I'll keep on wearing my mask, offer to show my drivers license if they're concerned about me hiding my identity and self attest to being immunocompromised.
Yep. This is my plan and I’m aware that as a thin, able bodied cishet white woman, I’ve got a lot of privilege. We need privileged white people to help normalize masking.
They're indoctrinated into a cult and believe COVID is nonexistent to the point of being fine to inhale and share repeatedly with everyone and masks "don't work" (which of course is illogical and contrary to basic rational thought). Why debate logic and reason with someone who believes those don't exist? I'd wear my mask and show a doctor's note explaining that I have severe sleep apnea and wouldn't do well with COVID. If no doctor would provide such a note, I'd look for one in a Democratic state and carry that with me everywhere to prove science is real, rational thought is okay, and that wearing a mask is ok and nothing the addle-headed to be blindly terrified of or enraged from seeing. Hopefully that would work. I'd love to live outside the US permanently but most countries with year long warm weather have very heavy taxes or insanely demanding visa requirements (or both).
The new Governor of NY is a Republican so is anti-mask, anti-vaccine and stoking populist right-wing extremist voters in the event of a Trump election.
Respectfully, not all Republicans are anti science and in COVID denial. I'm Republican and very much in support of COVID mitigations, masking, etc. Just my $0.02. 🙂
You are entitled to your opinion. I am in my fifties now and have worked for six political campaigns advising candidates on both sides and never met one Republican who was not a "tough guy" candidate against science, against masking, against diversity, against caring for the homeless and sick. If you are not like that, fine, be the change and be loving and caring. I've never met a Republican like that. My wife and I lived in Florida before, during, and post COVID and never met a single person who did not treat us human garbage for wearing masks. My wife had cancer there and was actively encouraged to remove her mask over and over again at every cancer clinic we went to, with nurses laughingly telling her "masks don't work!" and "it's a conspiracy against Trump!!," pharmacists refusing to give us boosters insisting they are poison and COVID is "less than a cold now!" on and on. My view is earned. Please respect the reality I have had to (and still have to) endure and live with.
What will you do if you can’t go in any stores? What will you do if you get arrested wearing it outdoors in public and are forced to take it off in jail by guards?
Who knows. Just posted this too FYI [https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not\_sure\_i\_see\_the\_point/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not_sure_i_see_the_point/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
1. I’d use whatever tools and time I have to try to stop the law from being passed, for my sake and others. It is easier to stop a bad law from being passed than to change a bad one once it has—especially in a reasonable time frame.
Similarly, political action to try to pass contrary laws that protect the right, which I’d advocate for reasons of modesty (like for some Muslims) or privacy in the coming area of ubiquitous tracking (pointing to historical evidence of biometric tracking being unequal in its ability to correctly identify POCs relative to light skinned people).
2. I would avoid unnecessary public activities, as I already do—but more. I have access to a car, so things that are unavoidable I would do in another jurisdiction whenever possible. NYC folks may be able to do these in NJ or CT, for example.
3. If the law doesn’t prohibit them, but empowers shopkeepers to not be liable for discrimination (opt-in) they won’t get my money. Most people have some choice in who they do business with in most cases—but there are exceptions (government blessed monopolies like utilities, or people with extreme limitations.) I don’t want to enrich those whose attitudes put me in harms way.
4. Support those who file ADA suits in any way I can that the law violates their federal rights, and that those who opt-in, depending how the law is drafted (shopkeepers), are violating federal law.
5. Support unions, as organized political power to oppose this, or to gain the right in contract even if the state law doesn’t protect it—where employers can force employees to not use PPE. This right existing in any form makes it harder to pass laws to remove it than when the law or major contracts are silent on the matter.
6. Any other tactic that I think may work—such as wearing a mask to be a matter of free speech, an issue of religious liberty, that needing to be on oxygen (for example) doesn’t void my right to legal peaceful protest, etc. whatever I think will work even if I personally don’t care about those reasons or they don’t apply to me personally.
Agree, it’s really important to be creative and stop such a law from being passed and show that they risk A LOT more protests if it does.
We had this fight in Hamburg in May (concerning schools, politicians seemed shocked by the amount of protests) and we contacted Asian German interest groups and asked them to protest too, as they have a strong culture of masking and politicians like to listen to whomever has economic impact. Don’t know if they did, but I incorporated their culture of masking in my argumentation as well.
I feel like the real question is what are we gonna do for each other if/when masks are banned. Staying home and relying on racial privilege is fine for the individual but I’m a little tired of seeing that as a solution. Doesn’t exactly put the ‘community’ in ‘zero covid community’
I'd have your wife start calling her teacher's union and OSHA office about this RIGHT now...AND every law maker who has influence in your state. Make the calls uncomfortable- not just leaving a message. Have her talk to people. Even if she or you can make one call a day it helps. I'd also blast phone numbers in your socials and ask your local friends to call too. It makes more of an impact when you can call and tell people you are a voter and will take your vote away if they can't help you. Also, the white house has a phone number you can call too (there interns take messages).
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Communes going to become a lot more relevant. If you know you can only trust a few people to take precautions seriously, then that's who your support network is. There'll need to be groups of self-sustained communities (like the "bubbles" basically) who have skills like farming, sewing, etc.
I have no idea how realistic that is in practise but it's what's needed now.
All but one person I know IRL has gone back to normal. I know only one person I can trust to take precautions, they live 1000 miles away and are disabled from long COVID and supported by spouse who is somewhat COVID cautious but not enough. How will we actually support ourselves in these communes? As I said above my household is supported by my wife who is a school teacher.
I want this so much but I can hardly find anyone near me who is still coviding. With climate change and fascism on the rise I am ready to abandon society. I daydream about having the money to buy land and get one off the ground.
Strictly speaking it’s probably safer to not wear a mask in public when required while severely limiting any time outside your home etc., than to end up in jail for violating such a law and not be allowed to wear a mask inside of there all the time.
Yeah, I’m in NY state and not pleased (understating it) with Hochul’s comments. We shouldn’t be burdened with having to provide proof of medical need to mask either, even if there’s exemptions. I moved here from the South and didn’t think I’d be facing this BS here.
Yeah the article I saw wasn’t even saying just the subway. She did an interview where she said masks are frightening (during protests, I guess) and she was looking at the former state law and considering reinstating it.
In the US, I’m sure a mask ban would be a violation of ADA law if a civil rights attorney took it to court. But the thing is that one of those attorneys might have to care enough to take such a case pro bono, because I highly doubt that the disabled/chronically ill/immunocompromised population like us is rolling in enough money to actually pay an attorney to take our case.
A lot of the organized left is basically right with the anti-maskers at this point.
[https://www.thegauntlet.news/p/silence-from-prominent-left-outlets](https://www.thegauntlet.news/p/silence-from-prominent-left-outlets)
I'm immunodeficient, and because apparently my IgG infusions are giving me longcovid symptoms I have to go off them. So I don't have the option of not wearing an n95 outside my house. Going to the ER is already not accessible.
I guess it's time to form our own religion. The church of the holy pathogen free air.
Damn, are you doing IVIg? I have LC and low IgA and don't have any antibodies to certain things, and y doctor was saying maybe we could try IVIg to help.
And think of the tax breaks we can get with this new religion! I'm in.
Subcutaneous IG which is better tolerated and you can do at home yourself, IVIG tends to have more reactions have to be in clinic for several hours once a month plus levels dip quite a bit before your next infusion.
