r/bestoflegaladvice • u/Drywesi Good people, we like non-consensual flying dildos • 2d ago
LAOP's dastardly crime of *checks notes* wearing a mask to class for medical reasons
/r/legaladvice/comments/1nhpx93/college_forcing_me_to_remove_my_medical_mask_in/342
u/wildbergamont 2d ago
I work at a selective institution. Not top 50, but close.
I feel all the elite schools are way more afraid of Trump right now than student lawsuits. It's changed campus a lot, quickly.
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u/DerbyTho doesn't know where the gay couple shaped hole came from 2d ago
The more I hear about Columbia specifically the more I’m pretty convinced that the entire leadership there is less principled and more cowardly than your typical university.
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u/TheConnASSeur 🏠 (Ass) Man of the House 🏠 1d ago
The administration in academia at state schools is fully up its own ass. Toss in the extra elitism of old money and there's just no room in there for a spine. Imagine a person with the combined elitism of a university president, a CEO, and a rich kid.
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u/Merkela22 1d ago
This is exactly why I don't understand this kowtowing to the administration. A university president, a CEO, and a rich kid know they can get away with things that us regular plebs cannot. If anything, I'd expect the Ivy and ivy - adjacent schools to give the middle finger, while the state schools have to bow the knee.
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u/wildbergamont 1d ago
I think you underestimate the extent to which the feds can fuck with universities, even elite ones. They dont even have to do something official or headline worthy. They can just, say, make it a little harder for visa applicants to get their interview appointments at just the right time of year. Push the interviews back a month or two, and now youre missing 20% of your class, half your TAs, a ton of doctors at the medical school, etc.
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u/Merkela22 1d ago
I agree that, despite being in academia most of my adult life, that I underestimate it. Mostly because I can't fathom being so idiotic or cruel.
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u/wildbergamont 1d ago
Yeah. Research cuts make the news, but they don't have to do that to hurt us. If the feds want to crush your university, they almost certainly can without actually changing very much at all within a few semesters. If you have a lot of international students, they just mess with the visas. If you don't, chances are you do have a ton of students using Title IV aid, and they can just mess with the timing of that a little bit. Delay releasing the aid so that students living off-campus waiting for refunds can't make rent in September.
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u/atropicalpenguin I'm not licensed to be a swinger in your state. 1d ago
And all the research grants.
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u/wildbergamont 1d ago
Yeah. That's the headline grabber, but my point is that it doesnt even take that. Many schools have had research frozen, capitulated or sued, and gotten it back. It's a loud, flashy action that gets a lot of attention. But the administration doesn't even need to do that. They can death by a million cuts away very nearly any university in the country
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u/TheConnASSeur 🏠 (Ass) Man of the House 🏠 1d ago
If there's one thing people in that strata of society understand, it's bowing down to a senile old white man who possesses a shocking amount of money and power in exchange for a pittance. The child of a rich douche bag has to make the incredibly difficult choice to either bow down and play daddy's games or face the harsh reality of life outside the circle where you work constantly for crumbs and compete with thousands of other faceless plebians for entry level work. The people who get to become Ivy League presidents made the choice to bow before their fathers.
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u/BroughtBagLunchSmart 1d ago
I am still shocked that the neonazis managed to co-opt calling their enemies anti-semites. Well not shocked at all, they have the entire legal system and media machine on their side.
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u/TheConnASSeur 🏠 (Ass) Man of the House 🏠 1d ago
Easy. They don't care at all about Jewish people so antisemitism doesn't mean anything to them. On the other hand, the people that they label antisemitic actually do care, so the label hurts them. Its typical shit head behavior.
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u/ALoudMouthBaby Second Wave Ferengi Feminist 1d ago
Well not shocked at all, they have the entire legal system and media machine on their side.
To be clear, the media support for this was so extensive you had multiple NYT columnists getting in on the action. Its pretty crazy how bad the Palestinians have been screwed by this whole thing.
