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Forum - View topicNEWS: Otakon to Not Require Masks, Proof of Vaccination at 2023 Event
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catone2
 Posts: 218 |
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I mean, yeah. Seems fine. It wasn't like people were enforcing it at events that were mandatory when it was at the height of it.
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NeverConvex
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US vaccination rate seems to have reached an asymptote quite a while ago, dominant strains have become meaningfully less dangerous, and case/hospitalization rates in DC have been very low since last summer, so it seems unlikely the medical system will be overwhelmed. I've generally been very cautious about this kind of thing, and feel most conventions I've seen publicized on ANN had recklessly lax COVID policies, but unless we hit a new major hotspot that seriously strains the hospital system a return to business mostly as usual seems appropriate to me now.
Last edited by NeverConvex on Mon Mar 06, 2023 7:44 am; edited 1 time in total |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2214 |
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Hopefully they'll turn the water fountains back on too. This makes life easier, which is nice. Especially karaoke.
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catone2
Posts: 218 |
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Honestly, if you're still concerned about health risk or don't feel safe entering spaces with a high volume of people, then it's best to sit it out till you are again. Things do need to go back to normal while there isn't a major global risk about it.
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kotomikun
Posts: 1205 |
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Ironically, I was thinking about going to Otakon this year instead of AX after the latter's pathetic lack of mask enforcement last year. Guess that's not happening.
The pandemic is past its peak, but far from behind us--though we've apparently collectively decided on an alternate reality. Large indoor events are relatively safe, if reasonable effort is made to keep out anti-vaxxers and anti-maskers. Removing those rules will inevitably cause more cases, and it's hard to predict the extent. Honestly, I don't get why Americans hate masks so much. They're harmless and have obvious benefits. "Con plague" was a common problem even before we had an actual plague going around. Do people like getting sick, or what? |
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encrypted12345
Posts: 718 |
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To be fair, there are fringe demerits to an all mask policy (like poor ex-smoker grandma stuck with an oxygen tank). Also, the benefits of masks are questionable when most people don't bother with wearing them properly, the common mask people use have "Not for medical use" right on the box, and people don't replace them every day (and said mask become a nest of germs in their own right as a result). |
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catone2
Posts: 218 |
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Because it's annoying and an inconvenience. And for me, it obstructs my breathing when performing work, especially during the summer heat and it isn't great during a con. Not to mention, the everyday masks people use are not at all the end all and be all defense for the virus sadly. |
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psipsy
Posts: 53 |
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They probably decided on this after seeing the lack of enforcement at Katsucon.
I seem to remember AnimeUSA was going to do the same thing last year, but after some negative feedback, they split the difference and only required masks. |
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Avec ou Nous
Posts: 110 |
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I haven't seen anyone here wear a mask for over a year. No stores require them and maybe you might see one old person wearing one every now and then but that's it. I didn't think this was still a thing people still talked about.
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monsieurb1982
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In United States, they are still talking about that because it's more a political topic than a health topic. Blue team against Red team. Where I live, according to some studies, it was the 5th worst country (a lot of restriction) in the world in the begining of 2022 (and if we just take the province, the 3th). They even put children (under the state care) tested negative for COVID 10 days in a room because they had contact with people with COVID. A liberal (left) politician was even talking against his own party last year. The day they started to drop mandates, people simply stopped to put masks, except a very small minority who, some weaks later, stopped too for most of them. I only see, even if it's rare, some people time to time use mask in public transport. It's how people act when you use force against them. The mask became a symbol of submission for them. For the vaccine, young people don't take it anymore. There are even people who used to take other vaccines that stopped taking any vaccine, COVID or not. If at least they used recommendation instead of using the force, that would probably be more different today. Sad but true. And that's what the study about the mandates (in hospitals staff) were saying way before the pandemic... |
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2324 |
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What would need to happen re: evolution of COVID for you to be comfortable with most events adopting more lax, return-to-the-old-normal policies like this? Meaning that as a genuine question; I'm not entirely certain what more there is to wait/hope for. Or are you imagining policy would just become more cautious in perpetuity?
I think a lot of it has been simple selfishness, people tying their social/political identities to whatever small issue is the political bonfire of the week, a strong cultural tendency to view even minor infringements on personal freedoms as some kind of major threat, and an equally strong tendency to regard experts -- especially academic and gov't ones -- with skepticism. I live in DC and still wear a mask in crowded spaces, but it is a pretty rare thing to see nowadays. Even in e.g. the grocery store, I think 90%+ of folks tend to be unmasked. Though it has been a while since anyone's yelled at me to take my mask off (which has happened before!). |
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5531 |
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This isn't remotely true. Covid is still one of the leaving causes of death in the United States. Stop spreading falsely positive information on a deadly virus. There are hundreds of deaths per week still. And this isn't just about DC. People fly in from all over the country. Many hospitals across the country are being overloaded largely thanks to covid patients. Requiring no mask AND no vaccination is one of the greediest and dumbest things a convention can do. At least do one or the other, preferably vaccination.
Yeah this ain't true. I actually have breathing issues that prevent me from going anywhere simply due to have hard it is to breathe. Masks don't make it worse at all. There have been many scientific studies that show masks don't add any difficulty to breathing even in the most extreme cases. It's a nice excuse but there's no way it's true. And no one has said masks are 100% perfect. But they do greatly reduce the chances of getting infected |
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2324 |
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I'm not sure what you're disagreeing with? COVID can be one of the leading causes of death and yet the latest variants much less deadly than earlier ones, particularly with the hospital system not overwhelmed, 80% of the population vaccinated, and somewhat effective post-infection treatments available. For example, the Case Fatality Rate has certainly gone down dramatically from where we once were: https://ourworldindata.org/mortality-risk-covid And it only takes a few seconds to confirm that this is consistent with understanding that Omicron has a significantly lower fatality rate than earlier variants (although early reports about a new UK strain are more concerning). That doesn't mean it's good to just let it run rampant, and I would be happier if 'cons still did have some basic requirements, but I have trouble blaming them for not doing so, at this point. I don't think the situation's going to get much better than it is now; do you? Is there some further change in COVID's course you're waiting for that you think would justify relaxing policies like this?
Agree completely that people flying in from more heavily infected areas is a concern. It is a good reason for hesitancy. Where are hospitals overwhelmed currently? Before I posted initially, I took a look at NYT's tracker, and it seemed to me hospitalization rates were modest, and case rates pretty low throughout most of the country, with a few exceptions. Mm, although looking again, hospitalization rates are still a bit elevated above their lowest point, back in June 2021. |
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Gem-Bug
 Posts: 1218 |
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Additionally, conventions are for leisure/entertainment; I assume catone2 is not employed and "performing work" there. Mask use around here is no longer enforced in most places, including my work, but mask use to still relatively high(myself included). Most anti-mask efforts are selfish, "don't tread on me" posturing. |
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oilers2007
Posts: 93 |
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I live in Canada and haven't seen anyone wear a mask in ages tbh |
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