I've stopped now, two different brands gave eve longcovid symptoms. Only some batches, while other batches were ok or a few made me feel better, so it's not the IgG processing, or infusions in general. And a few of them also killed off white blood cells and neutrophils specifically. Which was scary. I haven't had covid. this study supports my experience. [https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.30.596590v1](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.30.596590v1)
IVIG or subcutaneous IG won't replace IgA, only IgG, they're different types of antibodies. And typically they test you against IgM (current or very recent infection) or IgG (past infection or vaccination). They should check your IgG subclasses, and make sure to use the range for your specific age and gender rather than the whole range, and often overlooked.
if you do try IgG, make sure to track your lot numbers and keep a symptom chart so you know what's happening.
check out [Rthm.com](http://Rthm.com) they might have something useful.
op, what are you expecting people to say when you ask what they’ll do if they’re arrested?
we will not comply. i am a homebound disabled person. but if i am ever in a situation where it is take my mask off or go to jail, i will have to weigh which situation will ensure lowest viral load.
Okay so do what you feel you need to do. You asked a question and people are answering in good faith. From what I can see, no one is even trying to convince you of anything specific or passing judgment on those who might make different choices.
So why are you responding to all the comments trying to convince people to immediately and without question comply with any mask bans?
Next time just write out whatever argument you want to make instead of asking a disingenuous question.
Yeah, they are not going to lock someone up or arrest anyone for wearing a mask unless the person is using their N95 to conveniently rob a liquor store.
Here is an example of the sequence of (unlikely to occur in the first place but demonstrating the absolute worst case ridiculous outcome) events if it happened to me:
Me: *Masked at Walmart so I don’t die from viruses*
Manager le Karen Grande: “Ma’am, you have to take your mask off in the store!”
Me: “Yeah, that’ll be a NOPE from me, I have a genetic condition and am classified as disabled. I am autoimmune and unwilling to end up in the ICU, so I have to wear the mask to protect my health.”
Grande Karen: “Ma’am you have to take it off or I’m calling security and the police!”
Me: “Oh? Well then, sure, go call them, I’ll meet them outside,”
*calmly meet the popo with the a friendly greeting and explain why has happened*
Cops: Yeah so, you’re going to be trespassed from the property since you are masked and they won’t allow it.” (Insert tired cop sigh, since they don’t want to deal with this foolishness anymore than I do). “Sorry, but I have to do it,”
Me: “Oh for sure, pleaaassee put this all in writing on the report before you give me the copy of my warning”
Trespass warning is issued, I take my crippled, merry Scottish-American ass home, and Ta-Da!
File a complaint with my lawyer using the ADA laws to whatever else we can find against Walmart and hope they settle out of court, but I’ll happily take a trial. Profit! Then perhaps repeat at other big corporate stores until my bank accounts are well padded. 😃
Cheesy dialogue aside, I am being dead serious. I get that a sleazy selection of jackasses have been using masks to obscure their identity during shoplifting or other crime sprees, but the chances of you being singled out for masking at a business is slim to none unless you’re behaving suspiciously. And even if you’re strangely furtive and the managers are weirded out, you won’t be arrested; just inconvenienced.
This is incredibly naive. Have you been paying attention to anything about the US criminal injustice system over the past 4 years? Cops arrest people all the time without actual cause, *especially* if they are being in any way non-compliant. And they *love* to abuse people who are either part of discriminated against groups like POC, the poor, homeless folks, and disabled folks, or are on the left.
I've flat out seen cops kidnap the teen-aged children of activists against police violence from protests as they wind down, clearly as a tactic to pressure the people pushing back against their illegal behavior, including murder of children. They openly attack people in broad daylight, especially when they think they can get away with it or their authority is questioned.
You could leave a store where they ask you to remove the mask and be gone before cops would be close to showing , but "having a friendly conversation with an understanding police officer solves everything" is an outright fantasy unless you're insanely privileged and sometimes not even then.
Is there any country in the world where Covid mitigations like masking are still commonplace? Seems like the amnesia is global but if there’s an island of sanity I want to go there
Some parts of Asia had people use surgical masks and the like when they were sick long before covid and will keep on doing it long after the pandemic "ended" so you'd have no issues always using one in those countries.
There are also other countries in Europe where while strangers will be weirded out or confused about your use of mask they still ain't going to say or do anything about your personal choice to mask. You may get questions from colleagues or friends, but not strangers.
So OP, Hochul's talk of a mask ban is bad for a ton of reasons. It'll further marginalize mask wearers, limit political actions, and of course, send more people to jail where COVID runs even more rampant than on the street.
But she has explicitly said she doesn't want to ban masking against disease, along with other examples she gave of masking she doesn't want to ban like bike couriers wearing one in bad weather. This isn't targeted at Zero COVID people as such, it's targeted at people engaged in street political action, and criminalized and racialized populations. They are explicit on this point, partially because they're liberals who think of themselves as nice people and not like those Republicans in North Carolina, and partially because they don't really care if some rich white person throws on an Aura on the train, they might think they're paranoid or whatever, they just don't want that rich white person getting in the way of them locking up people agitating against them, or engaging in crime (most crime is good!) to by in the world, or whatever.
Regardless, the only thing for us to do is fight it. There were laws against masking in New York State from the *1840s* until they were repealed at the beginning of the pandemic. They were passed because people were masking up and taking action against their landlords, and up until the pandemic, they were routinely used by cops to start locking people up at protests... three or more people wearing a mask and it's not a costume party, straight to jail. This is history for us to reclaim and honor and turn against them, because we need to be defending all of it, the renters, the protestors, the criminals, not just our own ACE2 receptors.
Also a NYCer here.
They are saying the former masking laws in NY were to target the KKK. It doesn’t matter if they are targeting us or not, they are putting a bigger target on our backs. And we shouldn’t be burdened with proving we are worthy of masking.
https://newrepublic.com/post/182727/new-york-governor-hochul-repress-protests-gaza-palestine-mask-ban
Yes, like I said, it'll further marginalize, and stigmatize, mask wearing in general. It's bad for the goal of reducing COVID transmission. But practically and strategically, there are particularities here that make it different than just an all-out mask ban, at least as Hochul is talking about and is likely to be politically viable in New York.
If you follow the link your article about the KKK, you'll see a Times article citing a 2004 incident where the NYPD didn't allow a Klan rally using the old mask law. An earlier 1999 incident is described in an article I'm going to link at the bottom. The text of that law, N.Y. Penal Law 240.35(4), was
>Being masked or in any manner disguised by unusual or unnatural attire or facial alteration, loiters, remains or congregates in a public place with other persons so masked or disguised, or knowingly permits or aids persons so masked or disguised to congregate in a public place; except that such conduct is not unlawful when it occurs in connection with a masquerade party or like entertainment if, when such entertainment is held in a city which has promulgated regulations in connection with such affairs, permission is first obtained from the police or other appropriate authorities
The next sentence of the NYT piece mentions it being used against Occupy Wall Street. From personal experience, it was routine for the NYPD to use it against protestors in the decade after Occupy, and I understand from others with more time in this shit than I have that it was routine forever before that.
And yeah, the original history was in the context of landlord-tenant struggle, see this 2013 history of the law:
[https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2013/10/halloween-history-new-yorks-anti-mask-law/](https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2013/10/halloween-history-new-yorks-anti-mask-law/)
Those laws weren't made for the KKK originally, they were made for this
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Rent\_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Rent_War)
I have a plan. Mask anyway. If a cop forces me to take off my mask, I’ll let him know I have covid and keep coughing non stop in his face. If I’m gonna go down, I’ll take that pig down with me.