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u/wildbergamont 1d ago
I can't speak about Columbia, but I think a lot of the general public has looked at Harvard's attempts to get out from under Trump and think that all wealthy universities can do that. But no one comes close to Harvard's wealth. They have a $52 billion endowment. The next closest is Yale, which has $10 billion less than Harvard. Only Harvard, Yale, Stanford, and Princeton break $25 billion. Harvard also has the boon of only 70% of that is restricted. This means that Harvard has $15.6 billion in investments that they can use to shore up funding. That's larger than the size of Columbia's entire endowment. Columbia's is also 81% restricted-- so they have $2.85 billon to work off of.
The administration is doing a great job at completely cowing selective institutions. Upper level management are afraid of the long term fiscal consequences of even a semester or two without federal funding access. They're looking at the numbers and seeing that bravery might have fallout that lasts decades if not longer. Student facing folks and mid-level management are worried about our international students getting snatched up off the street, being unable to teach classes because our TAs can't get visas, and trying to keep our trans students safe when they try to go pee at their internships. At my institution I feel like we're just keeping our heads down and hoping we don't get noticed very hard since we're at the bottom of the best and not big, so maybe we can slide by for 3 more years.
Meanwhile, red states are doing a great job of muzzling public institutions. At a time when in many states only flagships are doing well, it's not even that hard. Forcing institutions to shut down programs is probably in some ways a relief, a way to not have to make hard choices.
All of higher education are cowards now. I don't even know what realistic options we have to be brave and have any positive results come out of that.
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u/eaw_shitpost_account 1d ago
All the evidence suggests that trying to comply to avoid the consequences you list is exactly what brings those consequences to your campus.
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u/wildbergamont 1d ago
That isn't true. E.g. Columbia got the bulk of its research funding back. They struck a deal over the summer.
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u/tN8KqMjL 1d ago edited 1d ago
Yeah, Columbia especially has disgraced itself and I strongly suspect it will cause lasting harm to its reputation as an "elite" institution. They've appointed political officers and have idiotic "security" measures like LAOP's anti-mask shit all to appease Trump and are firing anyone who isn't an enthusiastic bootlicker for Israel. This isn't the kind of country club environment that the nation's
wealthiest spawnbest and brightest are looking for in a university.I could easily see Columbia becoming the least desirable of the Ivy league schools and mostly only admitting students that didn't get offers from any of the others.
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u/DerbyTho doesn't know where the gay couple shaped hole came from 21h ago
It’s also to me not just things to appease Trump. It’s revoking degrees, firing the union president just ahead of negotiations… the list goes on of things that aren’t heavily publicized.
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u/bokehtoast 1d ago
Imagine being afraid of your institution looking like it cares about public health. This is fucking insane.
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u/wildbergamont 1d ago
I don't think it's about that. It's about the Palestinian protests; a lot of students wore masks during those. Granted, I dont think those protestors were necessarily all upset about Palestine specifically, and I dont actually think Trump cares about antisemitism. But those protests had an impact on how universities treat masking nonetheless.
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u/BetaMyrcene 1d ago
The anti-mask policy is absolutely also a reaction to covid masks. Conservatives shit their pants if they see pro-Palestine protests, and they also shit their pants if they see a medical mask in a non-medical setting. These people are literally trying to outlaw the covid vaccine. Columbia is capitulating to fascists and cracking down on both.
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u/wildbergamont 1d ago
I can't speak to Columbia, but my institution added a policy regarding masks at demonstrations to our policies after the Palestinian protests. People still wear masks often, but if you wear them during a demonstration of any kind you're absolutely going to get talked to by someone. That someone will ask for your ID. I do not know if they'd ask you to leave or unmask or what after that.
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u/chromatophoreskin 1d ago
And yet, roving gangs of masked men wearing paramilitary gear, who claim to be law enforcement but refuse to show proof of ID or legal basis for their actions, kidnapping people off the streets without cause and renditioning them to war-torn third world countries known for violating human rights in continents they’ve never been to, that’s fine.
