[mring33621]

Here is what I think (US-centric):

- Most people are tired of masks and even if they use them, they are neither wearing them nor cleaning them adequately

- Vaccination/boosters are the only reliable defense for the average person

- In 3 years or less, people will wonder what all the fuss was about and simply will treat COVID-19 like a common cold. Your management and colleagues will expect you to show up for work, COVID or not.

I'm not justifying this behavior. Just stating what I think we'll see in the future.

[_fat_santa]

At this point with Omicron, it's also that the messaging has gotten so damn muddy and contradicting. Here's what I mean.

* Get vaccinated to protect yourself. Well now we know you can get a breakthrough infection.

* Get vaccinated to protect others. Well now we know you can still infect while vaccinated.

* Wear a mask to protect yourself. Well now we know that masks don't really do a damn thing unless you wear an N95 properly, even then it's not super effective against Omicron.

* Wear a mask to protect others. Again, we now know that masks do little to protect others with this variant.

The frustration in all of this is, as a young and healthy person, I'm not worried about COVID. And if there is nothing I can do to protect others, please just let me sign the liability waver already. If I get sick and die, that's on me, just please stop enforcing mandates "for my own good".

[nodamage]

Just because something is not 100% effective does not mean that it should be abandoned entirely. All of the measures you mentioned still have some degree of efficacy.

The fact that breakthrough infections sometimes occur is not a valid counterargument against vaccination.

[sfblah]

This is right. Whether masks work or don’t is irrelevant. The policy failed.

If an individual wants to not get Covid, the only solutions are vaccination and distancing.