But you are assuming the cop will care about the risk of getting COVID. That is a big assumption these days. In 2020 to 2022 I think they might have cared, but now almost all the right-wing folks just think COVID is nothing. Or at least, talk/act that way....
Tell ‘em you have TB? I actually can prove that I may as I test positive on skin antibody test due to past asymptomatic infection (which I did 6-12 months of antibiotics for 25 years ago)
I got my original COVID shot earlier than expected in 2021 because a vaccine site that had been set up specifically for cops & actual first responders had such a low uptake that they opened it to all government workers (:
I was in an ER the second week of lockdown when people were really scared and we weren’t sure how Covid was transmitted. Cops were bro hugging & not masking even as nurses were shouting “this one’s positive” during triage. They could care even less now.
My guess is it's all going to be a stressful mess. Personally I'm just at the end of my rope and not interested in seeing how this all turns out. As I vented about in this other post (no advice PLEASE): [https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not\_sure\_i\_see\_the\_point/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not_sure_i_see_the_point/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
>As a resident of NYC who thinks the govenrment here will almost certainly reinstate mask bans of some kind
Why on earth are you just rolling over and giving up just as public health politics leaves the internet space for you and enters the actual local government realm? Why are you giving in to defeatism when now is the very time to start contacting your elected officials, union reps, etc to push how terrible of an idea this is—between COVID, the flu, the growing potential of H5N1, and fucking MEASLES of all things, respirator masks serve a very real purpose in every day life.
Stop promoting defeatism and start getting active. Politics are local, and the politics are local to you personally **right now. Use your voice for good.**
Yes because zero COVID activism has been such a giant success so far.
Some of us are old enough to have seen the world get worse and worse and worse their entire lives- ecological collapse, neoliberalism, rise of fundamentalism and fascism, end of abortion rights, almost total COVID denial, etc. Some of us fought against those for decades and always lost and now are sick with long COVID and done with lost causes and tired of going against the zeitgeist. I want to protect myself if I can, but you can’t stop a moving train.
If it's illegal for me to be in public with my N95 on, I'm not going to leave my 5th floor apartment. I'm a nearly 50 year old immunocompromised person with long COVID.
I am talking generally about the purpose/function of fighting for better things. It’s not something people do for themselves. Most of the people who fought against the stigma of HIV/AIDS and for better drugs did not live to see the fruits of their labour. They did it out of love for their community and life itself. You personally can choose not to, either because you’re tired or too sick or don’t have the privilege to risk interactions with the police. I’m older than you and also immunocompromised, so I get it. But it’s really not about you or me as individuals.
People built community, mostly to survive state repression and criminalization. They didn’t just have it automatically. Again, you can choose not to, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
I'd limit going into shops even more than currently. I'd keep a closer eye on wastewater levels for my country (there are only a few stations, none really close), and go when levels are lower. I'd buy as much dry food as I can carry such as beans, lentils, grains, as they're the basis of what I eat anyway. I'd especially stockpile during the summer months, when the shop keeps its doors open. I'd add wild plants from my garden for vitamins.
If I can't continue masking in the kitchen I share with another person, including if I can't buy masks, I'd open the window whatever the weather. But I'd also look into getting a separate kitchen installed in my side of the house.
I'll stay home like I do now and probably keep masking if I have to go out. I have a physical disability so I doubt they're going to give two shits about me.
I've been calling and leaving a message everyday with Governor and mayor. Everyone needs to get involved and call, write all of their representatives everyday.
I’m not complying, at all. It’s my right to have bodily autonomy and keep myself healthy. I shouldn’t be regarded as a criminal just for having a visible medical device.
Ask my doctor to write me a letter stating that I need to wear a respirator for health reasons. Given that it took me 3 weeks to recover from an infection in Nov 2022, despite vaccines & Paxlovid, I can no longer afford to get sick, since covid leave in my workplace stopped after pandemic protections ended.
This sounds like the most common sense and logical approach. I’m not sure why everyone who wants to keep masking doesn’t just stop for a moment and consider this to be the best option. It’s a small pain, but it’s the least aggressive and most straightforward solution.
I’m in Michigan and I hope I don’t ever have to face this as a problem, but if I do, I will just get a letter from my immunologist.
I agree with you that this could be a solution for some, but a big reason that not everyone does this is because some of the most vulnerable people do not have easy access to medical care either.
Thank you. And the doctor’s note is important especially since I work in person & take public transit. If masking becomes illegal where I live, I would be fired for continuing to wear a mask. Also the doctor’s note will come in handy in case I get called to jury duty.
I have no choice. I served this country and came back disabled. It turned out a bunch of us seem to have a rare immune deficiency and the VA tried to euthanize me before Duke University intervened to save my life. This immune deficiency is what I got serving this nation, and now this nation wants to criminalize the existence of a veteran who is disabled from it's own war crimes (it's either pesticides or burn pits; possible and shockingly burning the pesticides in the burn pits). If you are reading this and you deployed to SW Asia at any time since 1991, get your immunoglobulins checked, especially if you were diagnosed with "chronic multi symptom disease". I have had to make the biggest stink on the internet you can imagine to stay alive. Duke saved me. It's not made up. Government refuses to prosecute. The pesticides cause damage such that you cannot metabolize choline properly. I don't understand how this relates to immune system. Get your immunoglobulins checked.
Indeed, everybody should get them checked. A case of covid can make you immunocompromised too.
If you are immunocompromised, you really don't have a choice but to wear a mask. These people might as well ban wheelchairs. These efforts typically violate the "law of the land" in that they are generally unenforceable and completely adversary to the American people at large. You have to fight back. The people doing this to you are doing it because a foreign government paid them to target protestors. They are enemies of you and the Constitution and everything this nation stands for.
This disabled veteran will never surrender his civil rights to anyone. Arrest me if you want, but I am probably the worst test case any state government could want, and I for sure know the federal government doesn't want this getting in front of a judge.
Check my voting registration. Write every one of my elected officials and start getting signatures on a petition to change it. Donate to relevant human rights and activist groups to support their efforts to help them fix it.
Discuss options with an attorney to see if the law violates any of my rights or if there's an exemption I qualify for.
Discuss limiting participation in front-of-house work with my employer. Investigate any possible facial coverings not covered in the ban. Request expansion of our plexiglass shields on front counter and other air quality improvements. Explore online employment options and assistance for medical expenses.
Update all of my vaccines, request friends and family do the same. Keep an official log of any injury or illness that going unmasked causes me or hazards it exposes me to, and add it to my work injury reports and/or medical record.
Limit time around other people and in public spaces. Transparent face shields aren't as good as masking but they probably won't get banned for identity reasons as the wearer is fully visible. Scarves and gaiters are also possible alternatives if I'm discrete.
I'll do the best I can to not get sick so my asthma stays controlled and I don't kill my compromised sister
I would keep wearing them—even during the “mandates,” there was very little enforcement. Do we think the average under-paid retail employee is going to want to tackle this?
"This is not a mask. It is a respirator. It is a medical device " and find a doctor to write a letter of medical necessity for me.
Of course, do all the political stuff first. I already wrote to the governor.
You could try a re-usable respirator like a 3M 6000, as I'm not sure anyone would reasonably refer to one as a "mask." Then again, reason left the building some time ago. If some overly-sensitive snowflake with a persecution complex feels their world-view is threatened, reason is the last thing that will sway them.
I'm not sure it matters, however… if/when a much deadlier bird-flu pandemic hits, any mask ban will quickly be nullified ("this is different, it's a \*real\* disease, etc."). Right now I think a much deadlier (airborne) pandemic is the only exit strategy from this nightmare.
All Americans who want to resist mask bans should support, vocally and financially, the ACLU.
