If social distancing and masks are not necessary in thousand-person clusters of protesters, then WHY ARE ANY BUSINESSES, MASSES, AND ACTIVITES STILL S

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That’s crazy. In my state (QLD, which is very large compared to US states and has very very few cases) we are only allowed to have a maximum of 10 people per Mass including priest and altar server, regardless of church size as far as I know because my church is fairly large, and we have to do social distancing, hand sanitiser etc. Because of the numbers it means that each person has to register online before we attend Mass or we won’t be allowed in and we can’t go more than once a month on Sundays. (We can go once a fortnight during the week). And of course this level of restriction is not present on almost any other building or organisation that I can think of off the top of my head.
 
Our bishop only lifted the restriction three weeks ago. Missing Mass especially during Holy Week was wrenching. I followed Bishop Barron’s daily Mass on YouTube and it was wonderful, but it wasn’t the same. I have to wear a mask and we are limited to the number of people who can attend, but it’s the Mass and I am happy to be able to go.
 
TheLittleLady said:
As only New Hampshire and VA have “stay at home” orders, and VA expires tomorrow, seems this sort of protest would only take place in NH.
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It was an example. The gist of the statement is protest, as long as we approve of the cause.
whatistrue said:
Public health advocates advise and give opinions but do not make rules, so what they say or think has no bearing on the question.
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Still a double standard.
 
dscath said:
the relatively benign discomfort of wearing a mask
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For some of us, it’s not “relatively benign discomfort.”

I work in hospital lab where it is required (except when we are all sitting together in the break room having lunch :roll_eyes:).

I simply cannot pull it over my nose. I’ve tried several things that are supposed to keep my glasses from steaming up, but they don’t work for more than a few minutes.

Because of my arthritic knee and my gimpy foot, I have balance issues. Several years ago, I tripped and fell over a carpet at work and ended up with a broken knee (the same knee that is currently arthritic and will be replaced in September–hooray!).

I simply will NOT take the risk for tripping again. As it is, the mask blocks my peripheral vision and makes me feel terribly disoriented and unsteady, especially as many formerly-clear floor areas in our lab are now filled with hundreds of extra boxes of COVID-19 supplies.

Everything I’ve heard from “science” (television, newspapers, radio) claims that the mask will NOT protect me from contracting COVID-19, but will only protect OTHERS from catching it from me (if I had it) by keeping my “talkspit” inside my mask (eugh, it’s kind of sickening to think that for 8 hours, my lips and chin are filled with my own talkspit–I’m sure that’s really healthy for my skin).

So at work, I would say that 50% of us pull the mask down to talk, including when we are answering the phone. So what good are the stupid masks doing?! We’re still spewing talkspit.

Interestingly, no one in our lab has contracted COVID-19.
 
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My family work for NHS over 40,000 have died and friends that went to church even in lock down to be called a scam were is ADMIN
 
1cthlctrth said:
The larger point here is the blatant inconsistency of the media,
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There is consistence, namely, they all give what they believe their listens want or need to hear. Things change in the news because things change daily in the world. If Yellowstone erupted today there would be no news of riots or pandemics. Maybe this is a type of evolution. Those with short-term memories are more likely to die.
 
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Yes, I agree with you that it’s a double standard to crack down on businesses and churches but allow a protest to proceed with hundreds or thousands of people not distancing and many (though not all) not wearing masks. (A large number of protesters, perhaps the majority, wore masks.)

A few points to consider:
  • There was a past history in the 20th century in the USA of dispersing protests using the excuse of public health concerns, making it hard to do now when there’s a legitimate concern.
  • Many of the protest assemblies were technically unlawful anyway in that they didn’t get permits, blocked traffic, some protesters destroyed property etc, but there is an enforcement problem in stopping them and also in enforcing social distancing and mask wearing. We simply don’t have good resources to stop them, wouldn’t have room to put that many people in jail, and would likely get a lot of lawsuits that the taxpayers would end up paying for.
  • It’s likely a percentage of protesters will get COVID, but it will be hard to prove whether they got it from the protest or from their last trip to the beach or bodega, as it’s doubtful that the folks at the protests only came out of their house once in 3 months to go protest and social distanced with masks on the rest of the time.
  • The protesters were outside for the most part, which allegedly reduces COVID risk since it is most transmittable inside in a small indoor space.
  • A LOT of people, including many I personally know, refrained from joining in the protests because of COVID risk. If not for the risk, you’d probably have seen protests that were twice as big in USA.
  • Churches, unlike protests, tend to draw a lot of attendees who are high risk for COVID due to their age and/ or their health conditions, so parishes are being extra careful. Even with the risks I’ve seen people at daily Mass who are 80+ years old and even one guy who was on what appeared to be a portable battery operated respirator at Mass.
  • The protests have the good effect of taking the resources and attention of local law enforcement in USA off whether St. So-and-so’s Parish has 50 people or 55 people at Mass because the police department and mayor’s office are too busy dealing with whether unrest is going to break out, so it kinda works in our favor that way.
 