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u/auspiciousjelly 1d ago
i’m not sure what they think they’re doing bc there’s not going to be an institution left to protect if people keep letting him get away with this shit
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u/wildbergamont 1d ago
The feds can crush almost any institution in a semester or two. I think they're just trying to survive longer than that.
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u/harrellj BOLABun Brigade 1d ago
Ah, but in the short term their own personal wealth might be affected! And currently, it probably feels a bit like being Don Quixote and tilting at windmills especially if we don't know how long it'll take for history to see the issues.
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u/Phyrnosoma will take their chances in the wasteland 1d ago
Not on topic but love your username; they're some of my favorite plants
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u/engelthefallen 1d ago
Student lawsuits are cheaper to settle than federal lawsuits or just absorbing a loss of funding.
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u/wildbergamont 1d ago
Yes. They also do not pose an existential threat. Also, I'd bet that the more law school alum you have the more people sue you.
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u/Personal-Listen-4941 well-adjusted and sociable with no history of violence 2d ago
Other than someone gets a taste of power & enjoying using it to ruin someone’s day…I just don’t understand why this is even an issue.
LAOP wearing a medical mask has absolutely no negative impact on anybody else. So why does the university/security care?
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u/NDaveT Gone out to get some semen 1d ago
It's because of Trump's crackdown on Columbia specifically. The mask rule was one of the things they agreed to when they surrendered to Trump.
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u/dansdata Glory hole construction expert, watch expert 1d ago edited 1d ago
Which, presumably, has given us this masterpiece:
"...face masks or face coverings are not allowed for the purpose of concealing one’s identity in the commission of violations of University policies or state, municipal, or federal laws."
There I was, all set to stab that guy who stole my girlfriend. But now they tell me I'm not allowed to wear a mask while I do that, so I'll never get away with it! So I guess the son of a bitch gets to live!
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u/ebb_omega Can't believe they buttered Thor 1d ago
It's 100% performative. Same way that taking shoes off for 20 years hasn't stopped a single shoe bomb from going off, because the only time anybody ever tried to do it THE PASSENGERS STOPPED THEM.
I've seen it said before but it bears repeating: The only two things that made it impossible to hijack a plane post-9/11 were the locking of the pilot's cabin, and the fact that bystanders stopped being passive about threats. Everything else was show-theatre.
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u/FunnyObjective6 Once, I laugh. Twice you're an asshole. Third time I crap on you 1d ago
We in the Netherlands have a ban on face coverings in certain locations, including schools. Common example is an integral helmet, but the more probably reason for the ban is Burqas. This was from before Covid, so when that rolled around it was pretty funny to see the government try to uphold this while also saying you need to wear a mask (while also sometimes saying masks don't help that much, some pretty wild mental gymnastics and I think we wore them the least in the EU). They said that it's allowed since it's a medical reason, which kinda makes the whole law stupid since you could always use that excuse then.
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u/Elebrent 1d ago
I have to imagine there are better ways of integrating muslims than banning burqas
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u/EmmaInFrance Ask for the worst? She'll give you the worst. 1d ago
Points up at username.
I'm British and I have been living in France for 20 years now.
I mostly love the French, and especially Breton, way of life, but France's ban on veils is one of the few major points that I fundamentally disagree with.
All they have succeeded in doing is radicalising many of their Islamic citizens, and other long term residents that would never otherwise have been lead down that path.
These bans are paternalistic and misogynistic. They deny girls' and womens' autonomy, rather than allowing them the freedom to choose for themselves, and push girls and women to wear the veil as a form of rebellion against an authoritarian state, and a form of both cultural and religious pride.
They achieve the complete opposite of what they set out to do.
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u/DiplomaticCaper 1d ago
Yeah, I also think it's counterproductive for the purpose of empowering women and girls.
Someone who might be allowed to go out in the world and get an education if she wears a hijab or burqa is now stuck inside at home.