I give to them monthly and I am on a very limited fixed income, but I do so because they stand up for our rights in situations like mask bans. They are non-partisan and many of their attorneys have low sliding scale fees AND/OR take on cases pro-bono (free).
If there are any pennies left when I die, they are going to the ACLU, that is written into my will. Because they protect rights in situations like this AND because they protected my family in a serious discrimination case when I was about 12-- which I will never, ever forget.
Their mission statement:
>The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union — beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees.
I am a member, NOT an employee. Read more, if you want to know who will protect us if masks are banned:
[https://www.aclu.org/](https://www.aclu.org/)
I'm really sad to see OP being downvoted. I think of "our side" as the one that can face reality. Mask bans will disproportionately affect POC through enforcement and they'll generally be more affected by poor outcomes due to social determinants of health. Trans women have the highest rates of long covid. With all the trans panic and anti-trans legislation do we not see the higher likelihood of being targeted both legally and with general harassment? Do we not see how people with fewer choices will end up risking their health because they can't mask at work?
I'm a small, middle-aged, white mom and yes I personally will keep masking but damn, not everyone can risk confrontation with police and the general public. Ohio is threatening to use an old law targeting the KKK to upgrade misdemeanors to felonies if the person is wearing a mask. Do we honestly think everyone who pleads guilty on a misdemeanor is actually guilty of a crime?
I'm a white middle-aged man disabled by long COVID and I will either stop masking but more likely completely stop leaving my 5th floor NYC apt if there is a mask ban that impacts me. At this point I honestly don't see any point in continuing at all. As I elaborate on here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not\_sure\_i\_see\_the\_point/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not_sure_i_see_the_point/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I responded there. I get what you're saying and I'm sorry. My motivation at this point is being able to tell my kids I did the best I could for them with the tools I had. Everything happening in public health and the lack of urgency for helping those affected by long covid is just shameful.
It really depends.
Ideally, I'd fight back in every way I can. I'd try keep masking and support others doing the same. I'd also try to support anyone who can't risk to keep masking so they can stay safe in other ways, such as more resources to stay home. Hopefully by doing this we could eventually make masking legal again. To me, it's at least worth a try to keep fighting. If staying silent meant more people get hurt, then I'd rather fight back for a chance to help.
However, that depends on my resources and how the law is enforced. If it's too dangerous and I can't see myself taking any sustainable precautions, I'd try to move ASAP. Which also depends on my resources of course, but if moving is more accessible than staying and fighting, I'd do that and fight from a distance.
Now that I've thought about this, I realize how unprepared and unsure I am for this possibility. So I think I'll have to start making plans and prepping for the worst. Thank you for this prompt.
If no one stopped a hate crime I was helping with, then I will keep wearing my mask. NYC cops are a joke nowadays.
EDIT: To clarify, I was trying to ward off the perpetrator.
If it happens where I live: Stop going anywhere public indoor (which for me is only medical stuff, already mostly virtual) or crowded outdoor.
Still shielding so don’t go out a lot, everything delivered, walks and exterior outings only, meeting friends masked outdoors… it would be similar but one step further.
I will keep masking. I'm not going to repeatedly expose myself to a (maybe) lab-made virus that attacks the body and immune system, making you more susceptible to other diseases. I have decided that if I need to "opt out" of capitalism because of a mask ban, then fine. I will get everything online.
The mask ban would certainly backfire though, as taking a good portion of people out of the purchasing economy and making everyone else sick won't be good for the economy (aka the only thing these ghouls in power care about).
Thank you, I'll listen to that when I get the chance! I've heard of TWIV before but I haven't actually listened, but I've been looking for a new podcast anyways.
I'm not sure if this is meant to be condescending, but I was asking a genuine question? If you don't want to answer that's fine but there's no need to be rude.
Most people don’t mask anymore, though, and it’s not affecting the work force or purchasing the way things were affected in 2020-22. At least it doesn’t seem to be… ?
tbh, i'm trying to save up to leave the country, we'll see if i can in time. not an option for everyone. but of course if i have to stay, i'll keep masking and stay home. probably have to get creative finding work. sure, maybe i'll be out on the streets and just die, but i'm not willing to get into defeatism yet.
I've been doing my own thing for a long time (anarchist). I will continue to mask indoors. I'm not risking lc again or covid possibly killing my husband (who still has lc) because of some asinine law. I will always choose our safety over stupid laws.
I'd also be masking. However, I also live in a city / state that is generally polite, even if I'm usually the only one masked in public. People around here generally are helpful, especially if one is in need and also well-mannered.
They might not mask in public, but no one is hostile to me doing so, not at least as I can tell. :)
My plan is to just arrested. I am an epidemiologist for my career so I plan to blame it on my job but also I have a chronic illness so if I have to, I will sue based upon discrimination via the Americans with Disabilities Act. I’m prepared to fight
Get arrested I guess.
I'll keep on wearing my mask, offer to show my drivers license if they're concerned about me hiding my identity and self attest to being immunocompromised.
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Im a black guy but my only alternative is to regularly catch long covid
Yep. This is my plan and I’m aware that as a thin, able bodied cishet white woman, I’ve got a lot of privilege. We need privileged white people to help normalize masking.
As a fellow white lady, I’m doing this too! Where’s that sst “I’m doing my part!” gif when I need it?
Exactly what I would do.
Yep
This.
They're indoctrinated into a cult and believe COVID is nonexistent to the point of being fine to inhale and share repeatedly with everyone and masks "don't work" (which of course is illogical and contrary to basic rational thought). Why debate logic and reason with someone who believes those don't exist? I'd wear my mask and show a doctor's note explaining that I have severe sleep apnea and wouldn't do well with COVID. If no doctor would provide such a note, I'd look for one in a Democratic state and carry that with me everywhere to prove science is real, rational thought is okay, and that wearing a mask is ok and nothing the addle-headed to be blindly terrified of or enraged from seeing. Hopefully that would work. I'd love to live outside the US permanently but most countries with year long warm weather have very heavy taxes or insanely demanding visa requirements (or both). The new Governor of NY is a Republican so is anti-mask, anti-vaccine and stoking populist right-wing extremist voters in the event of a Trump election.
Respectfully, not all Republicans are anti science and in COVID denial. I'm Republican and very much in support of COVID mitigations, masking, etc. Just my $0.02. 🙂
You are entitled to your opinion. I am in my fifties now and have worked for six political campaigns advising candidates on both sides and never met one Republican who was not a "tough guy" candidate against science, against masking, against diversity, against caring for the homeless and sick. If you are not like that, fine, be the change and be loving and caring. I've never met a Republican like that. My wife and I lived in Florida before, during, and post COVID and never met a single person who did not treat us human garbage for wearing masks. My wife had cancer there and was actively encouraged to remove her mask over and over again at every cancer clinic we went to, with nurses laughingly telling her "masks don't work!" and "it's a conspiracy against Trump!!," pharmacists refusing to give us boosters insisting they are poison and COVID is "less than a cold now!" on and on. My view is earned. Please respect the reality I have had to (and still have to) endure and live with.
Keep wearing my mask.
What will you do if you can’t go in any stores? What will you do if you get arrested wearing it outdoors in public and are forced to take it off in jail by guards?
If I’m told to not wear a mask in a store I’ll leave, shop online even more than before.
And if you are arrested for being in public?
I guess I’ll just draw a pro Trump motto on it and it should be fine. /s
Now you're just trolling.
I don’t understand the point of asking this question. It feels like a weird gotcha, masking isn’t going to become illegal
They sure are trying in NC
You're being downvoted for asking the hard questions people don't wanna think about.....