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Poet said:
Yes, people have been arrested for a church service
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Please point me to those articles from a news source (blogs are too unreliable). US only, I do not know the constitution of other countries.
Poet said:
A woman was arrested for opening her salon
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Different thing, that is a business that is licensed by the health department. One can be fined, arrested, she could lose her license for violating health codes.
Poet said:
There are snitch lines to report people having a barbecue with more than the state-allotted number of people
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News story (or the actual phone line would be awesome)

I found this story:


It seems the governor had specific laws, and even the California Coastal Commission permitted the notices, that were broken.
 
Lost_sheep2 said:
You live in the USA and you’re able to go to Mass every week???

I’m in Australia where (I’ve heard) we have less than 40 active cases in the entire country and I’m not allowed to go to Sunday Mass more than once a month.
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Why do you think the USA leads the world in both active cases and total deaths? 🙂
 
TheLittleLady said:
Please point me to those articles from a news source (blogs are too unreliable). US only, I do not know the constitution of other countries.
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https://duckduckgo.com/?q=pastor+arrested&atb=v224-2rk&ia=news

There have been at least two. I’ve also read of attendees at an outdoor service, people staying in their cars, being threatened with fines.

And honestly–those who want to know if these things are true can easily do a search. It took me all of five seconds to pull this up.
TheLittleLady said:
Different thing, that is a business that is licensed by the health department. One can be fined, arrested, she could lose her license for violating health codes.
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Arrested for going to work and trying to feed her children and allow her employees to feed their children. We can call it health codes or anything we want–it’s appalling that someone was arrested for trying to earn her living. And in fact, she made a point of social distancing and masks.
TheLittleLady said:
News story (or the actual phone line would be awesome)
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Once again, easy enough to find on a search. I live in a city where the snitch line was announced and publicized even before the lockdown started and people were calling it the day before the lockdown became official to report their neighbors being in the park. The problems in NY were reported at the time with people sending angry messages and certain types of pictures to the snitch line.
 
I think we can all agree things were different during lockdown. We’ve been off lockdown here for a week, other places for the last 2 or several weeks. No one is calling up to report people in the park like they were in April or May.

I’m not sure what the problem is that this thread was started? In my area I’m not seeing a Mass shortage, nor am I seeing sign ups for Mass, nor are there enough people wanting to go to Mass that they can’t get a seat. I’ve been going to daily Mass for the last nearly 2 weeks with no big deal.

I also went to a 5000 person peaceful protest that included the local mayor, police chief, and county sheriff. Most people wore masks. There wasn’t good social distancing but it was outside. It lasted about 2 hours. I am waiting to see if I or others get sick but I hope and pray not. At some point you do what you can and trust the Lord.
 
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Socrates92 said:
Are you a 13-yr-old girl?
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Why do you care?

And no, the so-called double standard does not actually speak for itself or there would never have been a dispute about whether it was present in the letter or not.
 
Poet said:
Arrested for going to work and trying to feed her children and allow her employees to feed their children. We can call it health codes or anything we want–it’s appalling that someone was arrested for trying to earn her living. And in fact, she made a point of social distancing and masks.
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Barbers and stylists can only do styling/haircuts if they have a license in this country. One cannot just set up a shop and run it however they see fit. The same way a restaurant must be licensed and inspected.

I can only drive my car with a proper license. If the state declares tomorrow that driving privileges have been suspended, then, even though I have to get to my job, I would not drive because I do not want to lose my license or suffer the penalties.

Being a hair stylist is not an absolute right. My stylist friend/salon owner went and got a different job when she could not open. The businesses that stayed open have not been able to get enough people, they are paying bonuses and it was possible to apply today and start work tomorrow!

Edit to add: I just had Arby’s for lunch. They are advertising that they now have a “work today, get paid today” program! Wow! That would be a great fill in job!

Re the “snitch line”, every law enforcement agency in the US, every municipality, every state licensing board, every DCFS, has a tip line.

In civil debate, when someone makes a claim and someone asks it to be substantiated, “go look it up yourself” is not conducive to reasonable, civil debate.
 
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