Rant #2,657: Mask-querade

More, more, more about the pandemic.

How do you like it, how do you like it?
 
Yesterday afternoon, New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo said that his state will adopt the CDC’s latest mask guidelines, which means that vaccinated people don’t have to wear masks pretty much anywhere anymore.
 
This policy begins on Wednesday, but to some, the policy has already started.
 
My wife, who works in a bank, told me that they had to tell several people to put masks on while banking, and you know that that type of craziness is going to continue for the foreseeable future—
 
And that is because some retailers and banks will continue to have their own mask mandate, and you won’t be able to go into the retailer’s environs unless you have a mask on, vaccinated or not vaccinated.
 
And there will still be people who will wear their masks anyway, so the masks aren’t going away entirely.
 
And this thing about segmenting crowds into those who are vaccinated and those who aren’t … don’t you think that is the modern re-up of the old Jim Crow laws, where blacks and whites were segmented apart in stadiums and arenas?
 
And in some cases, we are going to have to prove that we were vaccinated … so you have to carry papers, and it is Nazi Germany all over again.
 
And what happens if our numbers dart up because of our new freedom … will the CDC say the masks have to go on again?
 
Heck, the cat is out of the bag. Nobody will listen, you can bet on that.
 
So will I wear a mask or not wear a mask, that is the question.
 
I think that I at least have to have it handy, because like I said, there are some businesses that will still require a mask to be worn by anybody within its walls.
 
But doubt even those businesses with signs up stating that you have to wear a mask will really and truly enforce it, unless they are a smaller business or a bank.
 
How is a supermarket going to police possibly dozens of people at a time who are mask-less?
 
They simply can’t, and they simply won’t. They simply do not have the manpower to do it.
 
And again—and I admit, this is the most worrisome thing about the CDC guidance—we are pretty much on the honor system here. We can not wear a mask, and nobody will know whether we have been vaccinated or not.
 
But if the CDC magically came out of the blue and said it is safe, then I have to wonder whether this whole thing was politically motivated—it clearly was—and whether it has anything to do with “the science”—it clearly didn't, or at least it had nothing to do with the science they have been pushing for months, which was clearly faulty to begin with.
 
And while New York’s Governor Cuomo says we don’t have to wear masks anymore—seemingly as he counts his money, without a mask on, from his multi-million-dollar book deal that he reportedly had staffers work on during business hours—New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy says no, not yet, to the CDC guideline, and when you are in New Jersey, you have to continue to wear a mask.
 
I honestly don’t know if that is the way to go now, but Murphy claims that holding off on taking off the masks will make New Jersey “the safest state in the nation” when it comes to the pandemic, so is he following the science or the green, as vacation season is ready to open?

Everyone wants to be safe on their vacations, right?
 
I will bet on the green—money talks louder than science, always has, always will.
 
For my remote job, I am currently in the middle of writing an article which is an update of the current policy and procedures of the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM), which is the entity that runs the military exchanges, or department stores, for the Navy.
 
One of the speakers at the forum was retired Rear Adm. Robert Bianchi, who is the chief executive officer of NEXCOM.
 
Yesterday, this is what he had to say about the CDC’s mask update and about those who choose to continue to wear a mask:
 
“I want to get out of any connotation to the mask issue, and if people continue to choose to wear them, that is totally their prerogative, and whether it be our associates or patrons, we are not going to profile people for wearing masks.
 
“I think the protocols that we put in place, like having more space in the stores, even in our queuing, I think people naturally are staying a little more distant … I think that trust that we gained with them even when we relax some of the restrictions, I think people will still feel safer and more comfortable coming to our locations to shop … or at least that is what we are hoping.”
 
I guess what he said goes for all retail … I mean, you are seemingly damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.
 
And that fabled “science” that everybody talks about is completely out the window here.
 
So my suggestion is to keep your mask handy, because no matter what the CDC says—and no matter whether you are vaccinated or not—that mask is going to have to be used in a variety of circumstances, no matter what the current guidance is and no matter what you might prefer.