This poor child’s joy at finding an urchin is obviously mediated by the horror of having to wear a face mask, outdoors. If she were lucky enough to live in los Estados Unidos, she wouldn’t have to wear one. Here in the obviously backward country of Mexico, face coverings (cubrebocas) in urban areas are universal indoors, and common outdoors. In the rural areas, this is a little less true, but most clerks and waiters still wear them. Hand sanitizer and temperature checks are the doors are still pretty common, as is the use of KN95 and surgical masks, rather than cloth.
I really don’t understand the rush to discontinue face coverings in schools, which have been shown to work, a couple of months before the end of the school year. If we didn’t have a chorus of screaming idiots whining and crying about the dreaded mask, it would probably look a lot like Mexico in our towns and cities, and fewer people would be sick or dying.
Obligatory picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe after the break.
War for Ukraine Update 14.5: Interim Update For Housekeeping Purposes
germy
Masks have mostly disappeared here in upstate NY.
Most supermarket shoppers I see don’t wear them, and it’s about 50-50 with the employees.
Yesterday I went to a movie matinee and 95% of the audience was unmasked. And the few people with masks pulled them down to noisily munch on snacks.
Old School
Is the shrine at a rave?
WaterGirl
@Old School: That’s what it looks like, for sure.
Villago Delenda Est
Those who whine about masks are crybabies, pure and simple. Make like Russian warship.
Ohio Mom
Earlier today we went on a family outing. When we got to our first stop, it was a bit brisk so I put my hands in my jacket pockets and discovered three crumpled surgical masks.
Apparently masks are the opposite of gloves, which are always getting lost.
Four Seasons Total Landscaping mistermix
@Old School: It is in the front yard of a fisherman in La Paz.
Gretchen
Our school district went back to having all the kids crowded into the cafeteria and dropped masks this week as we are learning that even mild Covid can cause cognitive problems. Nuts.
Mart
In MO not just the mask whiners constantly on the local news, but the State Attorney General actively working to kill kids families by suing school districts over mask mandates. Needlessly killing in an effort to raise his popularity to get elected to the US Senate. How do we keep losing to these monsters?
Benw
Los Estados Unidos esta en el baño.
Baud
@Mart:
Because a lot of our voters are monsters.
raven
I steppen on one of those fuckers on Hon Tre Island!
Baud
@raven:
Was the girl seriously hurt?
JPL
@Villago Delenda Est: I’m with you.
raven
@Baud: Hardy har. . .
jonas
For a second when I saw that photo I assume cobrebocas was the Spanish word for sea urchin (for some reason) and that this was going to be an article about how we should all eat more uni because they’re 1. plentiful, esp. off the California coast and 2. an invasive pest of sorts that destroys valuable kelp forests. West coast chefs are finding all sorts of creative ways to use these little flavor bombs in various dishes, from sushi to omelettes.
Baud
@jonas:
El erizo de mar.
CaseyL
@jonas: I worked with live urchins back when I volunteered at the local aquarium. Got to be very fond of them and enjoyed feeding them: those spines move pretty damn quick when you feed them something they like a lot.
I have never been able to develop a liking for urchins as food, though. I find the texture a complete turnoff – and, mind you, I happily slurp raw oysters off the halfshell.
jonas
Look, if community transmission is low and hospitals are not getting overrun with Covid patients, what’s the point of making everyone, including kids, mask up all the time? The idea that if there’s even a single Covid case anywhere, it’s masks on forever isn’t a workable or desirable policy, imho. I think the CDC has struck the right note: masks are a tool to flatten the curve in a community if there’s an outbreak. Mexico has a falling, but still high, case rate, and of course their health care system is nowhere near able to handle a surge, so glad to see people are taking precautions.
Baud
@jonas:
People here were resisting masks even when transmission rates were higher.
SiubhanDuinne
Since it’s an Open Thread … For some reason, I find this headline utterly hilarious:
rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/stephen-miller-cell-phone-family-plan-january-6-1319036/
Baud
@SiubhanDuinne:
I don’t know about TMobile, but Verizon plans are cheaper if you have more people as part of your plan.
sempronia
@jonas: Because not all the kids can be vaccinated yet, and not all adults have functioning immune systems. Low community transmission will help, and then we can take off the masks, but we’re still at a very high rate. I think our cases are vastly underreported. Now that at-home tests are widely available, people can test and quarantine at home without reporting their cases to any central authority, so plenty of mild cases (i.e. not hospitalized) are missed. We’re not ready to take masks off.
