I have to do it every day I go to work. It sucks but it's temporary.
That’s the rub. We don’t really know whether the situation is temporary or not. Getting rid of it now might be like trying to take piss back out of a swimming pool. It’s lasted from winter through most of the summer so far, so it doesn’t look seasonal. There’s a good chance the virus is here to stay. If it does, I wonder how long the masks/gloves/etc stay, before people just become accustomed to the risk and go on as before. ?
Just to be clear, I’m not very passionate about wearing/not wearing PPE in public. I have to at work. And in Louisiana you’re now required to wear one in stores, etc. I’m not scared of getting it, honestly, I think I already had it in March, but I know some people are scared of it (some with good reason), and I don’t want to be a dick to those that are more vulnerable (or just more worried), so I wear my mask.
As far as the shutdown and whether it was necessary, I don’t know. It hurt an economy that was going gangbusters finally, shuttered many small businesses, and put a lot of people out of work. Was it necessary? If it saved a lot of lives, then I’d say so, but I know for a fact it cost lives, too. My sister-in-law was struggling with depression and alcohol, but had been doing great and had been sober for about a decade. The shutdown and social isolation was more than she was able to cope with. Now she’s gone, and my wife and I are raising her daughter. Don’t think for a second that the shutdown hasn’t cost lives as well. I won’t say whether it was the right call to shut things down or not, because I don’t know. And I don’t like pushing my opinions on people anyway, but there’s always two sides to coin is all I’m saying. I don’t usually feel sorry for elected officials, but that’s a shit call to have to make, one way or the other.