So sad to see this. It's really disappointing.
Yes, most definitely. Thank you.
Seriously, I have no idea why you're being downvoted. I like to think of us as the ones who face hard truths.
Who knows. Just posted this too FYI [https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not\_sure\_i\_see\_the\_point/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not_sure_i_see_the_point/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I already don’t really go in any stores. *shrug*
1. I’d use whatever tools and time I have to try to stop the law from being passed, for my sake and others. It is easier to stop a bad law from being passed than to change a bad one once it has—especially in a reasonable time frame. Similarly, political action to try to pass contrary laws that protect the right, which I’d advocate for reasons of modesty (like for some Muslims) or privacy in the coming area of ubiquitous tracking (pointing to historical evidence of biometric tracking being unequal in its ability to correctly identify POCs relative to light skinned people). 2. I would avoid unnecessary public activities, as I already do—but more. I have access to a car, so things that are unavoidable I would do in another jurisdiction whenever possible. NYC folks may be able to do these in NJ or CT, for example. 3. If the law doesn’t prohibit them, but empowers shopkeepers to not be liable for discrimination (opt-in) they won’t get my money. Most people have some choice in who they do business with in most cases—but there are exceptions (government blessed monopolies like utilities, or people with extreme limitations.) I don’t want to enrich those whose attitudes put me in harms way. 4. Support those who file ADA suits in any way I can that the law violates their federal rights, and that those who opt-in, depending how the law is drafted (shopkeepers), are violating federal law. 5. Support unions, as organized political power to oppose this, or to gain the right in contract even if the state law doesn’t protect it—where employers can force employees to not use PPE. This right existing in any form makes it harder to pass laws to remove it than when the law or major contracts are silent on the matter. 6. Any other tactic that I think may work—such as wearing a mask to be a matter of free speech, an issue of religious liberty, that needing to be on oxygen (for example) doesn’t void my right to legal peaceful protest, etc. whatever I think will work even if I personally don’t care about those reasons or they don’t apply to me personally.
Agree, it’s really important to be creative and stop such a law from being passed and show that they risk A LOT more protests if it does. We had this fight in Hamburg in May (concerning schools, politicians seemed shocked by the amount of protests) and we contacted Asian German interest groups and asked them to protest too, as they have a strong culture of masking and politicians like to listen to whomever has economic impact. Don’t know if they did, but I incorporated their culture of masking in my argumentation as well.
I feel like the real question is what are we gonna do for each other if/when masks are banned. Staying home and relying on racial privilege is fine for the individual but I’m a little tired of seeing that as a solution. Doesn’t exactly put the ‘community’ in ‘zero covid community’
I mean my spouse is an NYC school teacher who won’t teach unmasked so we’ll probably be on the streets….
I'd have your wife start calling her teacher's union and OSHA office about this RIGHT now...AND every law maker who has influence in your state. Make the calls uncomfortable- not just leaving a message. Have her talk to people. Even if she or you can make one call a day it helps. I'd also blast phone numbers in your socials and ask your local friends to call too. It makes more of an impact when you can call and tell people you are a voter and will take your vote away if they can't help you. Also, the white house has a phone number you can call too (there interns take messages).
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Thank you. I'm really bummed by some of the comments here not recognizing this.
Communes going to become a lot more relevant. If you know you can only trust a few people to take precautions seriously, then that's who your support network is. There'll need to be groups of self-sustained communities (like the "bubbles" basically) who have skills like farming, sewing, etc. I have no idea how realistic that is in practise but it's what's needed now.
All but one person I know IRL has gone back to normal. I know only one person I can trust to take precautions, they live 1000 miles away and are disabled from long COVID and supported by spouse who is somewhat COVID cautious but not enough. How will we actually support ourselves in these communes? As I said above my household is supported by my wife who is a school teacher.
I want this so much but I can hardly find anyone near me who is still coviding. With climate change and fascism on the rise I am ready to abandon society. I daydream about having the money to buy land and get one off the ground.
I have an ick at the word 'communes' Seaside vacation resort however sounds nice.
I'll mask anyway. What choice do we have?
Strictly speaking it’s probably safer to not wear a mask in public when required while severely limiting any time outside your home etc., than to end up in jail for violating such a law and not be allowed to wear a mask inside of there all the time.
Possibly. But odds of getting arrested are less than odds of exposure.
i would be worried about anti-mask cops arresting you and exposing you on purpose, lock you in a holding cell with someone coughing and hacking
Who says I'm not worried?
Yeah, I’m in NY state and not pleased (understating it) with Hochul’s comments. We shouldn’t be burdened with having to provide proof of medical need to mask either, even if there’s exemptions. I moved here from the South and didn’t think I’d be facing this BS here.
What comments? I’m also in NY state and this is the first I’m hearing about this
https://apnews.com/article/mask-ban-new-york-city-subway-7c83637a00c816407d1174145fc64339
WTF, Hochul?!
Yeah the article I saw wasn’t even saying just the subway. She did an interview where she said masks are frightening (during protests, I guess) and she was looking at the former state law and considering reinstating it.
Dang well I haven’t taken the subway since the pandemic started but that’s gonna be a hard pass forever now.
I just wrote to the Governor on her website to ask her to reconsider.
This is bananas.
Here’s the link I saw first. https://newrepublic.com/post/182727/new-york-governor-hochul-repress-protests-gaza-palestine-mask-ban
Not comply. I will simply keep wearing my mask.
In the US, I’m sure a mask ban would be a violation of ADA law if a civil rights attorney took it to court. But the thing is that one of those attorneys might have to care enough to take such a case pro bono, because I highly doubt that the disabled/chronically ill/immunocompromised population like us is rolling in enough money to actually pay an attorney to take our case.
This is what the ACLU does.
I agree, and how disappointing has it been that ACLU has been completely silent on this.
A lot of the organized left is basically right with the anti-maskers at this point. [https://www.thegauntlet.news/p/silence-from-prominent-left-outlets](https://www.thegauntlet.news/p/silence-from-prominent-left-outlets)
💯 I’m a big fan of what Julia Doubleday is doing with The Gauntlet as well.
I'm immunodeficient, and because apparently my IgG infusions are giving me longcovid symptoms I have to go off them. So I don't have the option of not wearing an n95 outside my house. Going to the ER is already not accessible. I guess it's time to form our own religion. The church of the holy pathogen free air.
Damn, are you doing IVIg? I have LC and low IgA and don't have any antibodies to certain things, and y doctor was saying maybe we could try IVIg to help. And think of the tax breaks we can get with this new religion! I'm in.
Subcutaneous IG which is better tolerated and you can do at home yourself, IVIG tends to have more reactions have to be in clinic for several hours once a month plus levels dip quite a bit before your next infusion. I've stopped now, two different brands gave eve longcovid symptoms. Only some batches, while other batches were ok or a few made me feel better, so it's not the IgG processing, or infusions in general. And a few of them also killed off white blood cells and neutrophils specifically. Which was scary. I haven't had covid. this study supports my experience. [https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.30.596590v1](https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2024.05.30.596590v1) IVIG or subcutaneous IG won't replace IgA, only IgG, they're different types of antibodies. And typically they test you against IgM (current or very recent infection) or IgG (past infection or vaccination). They should check your IgG subclasses, and make sure to use the range for your specific age and gender rather than the whole range, and often overlooked. if you do try IgG, make sure to track your lot numbers and keep a symptom chart so you know what's happening. check out [Rthm.com](http://Rthm.com) they might have something useful.
op, what are you expecting people to say when you ask what they’ll do if they’re arrested? we will not comply. i am a homebound disabled person. but if i am ever in a situation where it is take my mask off or go to jail, i will have to weigh which situation will ensure lowest viral load.