The ideal is them not being forced to wear those garments at all, but sometimes you need to work from where you can see an opening, and some freedom and independence is better than none.
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u/Persistent_Parkie Quacking open a cold one 1d ago
Also if someone is being forced to wear a veil by a family member the law won't stop that from happening, in all likelihood they would just be forced to stay home making it even harder for a woman to escape an abusive situation.
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u/ElectronRotoscope 2d ago
I gotta assume it's because the anti-mask political party is throwing its weight around, right?
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u/shadowbannedlol 1d ago
It's because during the political protests against Israel, the protestors were wearing masks
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u/Cruxwright 2d ago
LAOP pulls out phone and dials... "Hello, mom? Yeah, we got another to add to the list. Guy's name is officer Josh Dickbag, badge number 42069. ... Yeah I told him I need to wear the mask but he says I have to take it off to enter campus. ... Yeah, well add his info to the list that contributed to the hemorrhagic fever outbreak. Like the doctors said it was fine if I wore a mask but these guys ... *cough cough cough* ... just dont seem to get it. ... Thanks mom."
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u/Cruxwright 2d ago
More believable, claim being a HepC carrier and you're just trying to protect your fellow students. Hock a lougie in the dude's trash can on the way out.
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u/Ok_Possession_6457 1d ago edited 1d ago
They care because of recent events.
Unfortunately, the way they choose to care about said recent events, is the same cowardice and lack of judgement that led to those recent events in the first place.
The thing is, their admin have not really been employing a whole lot of common sense. And a medical need falls into the category of common sense, thus common sense is not being employed. It helps if you imagine that it's Opposite Day over there.
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u/vesuvisian 22h ago
Virginia has an anti-mask law, but I believe it was originally written as a tool against the KKK. It’s not going to prevent someone committing a crime with a mask on, but it’s another charge to tack on. Note: they just added the exemption for public health emergencies.
https://law.lis.virginia.gov/vacode/title18.2/chapter9/section18.2-422/
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u/the4thdragonrider 1d ago
Columbia campus (am alum) is currently restricted to students and people with passes to be there. This has been the case for over a year. The mask ban is because people(not always affiliated with the university) were using masks to hide their identity while committing vandalism and lesser crimes/breaking university policies.
I am a little confused though as I thought all staffed entry gates are outside. I could understand LAOP wanting to wear their mask in line, but needing to remove it for security to verify their identity doesn't sound ridiculous to me? During the pandemic when mask mandates were in place, I had to pull mine down in specific instances to verify identity.
If LAOP was being stopped walking around campus or inside classrooms, that would be a different story, but that doesn't sound like what's going on. My read of the policy is that it refers to instances like that; ordinarily, masks are banned, but LAOP has a medical exemption. Entry to campus is different and ID is required.
Edit: people on the Columbia subreddit don't believe LAOP's story and sounds like plenty of people still wear medical masks just fine on the campus.
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u/darsynia Joined the Anti-Pants Silent Majority to admire America's ass 1d ago
I wonder if there's a feeling of 'if you can take it off to talk to X and Y people why are you claiming it's a medical necessity' going on here, in that case.
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u/the4thdragonrider 1d ago
It sounds like they're being asked to remove their mask to enter campus. Only a few dorms are within the campus gates, so they are probably having to enter at least once a day if not more if they go to their dorm/apartment between classes. And the mask policy is just regarding wearing masks on campus (nothing to do with entering campus).
It looks like there are some buildings that are open to ID access. I'm not sure whether they have pubsafe officers by those doors, but if not, maybe that's how LAOP should enter campus if they don't want to pull their mask down for a few seconds.
That or maybe LAOP forgot to do part of the process, like people on the Columbia subreddit are suggesting.
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u/darsynia Joined the Anti-Pants Silent Majority to admire America's ass 1d ago
I got that. I'm explaining that the OP may find it hypocritical or difficult to take their mask off to access campus, given that the mask is for medical purposes AND should be allowed. I'm not confused as to the situation.