At Costco yesterday, I saw a grand total of four people not wearing a mask. People here are still being cautious.
Starfish
@jonas: It was right around 20 degrees outside, and my child’s school let them out for recess. “Did you wear your mask to keep your face warm?”
He did not.
This was odd because usually they do not get to go outside for recess when it is under 30 degrees out.
SiubhanDuinne
@Baud:
Yeah, it’s probably a nothing. It just struck me as having a kind of “36-year-old-man-still-lives-in-parents’-basement” vibe to it.
Mike in NC
Netflix has recently added two movies from Steven King: The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile.
Mike S (Now with a Democratic Congressperson!)
@jonas: I have really liked not having any colds (or flu) for the last 2 years. So masking is in my future!
Professor Bigfoot
@Mike in NC: The Green Mile has annoyed me for years for one reason—
There is absolutely no fucking way John Coffey survives to go on trial when he’s found with two dead white girls.
Not in America.
Poe Larity
Why do you hate the yout’s smiles?
mrmoshpotato
@Baud: LOL! Well done.
Brachiator
For half a second, I thought I had wandered into Evil Universe Balloon Juice.
Yeah, I think people have given up on safety measures too early, because people insist that the pandemic is over because they want it to be over.
We may get a break simply by the arrival of spring and summer, better weather and more outdoor activities.
But I am not certain that authorities and health agencies are drawing up effective plans for dealing with future pandemics.
Here in Los Angeles county, some health officials keep mouthing stale platitudes about dealing with low vaccination rates in lower income communities. One obvious issue: if you close down libraries and community centers, you cut a lot of people out from access to information and services. But officials knew by zip code where people were most likely to need help. Officials need to think more about alternatives and how to quickly get them in place where needed.
It is also probable that getting information to elderly and non English speaking people needs to be improved. One San Francisco media outlet noted a great program that mobilized high school and college students to get accurate information to friends and family in Hispanic communities.
On top of all this we have to fight the conservative stupidity opposing public health initiatives.
Cubrebocas. Love it.
Ruckus
@Benw:
Si.
Yarrow
That picture is going to give someone a seizure.
Spanky
Well, I first read it as “chupacabra”, which just goes to show you how my mind works.
What’s under that mask?
J R in WV
Months ago, while case rates were high and higher, we were at the optical shop to get Wife’s post cataract surgery glasses for close up vision. Sign on the front door, wear a mask!!
So there’s an older guy with a mask, but not over his nose, you know, where he breathes? I ask him to pull his mask up, as Wife isn’t the most robust healthy person right now. “No, I won’t! It makes my glasses fog up!” the old bastard says. So, to keep your glasses from fogging up, you’re willing to pass on a potentially lethal plague? I don’t say that, but my strong urge is to pick up a coffee table and to hit him with it, hard. I close my eyes, and don’t commit a violent crime. But that urge!!! He was sitting beside a very young girl, too young at that time to have been vaccinated…
I will be wearing a mask for a very long time… avoid the flu, colds, and just maybe the Trumpian Covid Plague.
Salty Sam
Sure, maybe so, but I’m with SD- “Aspiring Nazi still on Mom&Dad’s cell plan” makes me chuckle…
Original Lee
@Gretchen: A friend’s son, who is a two-sport high school athlete, had a mild case of Covid in January. At his physical for spring sports yesterday, they discovered he has lost 10% lung function, probably from Covid, since he’s a healthy kid who hasn’t had any other illnesses since his last physical.
Gretchen
@Original Lee: that’s terrible. I don’t see why people are so focused on pretending there is no downside to letting kids just get it.
Urza
@Gretchen: If they don’t pretend there’s no downside for kids then they would have to confront their own hypocrisy on being pro-life or other obviously bull$#!^ phrases they wrap themselves in.
40 years from now we’ll find out Covid caused a reduction in intelligence of half the society as they’re pointing out for lead this week.
jonas
@Baud: Right. Which also doesn’t justify insisting on eternal masking when transmission levels are low.