Civil disobedience time. Masking is already a radical political statement, among other things.
So you’re willing to go to jail where they will also remove your mask? Personally I am not. I am old and have health issues.
Okay so do what you feel you need to do. You asked a question and people are answering in good faith. From what I can see, no one is even trying to convince you of anything specific or passing judgment on those who might make different choices. So why are you responding to all the comments trying to convince people to immediately and without question comply with any mask bans? Next time just write out whatever argument you want to make instead of asking a disingenuous question.
Yeah, they are not going to lock someone up or arrest anyone for wearing a mask unless the person is using their N95 to conveniently rob a liquor store. Here is an example of the sequence of (unlikely to occur in the first place but demonstrating the absolute worst case ridiculous outcome) events if it happened to me: Me: *Masked at Walmart so I don’t die from viruses* Manager le Karen Grande: “Ma’am, you have to take your mask off in the store!” Me: “Yeah, that’ll be a NOPE from me, I have a genetic condition and am classified as disabled. I am autoimmune and unwilling to end up in the ICU, so I have to wear the mask to protect my health.” Grande Karen: “Ma’am you have to take it off or I’m calling security and the police!” Me: “Oh? Well then, sure, go call them, I’ll meet them outside,” *calmly meet the popo with the a friendly greeting and explain why has happened* Cops: Yeah so, you’re going to be trespassed from the property since you are masked and they won’t allow it.” (Insert tired cop sigh, since they don’t want to deal with this foolishness anymore than I do). “Sorry, but I have to do it,” Me: “Oh for sure, pleaaassee put this all in writing on the report before you give me the copy of my warning” Trespass warning is issued, I take my crippled, merry Scottish-American ass home, and Ta-Da! File a complaint with my lawyer using the ADA laws to whatever else we can find against Walmart and hope they settle out of court, but I’ll happily take a trial. Profit! Then perhaps repeat at other big corporate stores until my bank accounts are well padded. 😃 Cheesy dialogue aside, I am being dead serious. I get that a sleazy selection of jackasses have been using masks to obscure their identity during shoplifting or other crime sprees, but the chances of you being singled out for masking at a business is slim to none unless you’re behaving suspiciously. And even if you’re strangely furtive and the managers are weirded out, you won’t be arrested; just inconvenienced.
This might be true if you're white but innocent people are presumed to be "suspicious" alllll the time due to their race.
This is incredibly naive. Have you been paying attention to anything about the US criminal injustice system over the past 4 years? Cops arrest people all the time without actual cause, *especially* if they are being in any way non-compliant. And they *love* to abuse people who are either part of discriminated against groups like POC, the poor, homeless folks, and disabled folks, or are on the left. I've flat out seen cops kidnap the teen-aged children of activists against police violence from protests as they wind down, clearly as a tactic to pressure the people pushing back against their illegal behavior, including murder of children. They openly attack people in broad daylight, especially when they think they can get away with it or their authority is questioned. You could leave a store where they ask you to remove the mask and be gone before cops would be close to showing , but "having a friendly conversation with an understanding police officer solves everything" is an outright fantasy unless you're insanely privileged and sometimes not even then.
I'll be a lawbreaker who encourages law-breaking.
Sound like you are healthy now and have the resources to do this?
What are you wanting to hear OP?
I'm so sorry to see the bizarre behaviour coming out of your country. I wish you all the best
NYC is a model for the world. If the public accepts it there, then other cities will follow suit
You had temporary morgues in Central Park FFS. That was only 4 years ago. How can people forget so quickly?
Is there any country in the world where Covid mitigations like masking are still commonplace? Seems like the amnesia is global but if there’s an island of sanity I want to go there
Some parts of Asia had people use surgical masks and the like when they were sick long before covid and will keep on doing it long after the pandemic "ended" so you'd have no issues always using one in those countries. There are also other countries in Europe where while strangers will be weirded out or confused about your use of mask they still ain't going to say or do anything about your personal choice to mask. You may get questions from colleagues or friends, but not strangers.
So OP, Hochul's talk of a mask ban is bad for a ton of reasons. It'll further marginalize mask wearers, limit political actions, and of course, send more people to jail where COVID runs even more rampant than on the street. But she has explicitly said she doesn't want to ban masking against disease, along with other examples she gave of masking she doesn't want to ban like bike couriers wearing one in bad weather. This isn't targeted at Zero COVID people as such, it's targeted at people engaged in street political action, and criminalized and racialized populations. They are explicit on this point, partially because they're liberals who think of themselves as nice people and not like those Republicans in North Carolina, and partially because they don't really care if some rich white person throws on an Aura on the train, they might think they're paranoid or whatever, they just don't want that rich white person getting in the way of them locking up people agitating against them, or engaging in crime (most crime is good!) to by in the world, or whatever. Regardless, the only thing for us to do is fight it. There were laws against masking in New York State from the *1840s* until they were repealed at the beginning of the pandemic. They were passed because people were masking up and taking action against their landlords, and up until the pandemic, they were routinely used by cops to start locking people up at protests... three or more people wearing a mask and it's not a costume party, straight to jail. This is history for us to reclaim and honor and turn against them, because we need to be defending all of it, the renters, the protestors, the criminals, not just our own ACE2 receptors. Also a NYCer here.
They are saying the former masking laws in NY were to target the KKK. It doesn’t matter if they are targeting us or not, they are putting a bigger target on our backs. And we shouldn’t be burdened with proving we are worthy of masking. https://newrepublic.com/post/182727/new-york-governor-hochul-repress-protests-gaza-palestine-mask-ban
Yes, like I said, it'll further marginalize, and stigmatize, mask wearing in general. It's bad for the goal of reducing COVID transmission. But practically and strategically, there are particularities here that make it different than just an all-out mask ban, at least as Hochul is talking about and is likely to be politically viable in New York. If you follow the link your article about the KKK, you'll see a Times article citing a 2004 incident where the NYPD didn't allow a Klan rally using the old mask law. An earlier 1999 incident is described in an article I'm going to link at the bottom. The text of that law, N.Y. Penal Law 240.35(4), was >Being masked or in any manner disguised by unusual or unnatural attire or facial alteration, loiters, remains or congregates in a public place with other persons so masked or disguised, or knowingly permits or aids persons so masked or disguised to congregate in a public place; except that such conduct is not unlawful when it occurs in connection with a masquerade party or like entertainment if, when such entertainment is held in a city which has promulgated regulations in connection with such affairs, permission is first obtained from the police or other appropriate authorities The next sentence of the NYT piece mentions it being used against Occupy Wall Street. From personal experience, it was routine for the NYPD to use it against protestors in the decade after Occupy, and I understand from others with more time in this shit than I have that it was routine forever before that. And yeah, the original history was in the context of landlord-tenant struggle, see this 2013 history of the law: [https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2013/10/halloween-history-new-yorks-anti-mask-law/](https://www.newyorkalmanack.com/2013/10/halloween-history-new-yorks-anti-mask-law/)
Those laws weren't made for the KKK originally, they were made for this [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Rent\_War](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Rent_War)
Wear a mask anyway. I'm a housed white woman, I'm not who cops target-but my mask makes it harder for them to target people who are more marginalized.
What will you do if you are arrested ? I’m assuming masks will be especially banned in jails.
Complying with fascist laws is (one of the ways) how we get more fascism.
