Good morning, NewsViewers and Coffee Talkers!
On January 21, 2020, the CDC confirmed the first case of the novel 2019 coronavirus diagnosed in the U.S. The World Health Organization on that day was unsure of the necessity of declaring a public health emergency. Twenty-seven months to the day later, we are still debating public declarations of necessity regarding a virus that has taken more than 6.2 million lives worldwide.
Today’s Topic:
Yesterday the DOJ decided to appeal a Florida federal judge’s ruling that struck down a mask mandate for mass transportation, while a report from the AP found that 56% of those polled prefer planes, trains, and public transportation to require face masks.
Let’s Coffee Talk about it.
What is your comfort level regarding masking?
I’ve watched the “Big Board” at the New York Times, each morning checking in to my personalized dashboard that tracks places important to me. This morning when firing up the PC, I scrolled, scrolled, and scrolled to the end of the NYT Home Page website and could not find my dashboard. A few clicks around the subcategories later, I found my dashboard. It was the first day my county showed an increase of cases in weeks — at 14 cases per 100,000. Seems the New York Times is trying to move past the pandemic — prematurely.
My personal comfort level of masking/no masking evolves with each scenario I’ve encountered — but I’ll admit I’m not putting myself into a lot of risky scenarios (in my personal view). I would estimate I wear a mask in less than 20% of the places I visit, judging the crowds by volume and character, trusting my vaccine and booster. I have been waiting to see an uptick in cases in my community before committing to the second booster.
I’ve considered myself immune compromised because of previous health issues, but I realize we all have personal reasons to protect ourselves and others.
Share your thoughts, if you’d like……….but this is also your free chat zone for the day, and there’s so much we could Coffee Talk about.
Let it out.
Happy Thursday and enjoy your free chat!