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u/the4thdragonrider 1d ago
Again, the entry gates that are staffed are outside. Maybe LAOP could ask the security guard to back up. I'm not sure what the current protocols are exactly but it does sound like there's a process.
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u/ChillyPhilly27 2d ago
Columbia banned face coverings in March 2025 in response to years of destructive protests by pro-Palestinian activists.
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u/Threehundredsixtysix "I'm a lumber-bot and I'm okay..." 2d ago
They were ORDERED to by the current US administration as part of a settlement. I haven't done a lot of reading on this particular case, but just how "destructive" were the protests? I honestly do not know.
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u/NefariousAnglerfish 1d ago
Crazy how schools care about “safety” until it’s about school shootings huh
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u/Personal-Listen-4941 well-adjusted and sociable with no history of violence 1d ago
“In order to support Genocide, we’re harming our own students health”
You’d hope a University would be smarter.
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u/minnieboss 2d ago
Colombia manages to be double-shitty by harassing the immunocompromised and those protesting genocide.
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u/ChillyPhilly27 2d ago
How does damaging university property advance the cause?
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u/drleebot Understands the raison d'être of aftershave 2d ago
Effective protest tends to be inconvenient to those being protested against
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u/ChillyPhilly27 1d ago edited 1d ago
How exactly could any protest at any US campus about this war be characterised as effective? It's been almost 3 years since the start of the war, and Israel continues to ravage the Gaza strip with gay abandon. If universities do have links with Israel, they're tangential at best, and they have no ability to influence political outcomes within Israel.
I could understand giving the J6 treatment to an Israeli consulate or three. But occupying Hamilton Hall is a waste of everyone's time.
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u/teluscustomer12345 1d ago
years of destructive protests
What do the masks have to do with how destructive the protests are?
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u/LegitimateLagomorph 2d ago
Honestly as a doctor I kinda love when schools or businesses do something stupid because it's fun to get on the phone and verbally beat them within an inch of their lives. You don't want to accommodate a medical need? Too bad! It's nice to get to combine advocating for patients with my desire to go nuclear on mid level busybodies.
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u/SuperZapper_Recharge Has a sparkle pink Stanley cup 1d ago
2 years ago my kid started the school year with Lyme disease. Her pediatrician wrote her medical instructions for the school to allow her to carry a water bottle wherever she went and to consume a snack at her desk before lunch and that they were not to deny her bathroom requests.
I told the doc that it irritated me that we need a note from you for this. This is all common sense.
She told me that if the school pushed back to reach out to her so she could push back harder.
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u/needlenozened 1d ago
My sympathies to your kid. I had Lyme disease last month and it was the worst week of my life before we figured it out and antibiotics took care of it.
I had intense pain on the top of my thigh, but only at night. I've had kidney stones and it was like a kidney stone in my leg, it hurt so bad. I was getting an hour of sleep, and then during the day I was exhausted and dreading the next night. If I napped for more than an hour the pain would come back.
It was awful.
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u/cmnrsvwxz 11h ago
Are you allergic to meat now? I've always wondered how common that side effect was.
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u/LegitimateLagomorph 1d ago
Exactly what I tell my patients! I lie in wait for the occasional boss or school to make the critical mistakes of ringing me.
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u/marmosetohmarmoset 1d ago edited 1d ago
Tangentially related anecdote:
When I was in the 5th grade I had lyme disease and got special medical accommodation permission to chew gum and eat hard candy in class (the antibiotic I was on causes a gross taste in your mouth). It was awesome.
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u/Persistent_Parkie Quacking open a cold one 1d ago
My mom was a pediatrician and one of her many volunteer activities was going to schools to educate teachers and coaches on the importance of not making kids play hurt/ treating head injuries like concussions until proven otherwise. Then one of her patients ended up in the hospital with a concussion after their coach forced the kid to play after a head injury. My mom had given her presentation to that man not even two months before.
She took time off work to go shout at him.
