Is your continued mask use your own choice or are they still required in your town?

In Oct. my workplace instituted mandatory vaccination if one wishes to remain employed. There are two exceptions, confirmed medical excuse and religious belief.  I have not gotten a firm answer on why religion is given deference and it seems difficult to justify.  It must be a very common practice though as there are web sites that list out bible verses and their interpretation so anyone can quickly have a religious exemption.  I do not know what allowances are made for other religions.

I was told by one of the clergy at work the religious exemption is very easy to get and there are ordained pastors doing online business selling people documentation for religious exemption which the pastor has signed.  Guess the signature gives the document more acceptance.     

There will always be people who do weird things like borrowing icky used masks from strangers.

It takes me a minute to properly adjust my mask, my hat, my hair, and my eyeglasses in sequence. So if I just went to the drugstore and am then driving a few blocks to go into the supermarket, I'm not going to take all that off and put it back on again just because I'm in my car for 2 minutes. So yeah you might see me driving alone in my car with my mask on... I'm in the middle of doing multiple stops and errands where I'll need my mask on.

--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
updated by @strumelia: 12/30/21 10:07:00PM

I do not know what the infection rates are here.  Still the mask wearing now seems for show rather than necessity.  I'm always surprised when I see someone driving by in a car, alone, wearing a mask.   When the mask wearing was legally mandated, I was waiting outside a business waiting for it to open.  A passerby stopped and asked if I had an extra mask, which I did. This mask had been often worn and carried about in my pocket for days if not weeks,  Still, he accepted it and put it on... yuck!

My contention the mask wearing at work is for show may be upheld in seeing the director and manager in their office with their mask off.  This seems a tacit admission they don't really support the mask policy.  Sure they are alone but isn't the virus flitting about in the air?  

Well I imagine Arizona has a way lower infection rate right now than for example NY, CA, or MA. When infection rates were way lower here where i live during the late Summer, masks were optional in various stores. However hospitals are now overflowing (children's hospitals too) so we can't just pretend everything's fine anymore and ignore safety precautions.

--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990

Where I live retailers and grocers have not required masks for many months, perhaps approaching a year since legal requirements were dropped.  I'd say it may be about 50/50 masked and not masked.  When I shop in some grocers, neither I nor the cashier are wearing a mask and this I'm entirely comfortable with.   My miserable job still has mandatory masks, except in the cafeteria which appears to be under some magical protection from rest of the facility.  I suspect inertia and it offers a means of employee control rather than medical necessity,   I do not follow sports but coworkers who do have told me stadiums have fully reopened with no mandates. So perhaps what, 20K people side by side with no masks?  Seems no reason for retail to continue restrictions.

I went to the supermarket today. 99% of everyone was wearing a mask. Signs at the door said "No mask No entry"... but there seemed to be no one enforcing anything at the door. I did see 3 people wandering around without masks on like they were privileged and didn't care if they infected others, but happily almost everyone had masks on.

These days I'm wearing a KN95 with a 3-fold cloth mask over it. The KN95 and N95 masks i have are actually comfy because they keep a bit of space between the mask material and my mouth. Cloth masks and surgical masks often touch your mouth on the front, which can be annoying.

My husband (we're both seniors) went to the hardware store two days ago and all the customers were wearing masks but the young man at the register wasn't bothering to wear anything. Hell of a thing!

Oh, I meant to say that New York state has a new law requiring all indoor businesses open to the public have a mask required policy. It's because infections and hospitalizations are going through the roof right now in our state. Hopefully infections will go down soon.

--
Site Owner

Those irritated by grain of sand best avoid beach.
-Strumelia proverb c.1990
updated by @strumelia: 12/30/21 07:10:28PM

Are businesses in your area still requiring masks to enter the store?