How about you? Is your life back to normal? Mostly? Or are you one of those who’ve been vaccinated and wear a mask even when alone in the car?
Even though the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on, nearly three-quarters of Americans (74 percent) now say their lives have returned to “normal,” according to a new Yahoo News/YouGov poll.
It’s a number that underscores both the progress made possible by safe and effective vaccines and the challenges ahead as the holidays approach and yet another winter wave gets underway in the United States.
The survey of 1,696 adults, which was conducted from Nov. 17 to 19, found that only 15 percent say that things “never stopped being normal” for them — a reminder of just how profoundly the virus has disrupted American life.
Yet as the U.S. pandemic enters its 21st month, most Americans now characterize their own lives as either “very normal” (21 percent) or “somewhat normal” (53 percent), considering “the impact of COVID-19.”
I’ll say it’s somewhat normal. Except there are still masking restrictions in my town, and the one I go to a lot that’s right next door. And there are things we do, and don’t do right now, at work. I’m perfectly fine with some social distancing, no shaking hands, no hugs. I don’t go the movies, but, then, there are almost no ones worth seeing in the theater (I would go to the afternoon showing, so, there would be very few people there). Of course, if we’re talking about the economic aftereffects, then we’re all affected. #LetsGoBrandon
Far fewer say their lives are either “not very normal” (19 percent) or “not normal at all” (7 percent).
In that light, a return to “normal” may seem premature — and for many, it very well could be. A full 70 percent of unvaccinated Americans, for instance — the people who continue to account for nearly all COVID hospitalizations and deaths — describe their own lives as normal, and about a quarter of them say their lives are “very normal” (25 percent) or “never stopped” being normal to begin with (27 percent). That’s more than the number of vaccinated Americans who say the same (19 percent and 8 percent, respectively).
Well, that’s why a lot of them are getting really sick and dying. COVID19 is real, and if you didn’t take protections, well, that’s on you.
Likewise, nearly two-thirds of unvaccinated Americans (65 percent) now say that COVID poses either a “small” threat (31 percent) or “no” threat (34 percent) to them personally, and just 42 percent of unvaccinated Americans — compared to 63 percent of fully vaccinated Americans — say they wear a mask in public always or most of the time.
And these 63% are the loons. If you’re vaccinated why wear a mask? These are most likely also the people who remove the mask to talk to someone in close quarters and then hug/bro hug. They’re the ones double masking and losing their shit when other people aren’t wearing a mask. Wearing it in the car. Wearing it but leaving their nose uncovered. Wearing a mask that makes almost no difference.
At the same time, however, it’s important to note that 71 percent of U.S. adults have been fully vaccinated, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — and for them, returning to normal was both the point and the promise of getting vaccinated in the first place.
Yeah, that was the entire point, and the Powers That Be have worked hard to change the terms of why you get the vaccine, keeping restrictions on those who are vaccinated, scaring them into Complying.
And while only 30 percent of registered voters said they were planning to gather indoors with family and friends last Thanksgiving, 57 percent now say that’s how they’re planning to celebrate this year.
A lot of people are just over it. Over the Government restrictions, the over the top scaremongering. COVID is still dangerous. You might not die, you might not even get that sick, but, the effects can last for a long time. Being such hysterics, along with all over the place messaging, has made people tune out.
That goes a long way toward explaining why 77 percent of Democrats wear a mask most of the time in public, compared to just 31 percent of Republicans — despite the fact that similar numbers of Democrats (76 percent) and Republicans (82 percent) describe their own lives as normal.
Democrats like Government telling them what to do, and are the problem. Pure moonbat hysterics.
How to reconcile the return to normalcy with continued caution and even pessimism about the pandemic itself? Increasingly, Americans are learning to “live with” COVID by distinguishing between the risks to themselves and the risks to others.
Which is what they need to do. It’s not going fully away (thanks, China!). Live with it. So will be hysterics for years, though.
Teach: And these 63% are the loons. If you’re vaccinated why wear a mask?
Teach calls the 63% of the vaccinated who wear masks “loons”. But this is a name-calling site.
The wearing of a mask reduces the chance of being infected, or if infected, reduces the chance of infecting others. And many businesses still require masking to enter. The loons are the unvaccinated who die leaving behind orphaned children.
The esteemed Mr Dowd wrote:
At least from what I can see, many of those businesses which have mask requirements to enter do not enforce them, and the ‘requirements’ are frequently honored in the breach. Missouri isn’t that different a state from Kentucky; I’m betting that you see something similar.
Mr Dana makes a couple of good points. Missouri IS much like Kentucky. Also, the wearing of masks as required or recommended in businesses varies with location, in my experience. In metro St Louis you see many more masks than in southeast MO where I spent three of the past 4 weekends.
The local Wal-Mart in a town of 3500 some 100 mi south of St Louis had a sign recommending masking but I was one of the few wearers.
Our gracious host asked:
Other than wearing a mask in church, because it’s required, my life is not only back to normal, but really never left being normal.
That’s easier for me, since I’m retired and living out in the country. A lot of people are stuck in jobs where they are required to wear the face diapers.
So Mr Dana complies by wearing a face diaper in church?
Our distinguished host quoted:
That may be the most telling part of all: anyone who is wearing a mask most of the time in public is not living his life ‘back to normal.’ It tells us that a huge percentage of Democrats believe that the government having instilled fear in them is now normal.
The only thing George Orwell got wrong was the year.
My life is “mostly back to normal” but I wear an N95 mask only in businesses, at work, on a plane, but not outside or driving. I suspect most people saying they wear a mask most of the time behave similarly.
Mr Dana says this is Orwellian. Would Mr Dana comply with the Covid vaccination recommendation today, “knowing” all that he now knows?
You are saying you only go without face diapering when you’re alone? Living in constant terror are we? You must be really inspired by what they’re doing in Australia:
“DARWIN. Prime Minister Michael Gunner said on Sunday that a 78-year-old woman was being treated at the Royal Darwin Hospital and that the remaining eight cases and 38 close contacts have been transferred to the Howard Springs quarantine center.
The Australian Prime Minister has sent 28 Australian Defense Force soldiers and a number of army trucks to the region. People are only allowed to leave their home “for medical treatment, in case of emergency or as required by law”.”
Now that concentration camps are in vogue in the Anglosphere how far away can the executions be?
I am unaware of any concentration camps being employed to combat covid. Are you are of these things that we are unaware of? Is this something Q himself has relayedto you
I don’t know who Q is and why do you speak in code? However that said:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1462767223853010948
As I noted above people are being forcibly removed from their homes in Australia and corralled in special detaining areas. That may not be a concentration camp to you but it is to free people.
All you leftist have an innate predisposition toward despotism you don’t even try to hide any more.
Teach considers his views and understanding of covid to be infalible
Even though for months he told us thst covid was no worse than the flu and was basically “fake news” designed only to hurt his beloved Trump
I don’t know who Q is and why do you speak in code? However that said:
https://twitter.com/i/status/1462767223853010948
As I noted above people are being forcibly removed from their homes in Australia and corralled in special detaining areas. That may not be a concentration camp to you but it is to free people.
All you leftist have an innate predisposition toward despotism you don’t even try to hide any more.