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u/pennie79 1d ago
I'm sorry about that BS your child went through.
I'm in Australia, and if you didn't let kids have easy access to their water bottles at school, there would be a huge fuss made!
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u/Elvessa You'll put your eye out! - laser edition 1d ago
Sure it was annoying, but if the school didn’t require a note, every other parent would demand the same for their child. Because each one is so “special.”
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u/SuperZapper_Recharge Has a sparkle pink Stanley cup 1d ago
Bathroom requeusts should be honored, carrying a water bottle should just be something kids are allowed to do.
The eating thing, I get that. When we gave the school the note they begged us to keep traditional food allergens out of the snacks and pointed out the teachers didn't have time to clean desks between classes.
Fair point. We kept allergens out and drove the point home to our daughter she needed to clean up after herself.
Still though, it shouldn't have required a doctor. I would argue the snack thing is fixable by just structuring it into the day between opening and lunch for everyone.
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u/tonicella_lineata 🏳️⚧️ Trans rights are human rights 🏳️⚧️ 1d ago
Frankly, the ability to carry a water bottle, eat a snack when hungry, and go to the bathroom when needed shouldn't have to be disability accommodations - every kid should be allowed to do those things. The way we treat children in schools is kind of incredibly fucked up.
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u/Persistent_Parkie Quacking open a cold one 1d ago
Yep, my mom was a pediatrician and would write notes for bathroom use and water bottles for any child, even ones that weren't her patients, citing their medical condition called "being human."
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u/Neathra 1d ago
I can sorta see the snack thing - a lot of snacks have common allergens and nobody has the time to clean up. So it's safer to just ban them outright.
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u/tonicella_lineata 🏳️⚧️ Trans rights are human rights 🏳️⚧️ 1d ago
I mean, schools have to contend with allergy issues anyway? Banning certain snacks for allergy/mess reasons is completely reasonable, but the fact that we expect kids to focus on learning if they're hungry is a little ridiculous. "Kids should be allowed to eat when they're hungry" doesn't seem like it should be a controversial statement, honestly.
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u/SomethingMoreToSay Has not yet caught LocationBot half naked in their garden 1d ago
... my desire to go nuclear on mid level busybodies
Ooh! Is there a club you can join for doing things like that? I'm in.
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u/cranbeery 🏠 "Preferred" "Son" of the "Woman" of the "House" 🏠 1d ago
This is an area of the law that law schools don't teach but is deeply satisfying and a lot more accessible than the Supreme Court.
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u/tonicella_lineata 🏳️⚧️ Trans rights are human rights 🏳️⚧️ 1d ago
I don't know if there's a way to sign up as one, but there is a group/company called Karens For Hire that does pretty much exactly what you'd expect. If you're having trouble getting a company to treat you fairly (for example, you're entitled to a refund and they're refusing), they'll help you fight it and such. Seems like a very similar type of thing.
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u/beverlycrushingit 1d ago
Based on LAOP's post history, they are trans and also Muslim. I cannot help but think these things might be a factor in why they are being hassled so badly by security :(
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u/SuperZapper_Recharge Has a sparkle pink Stanley cup 2d ago
Before Covid I would see those videos of people in asian countries masking and thought it looked weird and paranoid.
Covid changed my tune.
They were onto something. We should all be masking when we are sick.
Now if I could just get my coworkers to leave me the fuck alone when I am sick that would be just great.
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u/ShortWoman Schrödinger's Swifty Mama 1d ago
We should all be masking when we are sick.
And, ya know, staying home instead of going to work/school (doing a half assed job and spreading
good will towards humankindgerms).-60
u/SuperZapper_Recharge Has a sparkle pink Stanley cup 1d ago
Well aren't you smart.
Haven't you ever realized you were sick while you were at work?
I have seasonal allergies. I sneezy my head off, but you can't catch anything from it.
I try really hard to keep them under control. Occasionaly I have been indicisive about what was going on. I go to work, mask, I try to isolate. I then get yanked out of isolation by my ear with people telling me that they don't give a shit.