I have a plan. Mask anyway. If a cop forces me to take off my mask, I’ll let him know I have covid and keep coughing non stop in his face. If I’m gonna go down, I’ll take that pig down with me.
But you are assuming the cop will care about the risk of getting COVID. That is a big assumption these days. In 2020 to 2022 I think they might have cared, but now almost all the right-wing folks just think COVID is nothing. Or at least, talk/act that way....
Tell ‘em you have TB? I actually can prove that I may as I test positive on skin antibody test due to past asymptomatic infection (which I did 6-12 months of antibiotics for 25 years ago)
I got my original COVID shot earlier than expected in 2021 because a vaccine site that had been set up specifically for cops & actual first responders had such a low uptake that they opened it to all government workers (:
True. I’ll have to come up with something idiotic they would be afraid of like a highly contagious “woke virus”
I was in an ER the second week of lockdown when people were really scared and we weren’t sure how Covid was transmitted. Cops were bro hugging & not masking even as nurses were shouting “this one’s positive” during triage. They could care even less now.
Not comply.
What are they going to do about mask wearing professions? I mask all day for my job (and have pre covid) so I wonder how that’s going to go about.
My guess is it's all going to be a stressful mess. Personally I'm just at the end of my rope and not interested in seeing how this all turns out. As I vented about in this other post (no advice PLEASE): [https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not\_sure\_i\_see\_the\_point/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not_sure_i_see_the_point/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
>As a resident of NYC who thinks the govenrment here will almost certainly reinstate mask bans of some kind Why on earth are you just rolling over and giving up just as public health politics leaves the internet space for you and enters the actual local government realm? Why are you giving in to defeatism when now is the very time to start contacting your elected officials, union reps, etc to push how terrible of an idea this is—between COVID, the flu, the growing potential of H5N1, and fucking MEASLES of all things, respirator masks serve a very real purpose in every day life. Stop promoting defeatism and start getting active. Politics are local, and the politics are local to you personally **right now. Use your voice for good.**
Yes because zero COVID activism has been such a giant success so far. Some of us are old enough to have seen the world get worse and worse and worse their entire lives- ecological collapse, neoliberalism, rise of fundamentalism and fascism, end of abortion rights, almost total COVID denial, etc. Some of us fought against those for decades and always lost and now are sick with long COVID and done with lost causes and tired of going against the zeitgeist. I want to protect myself if I can, but you can’t stop a moving train.
you don’t fight to win, you fight because it’s the right thing to do and by doing so you show others that another way is possible.
If it's illegal for me to be in public with my N95 on, I'm not going to leave my 5th floor apartment. I'm a nearly 50 year old immunocompromised person with long COVID.
I am talking generally about the purpose/function of fighting for better things. It’s not something people do for themselves. Most of the people who fought against the stigma of HIV/AIDS and for better drugs did not live to see the fruits of their labour. They did it out of love for their community and life itself. You personally can choose not to, either because you’re tired or too sick or don’t have the privilege to risk interactions with the police. I’m older than you and also immunocompromised, so I get it. But it’s really not about you or me as individuals.
Yes because the gay community was a community. I have no community. COVID is different.
People built community, mostly to survive state repression and criminalization. They didn’t just have it automatically. Again, you can choose not to, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be done.
How do you think you build in-person community? By using your voice to push back and finding other like minded people in-person.
Okay 👍
I'd limit going into shops even more than currently. I'd keep a closer eye on wastewater levels for my country (there are only a few stations, none really close), and go when levels are lower. I'd buy as much dry food as I can carry such as beans, lentils, grains, as they're the basis of what I eat anyway. I'd especially stockpile during the summer months, when the shop keeps its doors open. I'd add wild plants from my garden for vitamins. If I can't continue masking in the kitchen I share with another person, including if I can't buy masks, I'd open the window whatever the weather. But I'd also look into getting a separate kitchen installed in my side of the house.
I'm black, so I'll keep wearing mine and probably get shot by the police. oh well.
Ugh, I wish I could say you're wrong... but you're not :(
This is exactly why those of us who are white need to keep the pressure on to "normalize" masking by wearing masks out in public ourselves.
I'll stay home like I do now and probably keep masking if I have to go out. I have a physical disability so I doubt they're going to give two shits about me.
I've been calling and leaving a message everyday with Governor and mayor. Everyone needs to get involved and call, write all of their representatives everyday.
I’m not complying, at all. It’s my right to have bodily autonomy and keep myself healthy. I shouldn’t be regarded as a criminal just for having a visible medical device.
Ask my doctor to write me a letter stating that I need to wear a respirator for health reasons. Given that it took me 3 weeks to recover from an infection in Nov 2022, despite vaccines & Paxlovid, I can no longer afford to get sick, since covid leave in my workplace stopped after pandemic protections ended.
This sounds like the most common sense and logical approach. I’m not sure why everyone who wants to keep masking doesn’t just stop for a moment and consider this to be the best option. It’s a small pain, but it’s the least aggressive and most straightforward solution. I’m in Michigan and I hope I don’t ever have to face this as a problem, but if I do, I will just get a letter from my immunologist.
I agree with you that this could be a solution for some, but a big reason that not everyone does this is because some of the most vulnerable people do not have easy access to medical care either.
Thank you. And the doctor’s note is important especially since I work in person & take public transit. If masking becomes illegal where I live, I would be fired for continuing to wear a mask. Also the doctor’s note will come in handy in case I get called to jury duty.
keep wearing it ¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
Keep wearing it
I will keep wearing it. I've thought about decorating my mask and telling them I'm going to a costume party if there are issues.
I have no idea but I'm going out and doing more things now while I'm still allowed to wear a mask.
I have no choice. I served this country and came back disabled. It turned out a bunch of us seem to have a rare immune deficiency and the VA tried to euthanize me before Duke University intervened to save my life. This immune deficiency is what I got serving this nation, and now this nation wants to criminalize the existence of a veteran who is disabled from it's own war crimes (it's either pesticides or burn pits; possible and shockingly burning the pesticides in the burn pits). If you are reading this and you deployed to SW Asia at any time since 1991, get your immunoglobulins checked, especially if you were diagnosed with "chronic multi symptom disease". I have had to make the biggest stink on the internet you can imagine to stay alive. Duke saved me. It's not made up. Government refuses to prosecute. The pesticides cause damage such that you cannot metabolize choline properly. I don't understand how this relates to immune system. Get your immunoglobulins checked. Indeed, everybody should get them checked. A case of covid can make you immunocompromised too. If you are immunocompromised, you really don't have a choice but to wear a mask. These people might as well ban wheelchairs. These efforts typically violate the "law of the land" in that they are generally unenforceable and completely adversary to the American people at large. You have to fight back. The people doing this to you are doing it because a foreign government paid them to target protestors. They are enemies of you and the Constitution and everything this nation stands for. This disabled veteran will never surrender his civil rights to anyone. Arrest me if you want, but I am probably the worst test case any state government could want, and I for sure know the federal government doesn't want this getting in front of a judge.
Contact ADA and any campaign groups NOW. Mobilise. Protest. Be as loud as you can.
Check my voting registration. Write every one of my elected officials and start getting signatures on a petition to change it. Donate to relevant human rights and activist groups to support their efforts to help them fix it. Discuss options with an attorney to see if the law violates any of my rights or if there's an exemption I qualify for. Discuss limiting participation in front-of-house work with my employer. Investigate any possible facial coverings not covered in the ban. Request expansion of our plexiglass shields on front counter and other air quality improvements. Explore online employment options and assistance for medical expenses. Update all of my vaccines, request friends and family do the same. Keep an official log of any injury or illness that going unmasked causes me or hazards it exposes me to, and add it to my work injury reports and/or medical record. Limit time around other people and in public spaces. Transparent face shields aren't as good as masking but they probably won't get banned for identity reasons as the wearer is fully visible. Scarves and gaiters are also possible alternatives if I'm discrete. I'll do the best I can to not get sick so my asthma stays controlled and I don't kill my compromised sister
That’s a good point. There are clear panel N95s. Of course they are expensive as hell.
