{"id":77956,"date":"2021-05-21T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-21T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=77956"},"modified":"2021-05-21T07:55:55","modified_gmt":"2021-05-21T12:55:55","slug":"new-york-bookstores-and-suburban-gas-stations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=77956","title":{"rendered":"New York Bookstores And Suburban Gas Stations"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

We’re a week past the lifting of the mask mandates. But as Miranda Devine notes in the New York Post, confusion reigns<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\n

This is how confused New Yorkers are about masks. At Barnes & Noble Wednesday, no mask was required to browse the bookshelves, but on the other side of Union Square, the Strand bookstore had mandated masks for all shoppers. Practically everyone inside both stores was wearing a mask, anyway, despite CDC advice that you don\u2019t need one, indoors or outdoors, if you\u2019re vaccinated against COVID-19.<\/p>\n

Considering that more than half of Manhattan has been fully vaccinated, something is very wrong with the way we are processing risk. The trust between public health experts and the public is broken and now no one knows what to believe.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Why is that? Devine has a culprit:<\/p>\n

\n

We can blame one man above anyone for this parlous state of \u00adaffairs: Saint Anthony Fauci, the\u00a0coronavirus czar<\/a>\u00a0once hailed as the\u00a0most trusted<\/a>\u00a0man in America for his leadership through the pandemic. He has flip-flopped on every piece of advice, never admits doubt and tells lies with \u00adbrazen indifference.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

True, Fauci is a dissembler for sure. But the weirdness must be just in places like Manhattan, right? But what are we seeing here in Minnesota?\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mitch shared a few examples yesterday<\/a>. Here is what I’ve seen: I get a cup of coffee every morning at a gas station near my home. While I live in Ramsey County, I am not a St. Paul resident and there is no mask mandate for our community. The mask requirement signs are all taken down. But based on what I’ve observed, just about everyone who enters the station, at least in the morning rush, is wearing a mask. I started watching this behavior midweek. In the two days I observed, I saw about 25 people enter the store. Almost all of them were still wearing masks. The only guys who consistently didn’t wear a mask going into the store were the guys delivering milk. And, um, me.<\/p>\n

Is there a health benefit to still wearing a mask, especially if you’re vaccinated? Or is it theater? Back to Devine:<\/p>\n

\n

It was just on Tuesday that Fauci admitted it was not science but theater that kept him wearing a mask \u2014 even double masking \u2014 despite being fully vaccinated for \u00adalmost five months.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t want to look like I was giving mixed signals,\u201d he told \u201cGood Morning America.\u201d \u201cBut being a fully vaccinated person, the chances of my getting infected in an indoor setting is extremely low.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

So it is. But even then, he squirted out more octopus ink:<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cI think people are misinterpreting, thinking that this is a removal of a mask mandate for everyone. It\u2019s not,\u201d Fauci told Axios. \u201cIt\u2019s an assurance to those who are vaccinated that they can feel safe, be they outdoors or indoors.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And Devine isn’t having it:<\/p>\n

\n

Fauci at this point is being deliberately confusing. He is feeding the mental disorder of vaccinated Karens who cling to their masks. He needs to tell them the truth and stick to it.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I agree. And don’t expect Governor Walz to help straighten things out.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We’re a week past the lifting of the mask mandates. But as Miranda Devine notes in the New York Post, confusion reigns: This is how confused New Yorkers are about masks. At Barnes & Noble Wednesday, no mask was required to browse the bookshelves, but on the other side of Union Square, the Strand bookstore […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":358,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,434,49,44],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-77956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture-war","category-mr-d","category-science","category-stupid"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77956","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/358"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=77956"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77956\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":77970,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/77956\/revisions\/77970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=77956"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=77956"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=77956"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}