I’m confused, it was my impression that a lot of Chinese people, including in the West, have been masking strategically since like 2003 (the first SARS wave), i.e. wearing a mask if they are sick, or if the risk of getting sick is unusually high (e.g. a bad flu season at university). The only people I ever saw wearing masks for illness prior to 2020 were Asian (except for one very immunocompromised white friend). Honestly it seems crazy to me that the norm prior to this was just to do nothing to try to prevent illness, because being sick is both terrible in the moment and maybe/probably bad for you longterm!
I do think the trade-off differs for different people — some people, like my husband, absolutely hate every minute of wearing a mask, so it’s a big cost for them; but for others, wearing a mask isn’t that unpleasant, so it can be worth doing it for a few hours at a time in order to prevent future major inconvenience.
I, like Jeff, have been masking more than usual recently, since I, like him, am running music for a Solstice this weekend. This makes sense to me because (a) I don’t hate wearing a mask that much, (b) it’s only for short periods, not for like a full workday in an office every day, and (c) it would be really unfortunate to not be able to be in Solstice. I’ve put in a ton of preparation, and while we do have contingency plans in place, me being sick would still create a burden on other people, make the performance run less smoothly, and also mean that I wouldn’t get to perform, which would be sad for me.
I guess my point is, everything in life comes with trade-offs, and it’s up to you how you weigh those.
I’m confused, it was my impression that a lot of Chinese people, including in the West, have been masking strategically since like 2003 (the first SARS wave), i.e. wearing a mask if they are sick, or if the risk of getting sick is unusually high (e.g. a bad flu season at university). The only people I ever saw wearing masks for illness prior to 2020 were Asian (except for one very immunocompromised white friend). Honestly it seems crazy to me that the norm prior to this was just to do nothing to try to prevent illness, because being sick is both terrible in the moment and maybe/probably bad for you longterm!
I do think the trade-off differs for different people — some people, like my husband, absolutely hate every minute of wearing a mask, so it’s a big cost for them; but for others, wearing a mask isn’t that unpleasant, so it can be worth doing it for a few hours at a time in order to prevent future major inconvenience.
I, like Jeff, have been masking more than usual recently, since I, like him, am running music for a Solstice this weekend. This makes sense to me because (a) I don’t hate wearing a mask that much, (b) it’s only for short periods, not for like a full workday in an office every day, and (c) it would be really unfortunate to not be able to be in Solstice. I’ve put in a ton of preparation, and while we do have contingency plans in place, me being sick would still create a burden on other people, make the performance run less smoothly, and also mean that I wouldn’t get to perform, which would be sad for me.
I guess my point is, everything in life comes with trade-offs, and it’s up to you how you weigh those.