know it doesn't make me immune but I accept the risks at this point. We (my family) also try to avoid busy areas and such, so we're not totally braindead I hope! :D Public transport still requires masks, which makes sense as you can't maintain any distance whatsoever at all there.

It probably helps that I don't live in the hotspot areas like Amsterdam and Rotterdam. I'd feel unsafe enough there to go wear a mask I'm sure.

@Infoseepage So, basically our 'anderhalvemetermaatregel' (I love that word :P) which basically means 'keep 1.5 meter distance from each other' would not be sufficient anymore? Not even outdoors? Wow, boy, are we in for some interesting times...

@Infoseepage Here in the media they claim that Delta is way more infectious, but that the end result is about the same as the other strains. So I don't think people feel as alarmed as they ought to be.

@Infoseepage Thanks for the insight, it's what I expected would happen. I guess we'll be facing this kind of situation here soon as well. The only people I feel for are the ones who simply cannot be vaccinated because of, for example, an auto-immune illness or something. But for people like one of my coworkers who claim 'this is all a big experiment, I refuse to be part of it' I won't feel pity if they get in trouble. :P

There's more and more exposure in the media here about young used-to-be-fit people having Long Covid and can barely do anything anymore.

I suspect we might have like 25-33% of people refusing to vaccinate.

@Infoseepage Makes sense, and totally what I expect. I'm just wondering about people who refuse to be vaccinated, and who secretly hope to enjoy the benefits of herd immunity...