FOUR REASONS IT IS TIME TO UNMASK!

I want to be clear from the beginning. I am not a crazy pro-vaccination person who thinks anyone who is unvaccinated is irresponsible or a lunatic.  You can make a strong case for young and healthy people remaining unvaccinated. Should they contract Covid19, they will very likely recover and subsequently have a natural immunity to the disease.

Nor am I an anti-vaccination person who believes that vaccinated people are allowing a substance to be injected into their bodies which will, in time, injure them or possibly kill them.

Like most Americans, I made the decision that felt right to me.  I have been vaccinated. I am 64 years old.  I weighed the pros and cons and determined that the risk of contracting Covid19 was greater than the risk of getting a newly created vaccine.  If you have made a different choice for whatever reason, I am not mad at you.  And I am not trying to persuade you to be vaccinated.

I remember when the pandemic first began, we all thought we were going to have to deal with a 2-3 month inconvenience. Now a year and a half later. . . .

My perspective is simple.  Everyone should have the freedom to decide for themselves whether or not to be vaccinated.  And after that (meaning NOW), it is time for everything to get back to normal (meaning pre-pandemic norms).  No one who has been vaccinated should have to social distance or wear a mask. 

There seem to be four reasons people give for requiring vaccinated people to continue masking and social distancing:

1. To protect people who have already been vaccinated.

That doesn’t make much sense. The point of the vaccine was to protect those who are vaccinated.  And from everything I am reading, it is working.  As a vaccinated person, if I get the virus at all, it will very likely be asymptomatic or at least a mild case. That was the whole point of getting vaccinated.

2. To protect people who have chosen not to be vaccinated?

Not to sound harsh here, but that doesn’t make sense to me either. If someone doesn’t want to be vaccinated, it should be up to them to protect themselves in a different way. Don’t go out. Stay ten feet away from everyone at all times.  Wear five masks. I don’t really care. But I don’t understand why it is my responsibility to protect them, when they can (and should) protect themselves.

3. To protect people who, because of medical reasons, can’t be vaccinated.

To me, this is the only argument that has any validity, and I still don’t buy it. If you follow that reasoning, EVERYONE in public should have to wear a mask for the rest of their lives.

4. To remove all risk.

I will agree that everyone wearing masks all of the time would remove more of the risk of Covid19 infection (and a lot of other infections as well). But it wouldn’t remove all risk. And at some point, we need to be able to live with some risks. We do that every day–when we drive our car, or cross the street, or ride in an airplane, or eat food prepared in a restaurant, etc. Remove all risk, and life is dull. It might get you a longer life, but you will have a lot less to live FOR.

I know that some will disagree with my conclusion.  I welcome civil discourse—as long as I can have it without wearing a mask!