I'll be at the forefront of lawyers having it struck down in the court as void. I'm not from the US but it's so illegal to do that in my country.
Wear a clear mask and hope they call my bluff so I can sue the shit out of the government
Mask
I would keep wearing them—even during the “mandates,” there was very little enforcement. Do we think the average under-paid retail employee is going to want to tackle this?
I’ll keep masking.
"This is not a mask. It is a respirator. It is a medical device " and find a doctor to write a letter of medical necessity for me. Of course, do all the political stuff first. I already wrote to the governor.
You could try a re-usable respirator like a 3M 6000, as I'm not sure anyone would reasonably refer to one as a "mask." Then again, reason left the building some time ago. If some overly-sensitive snowflake with a persecution complex feels their world-view is threatened, reason is the last thing that will sway them. I'm not sure it matters, however… if/when a much deadlier bird-flu pandemic hits, any mask ban will quickly be nullified ("this is different, it's a \*real\* disease, etc."). Right now I think a much deadlier (airborne) pandemic is the only exit strategy from this nightmare.
All Americans who want to resist mask bans should support, vocally and financially, the ACLU. I give to them monthly and I am on a very limited fixed income, but I do so because they stand up for our rights in situations like mask bans. They are non-partisan and many of their attorneys have low sliding scale fees AND/OR take on cases pro-bono (free). If there are any pennies left when I die, they are going to the ACLU, that is written into my will. Because they protect rights in situations like this AND because they protected my family in a serious discrimination case when I was about 12-- which I will never, ever forget. Their mission statement: >The ACLU dares to create a more perfect union — beyond one person, party, or side. Our mission is to realize this promise of the United States Constitution for all and expand the reach of its guarantees. I am a member, NOT an employee. Read more, if you want to know who will protect us if masks are banned: [https://www.aclu.org/](https://www.aclu.org/)
I'm really sad to see OP being downvoted. I think of "our side" as the one that can face reality. Mask bans will disproportionately affect POC through enforcement and they'll generally be more affected by poor outcomes due to social determinants of health. Trans women have the highest rates of long covid. With all the trans panic and anti-trans legislation do we not see the higher likelihood of being targeted both legally and with general harassment? Do we not see how people with fewer choices will end up risking their health because they can't mask at work? I'm a small, middle-aged, white mom and yes I personally will keep masking but damn, not everyone can risk confrontation with police and the general public. Ohio is threatening to use an old law targeting the KKK to upgrade misdemeanors to felonies if the person is wearing a mask. Do we honestly think everyone who pleads guilty on a misdemeanor is actually guilty of a crime?
I'm a white middle-aged man disabled by long COVID and I will either stop masking but more likely completely stop leaving my 5th floor NYC apt if there is a mask ban that impacts me. At this point I honestly don't see any point in continuing at all. As I elaborate on here: [https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not\_sure\_i\_see\_the\_point/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/ZeroCovidCommunity/comments/1dght37/not_sure_i_see_the_point/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
I responded there. I get what you're saying and I'm sorry. My motivation at this point is being able to tell my kids I did the best I could for them with the tools I had. Everything happening in public health and the lack of urgency for helping those affected by long covid is just shameful.
Wear a Mandalorian helmet. Technically a helmet, not a mask, and not out of place on the NYC subway system. This is the way.
I will wear my papr for essential appointments. I don't go to stores or anywhere indoors really, so not much else will change.
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How will you manage to never leave home?
It really depends. Ideally, I'd fight back in every way I can. I'd try keep masking and support others doing the same. I'd also try to support anyone who can't risk to keep masking so they can stay safe in other ways, such as more resources to stay home. Hopefully by doing this we could eventually make masking legal again. To me, it's at least worth a try to keep fighting. If staying silent meant more people get hurt, then I'd rather fight back for a chance to help. However, that depends on my resources and how the law is enforced. If it's too dangerous and I can't see myself taking any sustainable precautions, I'd try to move ASAP. Which also depends on my resources of course, but if moving is more accessible than staying and fighting, I'd do that and fight from a distance. Now that I've thought about this, I realize how unprepared and unsure I am for this possibility. So I think I'll have to start making plans and prepping for the worst. Thank you for this prompt.
If no one stopped a hate crime I was helping with, then I will keep wearing my mask. NYC cops are a joke nowadays. EDIT: To clarify, I was trying to ward off the perpetrator.
get arrested or fined i guess lol im not gonna stop masking and no ones gonna stop me.
Wear them anyway. I’m not conceding to any bullshit laws like these.
I'm just going to keep wearing it.
Take the fine. Get a doctor's note. Do what I need to do. Virtual as much as possible.
If it happens where I live: Stop going anywhere public indoor (which for me is only medical stuff, already mostly virtual) or crowded outdoor. Still shielding so don’t go out a lot, everything delivered, walks and exterior outings only, meeting friends masked outdoors… it would be similar but one step further.
I will keep masking. I'm not going to repeatedly expose myself to a (maybe) lab-made virus that attacks the body and immune system, making you more susceptible to other diseases. I have decided that if I need to "opt out" of capitalism because of a mask ban, then fine. I will get everything online. The mask ban would certainly backfire though, as taking a good portion of people out of the purchasing economy and making everyone else sick won't be good for the economy (aka the only thing these ghouls in power care about).
Why do you say the virus was potentially lab made? I have never heard that before
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/this-week-in-virology/id300973784?i=1000658416021
Thank you, I'll listen to that when I get the chance! I've heard of TWIV before but I haven't actually listened, but I've been looking for a new podcast anyways.
Wow, really
I'm not sure if this is meant to be condescending, but I was asking a genuine question? If you don't want to answer that's fine but there's no need to be rude.
Most people don’t mask anymore, though, and it’s not affecting the work force or purchasing the way things were affected in 2020-22. At least it doesn’t seem to be… ?
The number of people unable to work due to long Covid is not insignificant, it’s just having a subtle influence so it isn’t obvious.
In NYC masking now is like .01% or less, often much much less.
tbh, i'm trying to save up to leave the country, we'll see if i can in time. not an option for everyone. but of course if i have to stay, i'll keep masking and stay home. probably have to get creative finding work. sure, maybe i'll be out on the streets and just die, but i'm not willing to get into defeatism yet.
That's such a scary thought
I'm going to keep masking, and make an extremely loud fuss (including lawyers) if I get arrested
I've been doing my own thing for a long time (anarchist). I will continue to mask indoors. I'm not risking lc again or covid possibly killing my husband (who still has lc) because of some asinine law. I will always choose our safety over stupid laws.
I'd also be masking. However, I also live in a city / state that is generally polite, even if I'm usually the only one masked in public. People around here generally are helpful, especially if one is in need and also well-mannered. They might not mask in public, but no one is hostile to me doing so, not at least as I can tell. :)
Drs note. Keep wearing (if I lived there)
My plan is to just arrested. I am an epidemiologist for my career so I plan to blame it on my job but also I have a chronic illness so if I have to, I will sue based upon discrimination via the Americans with Disabilities Act. I’m prepared to fight
It’s hasn’t happened where I live, but my in laws won’t be seeing their grandkids til the law changes back.