I don't know if that's supposed to be a completely-free-of-substance joke. If it is, then fine, even though I don't quite get the funny part of it, but I appreciate your weighing in with some friendly humor. But if there's even the smallest smidgen of your actual POV, and of how you're actually viewing this question, in that flippantly worded comment, then I have to say I'm very surprised to find that argument presented in here of all places, and by you of all people. That's, like, as blatant an argumentum ad populum as you might find anywhere, and what's more applied to what is a very serious question, or should be. It's essentially saying that whatever the folks around me are doing is right, and what I must do is try to mimic them as best I can. That's, like, I don't know, entirely unexpected, coming from you. (Like I said, apologies if I'm running away with over-thinking a comment that was intended as no more than just a joke, and that does not touch on your actual POV at all.)
Sure, I can understand tailoring your reaction, to an extent, maybe even to a large extent, to local conditions as opposed to some global norm; but even if you're aiming to do that, even then trying to mirror what everyone around you is doing is hardly the best way of getting there, is it?
Well.
You started this thread in Social Issues and Current Events, not Science, Mathematics, Medicine and Technology. So I don't see your question as being primarily a scientific or medical question. Besides, several others have weighed in on the scientific and medical aspects already.
I gave a social answer, based on current events in my area. I gather it's different in different places. In Oregon, the pandemic has been relatively mild, as have the restrictions. We never went into total lockdown. Outdoor dining was established mid-2020. Indoor dining was reinstated several months ago. There never was an outdoor mask requirement, and the indoor mask requirement was lifted on March 14th.
The main reason I still feel guilty not wearing a mask in my building is because I've been wearing a mask in my building for two years, and it hasn't even been two weeks since that requirement was removed. I still see lots of masks, out and about. Some people wear them on the street, even though it's not required. Lots of retail and restaurant workers are still wearing them, understandably.
My employer opened their campus to voluntary work-from-the-office, requiring a mask indoors in compliance with the government mandate. In May, they will reinstate the office hours expectations for all employees - masks optional. It will be interesting to see how many of my co-workers will choose to continue wearing masks indoors, and if and how that custom fades over time.
I'm sure the CDC will tell us when the pandemic has crossed the technical threshold to some other category. And anyone can look up dictionary definitions of words and speculate which one best fits the current circumstances. But from a social perspective, "mask culture" (for lack of a better term) seems to me a good benchmark of how people are feeling about the problem and their relationship to it.
At my neighborhood bar, everyone dropped the masks as soon as the mandate was lifted. Nobody wanted to keep wearing a mask, not even the bartenders. Half the staff caught Omicron in late December, anyway. Everyone's vaccinated. Everyone is looking forward to a mask-free spring and summer. There's a general sense of relief, that this thing is finally starting to fade, and Back to Normal is underway.
If "pandemic" means lockdowns and quarantines and social distancing and masks and proofs of vaccination and living a half-life, then in that tiny corner of the world, the pandemic is almost over. The rest of the city isn't far behind. We'll see this summer whether voluntary mask-wearers are outliers, or the norm.
The CDC can tell you, scientifically, when the pandemic is "over". But when will you actually
feel like it's over? When the CDC tells you? When certain restrictions are lifted? When you see the weekly infection and hospitalization numbers drop below a certain point? Or will you wake up one fine morning this summer, and realize that a weight has been lifted, and you're just not as anxious as you used to be? You'll be out and about, living your life, and the thought will occur to you, "hey, I can't remember the last time I saw someone in a mask". And that's when it hits you: the long dark teatime of your soul has finally come to an end.
I can't say that's how it's going to be for you. I can't even say it'll be this year. I hope it is this year. But only you will know when your heart says the pandemic is over for you. For some people, even if the CDC says it's over, it still won't be over for them. For some people, it will never be over. Who am I to tell them it's over? Who are they to tell me it isn't?
