This is ridiculous and I don't understand the communication break down. I work at an essential business, with 80 other people. We never shut down. I go grocery shopping with hundreds of other people. I have to get my car repaired. I have to do other essential things.
The vast majority of my coworkers don't wear masks at work. Many of them wear maga hats and openly talk of the virus being a hoax. Many don't follow proper hand washing procedures, including after taking a shit.
My county has mandated mask usage indoors, but at the grocery store there are always several people with no mask on, or a mask hanging off their ear, or used as a chin diaper. I wear my mask, but my mask is to protect you from me, not vice versa.
I see neighbors hosting large indoor gatherings. Or maybe just parking 20 random cars on their lawn? It's been going on non stop since March.
New case numbers in the usa just shattered the day old record, which shattered the previous day old record. The exact same trend is happening in michigan, and many other states as well. I wish my portfolio returns looked as good as the new case graph.
All of those people are assholes and are putting people at risk in my opinion. If you think it's their right to attend a super spreader rally, host a large party, fraternize with dozens of coworkers without wearing masks or observing suggested social distancing or hand washing guidelines, and then stand directly next to me sans mask while I'm at work or shopping or some other essential task I have to perform then we disagree.
I live/work in a similar environment, although perhaps not
quite as much disregard by the sound of it. Are you able to limit the time spent within 6ft of these people at work, or at the store, etc? Again, CDC says that it's not "high risk" of transmission unless you're within 6ft for 15 minutes. Most people have some control over their distance and/or the time they spend in close proximity to others, especially in public. Masks do help the wearer too, so obviously keeping yours on is better than nothing (I'm sure you're doing this, just mentioned it because you said that the mask helps the person on the otherside and not the wearer). Wearing masks and following the 6ft/15 minute rule at my employer (about 5 times the number of people than yours) has resulted in zero cases of employee to employee transfer. I can completely understand being frustrated with those that aren't following local guidelines. But I see no reason to judge people that
are following guidelines but simply doing things that you find too risky.
Everybody there at said gathering aren't the only ones bearing that risk, but they're also putting at risk anyone they may contact after that gathering while pre-symptomatic or early in their symptomatic phase, along with anyone those people contact. If enough people have the attitude that the rules don't apply to them, then everyone is at risk.
If a significantly large group of people decides it's their right to run red lights because 'fuck the government', then it's not only them they're putting at risk when out on the roads.
The choices are to do nothing and let the virus run rampant, or to take action to prevent further spread of the virus. Both have consequences, but I'm glad the latter choice was chosen here. 15 active cases in the entire state and no new cases for the last week.
Again, anybody out in public that might be encountering anybody else is responsible for their risk exposure. They're accepting some risk simply by being there, just as they accept some risk of a traffic accident by driving, etc. I'm not trying to excuse reckless behavior on the road or in regards to the virus, but transmitting a virus is not entirely the fault of a single person. It takes two to tango. If you're concerned about the possibility of catching the virus, or people exposing you to it, then you should be doing anything in your power to reduce the chance of that occurring (limiting trips, keeping distance, wearing masks, avoiding visitors, etc). If you're not doing those things, then you're clearly not that concerned.
Our CDC has stated that there's very low risk of transmitting the virus unless a person is within 6ft of a positive person for 15 minutes or more. These encounters are pretty uncommon in public, especially in the current environment. Assuming the CDC is right, that person that walked past you in the grocery aisle or held the door for you in the gas station isn't likely to spread the virus in such a short interaction. Nearly all employees in a public facing position are wearing masks, and most people are following local mask mandates where applicable. Plus there's a lot of signage about distancing, tables and seats are spaced appropriately (limiting capacity) and there are often physical barriers in place to add another level of protection for everybody involved. The person doing those risky things just isn't that likely to transmit the virus to an unwitting person against their will, especially if that unwitting person is doing their part too by wearing a mask (which they presumably are since they're trying to avoid the virus).