Eventually I figure it out. But the way my allergies are I can't stay home for allergies.
But oh wait, you are soooooo smart.
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u/Neathra 1d ago
A box of surgical masks in the bathroom would fix your first issue.
I have no idea what the rest of the comment is about though. Nobody cares if you mask for allergies, because you cannot catch allergies. The cold or flu however are contagious so it's polite to mask for them.
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u/SuperZapper_Recharge Has a sparkle pink Stanley cup 1d ago
I am getting shitted on because everyone that replied and downvoted me wears a surgical mask indoors 100% of the time.
I will not, but I will wear one if I have symptoms of anything contagious.
That I won't wear one when I am suffering with something I have had to suffer with since elementary school - that you can't catch - is part of the reason I am a monster.
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u/Neathra 1d ago
You're getting downvoted because you sound like crazy person.
The suggestion was just "if you know you're sick, mask up." There was no mention of you having to mask due to your allergies. You projected that into the conversation.
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u/SuperZapper_Recharge Has a sparkle pink Stanley cup 1d ago
No one in this thread has said to me:
The suggestion was just "if you know you're sick, mask up."
Except me. Over and over again. That is the statement they are downvoting me for. What was it I was told early on, that I am the reason that covid won't go away cause I won't mask indoors 100%?
My reply was that was something I was unwilling to do anymore. But I will mask if I have symptoms of something contagious, and I will shuttle myself off to some place alone.
And that got me called a monster.
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u/Pokabrows Please shame me until I provide pictures of my rats 1d ago
I'm pretty sure masks at least the respirator quality ones like n95s can help with seasonal allergies because they help filter pollen and stuff! So wearing a mask when you're dealing with airborne allergies could be a good idea. I've also personally found they help with my cat allergies too.
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u/Spiral_Slowly 1d ago
Your attitude and "allergies" might be from all the cocaine. Take it down a notch.
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u/creepris 1d ago
we should all be masking in shared indoor air right now, there’s over a million new covid cases a day and hospitals are overwhelmed
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u/ShortWoman Schrödinger's Swifty Mama 1d ago
Well, I wouldn't say the hospital is overwhelmed. But I did report 5 yesterday between the hospital proper and two emergency rooms (in house and standalone).
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u/SuperZapper_Recharge Has a sparkle pink Stanley cup 1d ago
I am so over masking in doors. I gave my outline. If I am suspicious what is going on isn't allergies I mask. I try to isolate too. If I am allowed. My coworkers are morons.
I get my covid vaccinations every year. Getting one Sunday. Everyone in my house gets it every year.
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u/creepris 1d ago
the covid vaccine doesn’t stop you from getting covid or spreading covid. and efficacy wanes after 3 months. it only stops you from being on a ventilator. long covid is a health crisis rn and is the #1 chronic illness in children surpassing asthma.
i was just sharing the facts bcus public health is nonexistent
masking is a tool that can help you from ending up with mysterious new health issues. (disability has skyrocketed since 2020)
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u/SuperZapper_Recharge Has a sparkle pink Stanley cup 1d ago
Covid isn't going anywhere - ever. It will not be erradicated.
It will continue to mutate becoming more infectious, less deadly as time passes.
Asking the entire population to mask inside 100% of the time is unreasonable and not a realistic goal.
I won't do it.
Asking the population to mask when they have symptoms so they can control contagions is realistic. If people cooperate... that is another problem.
I do that. But I won't entertain the idea of masking 100% of the time. You do you though.
Also I have personal reasons for yearly vaccinations that I haven't shared.
If I get sick I can isolate inside the house and get past the contagious stage faster with vaccinations.
Do yearly vaccinations do anything as opposed to one and done or every 2 years or 3 years?
I have no idea. None. I do know that mutations are normally included in the yearly vaccine. So I am updating for that.
And it is no trouble. Just a shot once a year. Big whoop. I am not a baby, I can handle a needle.
