You do realize that the reason stores ask customers to wear masks is because anyone could be infected with no symptoms (thus not “sick”) and infect others? Wearing masks where the public mixes in close proximity protects against infecting other people.
Many of us could recite in our dreams by now the reasons we've been given to do this or that or the other thing. The protocols and reasoning change with the wind and weather here in Ohio and elsewhere. Arguing about it endlessly does nothing to change minds.
Listening to the flip-flopping and back-and-forth in Ohio's daily press conferences for the last 2 months makes it clear that they say what they think they need to say to get the public to do what they want them to do. What they talk about the most shows their ulterior motives. Right now, the main purpose behind Ohio's latest mask mandate for employees (where it's allowed by law) is to make the customer feel that it's safe to patronize those businesses. For that reason alone, it was a mistake for DeWine to go back on his original mandate to also require customers to wear masks. That's like saying it's important for the customers to feel safe from the employees, but the employees don't deserve to feel safe from the customers. The customers don't have to feel safe from each other. They keep harping on safety, but it works both ways.
There were also some concerns for employee safety if a customer refused to wear a mask and insisted on entering the store anyway. Within hours, DeWine got many angry calls from people who said they'd refuse to wear a mask. For that reason alone, it wasn't a mistake for DeWine to decide that customers didn't have to wear masks. See, I can flip-flop with the best of them, too. I guess it depends on if the bigger threat is perceived to be the virus or an out-of-control angry customer. But DeWine made it the responsibility of each business to decide if customers had to wear a mask. So that buck does not stop with him, I guess. He's said he believes that most people will voluntarily wear masks and that'll make it all work out OK because he's an optimist.
I've been wearing a mask to grocery stores for the last couple of weeks, since they tend to be the most crowded of the places I go. Most customers in grocery stores are wearing masks, but not all. I didn't wear a mask in Dillard's the other day, because it wasn't crowded. Before I approached my cashier, I asked her if she wanted me to wear a mask. She's known me for over a year now. She said it wasn't necessary, so I didn't. I didn't get within 6 ft. of anyone. A few customers wore masks, a few didn't. When I pick up DD from work at Panera Bread, I go inside without a mask. Most customers that I've seen enter without a mask.
Definitely my mask wearing isn't consistent right now and it depends on the environment and practices of the majority of customers. I'm not going to criticize others for wearing a mask or not wearing a mask. I haven't seen any fights in public over it yet and I hope it stays that way. Most likely, if employees weren't mandated to wear masks, they wouldn't be wearing them either, because they weren't wearing them before and it didn't stop a lot of people from shopping inside for their groceries anyway.
I (and others) have also posted that there are legitimate reasons why some people can't wear a mask. I guess I must be on a lot of Ignore lists, because it doesn't seem to make an impression. The judgmental attitudes are getting way over-the-top here lately. The original post set the tone for it, IMO. I try to be a voice of reason and calm, but I feel like some people just don't want to hear me. I think I'll give up for awhile and find more productive ways to spend my time. Or I could start a thread about how I'm trying to be reasonable and calm during these stressful times and will continue to patronize businesses without requiring them to do a professional deep clean between each customer.
much, much longer than I should have. You have to learn to ignore statement posts with unsound or no reasoning - they're usually based on what someone else has told them, and they don't even know why.
