Will you continue to wear your mask when they are optional?

Still 50/50 in any shops I have been to so far. I no longer wear mine in shops but when visiting clients homes I still wear it. Some expect me to have a mask entering their home.

less and less masks now here in the big smoke, even the diehards in the office have given them up

come back in a couple of months.

Party of one?

It was expected after a week or two, covid superstitious people would eventually calm down and ditch the mask.

Some people are slower to change than others.

Still quite a lot of masks in the local SuperValu here. Mostly older people and middle-aged women it has to be said. Was in last Thursday morning about 11am and about 90% of the customers were wearing one. A lot less worn in the evening for the wine run though.

Was at a kids' birthday party yesterday indoors, big playspace for the kids. Quite a few adults wearing masks at the start, very few wearing them by the end. Staff were all wearing masks, presumably an employer thing.

I do think we're still in a bit of a transition phase where people aren't sure what contexts it's appropriate to wear them, so when doing something new they'll stick them on until they know the lay of the land.

It's "new" in the sense that it's a change in routine. For those who would have spent a lot of time wearing masks; either in work or because they spent a lot of time going in and out and putting masks on and off; then the wearing of masks became normalised. And thus, doing the same activities without a mask, is new sensation.

For those of us, like myself, who probably would have had to put on a mask no more than once or twice a week over the last two years, then the transition is a lot more straightforward. But we humans are adaptive machines, we tend to find ourselves getting used to things very quickly. As such, wearing a mask indoors would feel normal.

Ask a motorcyclist if they have ever ridden without their helmet on. And they will all tell you that it feels really weird, like a form of nakedness. Even though they spend the rest of their lives without one, the association is there; on bike = wear helmet. So it's the same with masks. Indoors = wear mask. People will get used to not wearing them indoors again. In a couple of months if you go into a hospital and have to put on a mask, that feeling of weird discomfort will come right back.

Meanwhile, back in the world of science.

Weekly mask observations, 95% people not wearing them in smaller shops, convenience stores etc. Dunnes still at about 50% although generally it appears to be older people wearing them.

Except it isn't.

See the way deaths are trending since August of last year?

This is a reality. I'm fine with restrictions being lifted, but I wish people were proactive and considerate towards others and would do something that doesn't really negatively impact them in instances where they are more likely to mix with other people.

Not long back from the weekly shopping trip to Dunnes myself.

I'd say mask wearing is down to about 25% at this stage in Dunnes itself, less in the smaller shops. Most seem to be middle-aged/older women and most of those with unmasked partners.

Good to see to be honest. People exercising their own decision making process.