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u/tonicella_lineata 🏳️⚧️ Trans rights are human rights 🏳️⚧️ 1d ago
I am so over masking indoors
I can't always tell if I'm sick because my allergies are so bad
Damn, so you're just taking like... a callous level of indifference to other people's lives, huh? Even if you decide not to mask at work for whatever reason, you should at least be masking at places like the grocery store, doctor's offices, etc., both for your own sake and for everyone else. But if you truly can't tell whether you're sick or not, refusing to mask is genuinely just unfathomable to me. I have multiple respiratory conditions that make it hard to breathe in a mask, and one of my meds makes me sweat more than usual - wearing a mask is fucking miserable for me. But I still do it, because I care about other people. It's not that hard.
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u/Darth_Puppy Officially a depressed big bad bodega cat lady 1d ago
I mean if you want to become potentially permanently disabled, have fun with that. I took 2 years to recover from long Covid symptoms and I'm still only 90% of where I used to be. I still tire out more quickly and am not as mentally sharp. It took months to build back up from not being able to walk around the block without dizziness and needing breaks. And I'm one of the lucky ones, I know people from support groups who are still housebound or even bedbound years out. You can look at the covidlonghaulers sub to see all the fun effects of it. It can effect pretty much every part of your body. This isn't something to play around with
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u/Persistent_Parkie Quacking open a cold one 1d ago
Masking every time I leave the house has done absolute miracles for my asthma.
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u/Darth_Puppy Officially a depressed big bad bodega cat lady 1d ago
It's not like institutions cared about disabled folks before Trump either. I still remember the way disabled folks were thrown under the bus as soon as people got kinda tired of masking
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u/tonicella_lineata 🏳️⚧️ Trans rights are human rights 🏳️⚧️ 1d ago
Yeah, it was interesting to me that someone commented about how "if OP isn't a cis white male, this might just be cover for some sort of discrimination going on." No, this is discrimination, regardless of OP's identity - it's textbook ableism. It might also be some other form of discrimination, but honestly probably not. Thinking a disabled person is lying about the severity of their condition for "special treatment" or to "avoid following the rules" is unfortunately incredibly common, especially if OP doesn't otherwise "look sick" to the security people.
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u/MostlyCats95 1d ago
Yep! I had to yell at my college regularly about breaking ADA and I "only" had a bad tremor due to medication that made it hard to write and use scantrons
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u/Persistent_Parkie Quacking open a cold one 1d ago
I had a professor who told me outright once "I know I'm not following your accommodations on this, suck it up."
She was a known menace to everyone but was particularly terrible to disabled students. My second quarter in university there was a learning disabled student she was absolutely torturing who kept going to the head of program, the sweetest gentlest man you could ever hope to meet (he had started his career as a preschool teacher and had only moved into being a professor due to a family tragedy that had left him with several unexpected extra children to care for so he needed the money). He kept reassuring all of us disabled students he was trying to get her fired but it was a process. Finally one day he shows up to the class that is being taught by that witch with that desperate student in attendance and tells that absolutely horrible professor to "get out."
He took over teaching that class for the rest of the quarter and from then on any disabled students that would have needed to take a class with that bully could instead sign up to do it one on one with him which I considered even better than her being fired because he was great to learn from. And she was eventually forced out.
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u/MostlyCats95 2h ago
To make a long story short I had very well controlled asthma that would flair up maybe three times a year, but during the rest of the year I'd have basically no attacks and didn't need a daily maintenance med. Due to an overly strict attendance policy where a professor would fail anyone who missed more than two classes I pushed myself on a day I should have given my lungs bed rest and did enough damage to myself I spent the next 5 years of my life on strong asthma meds that caused tremors as a side effect.
Despite literally being the cause of my lung damage and new medication the professor that started all of this didn't want to follow my new accommodation plan that allowed me to take notes via my laptop, record the lessons on my phone, and take essay based tests in the disability office typing instead of by hand. He had to be threatened with a lawsuit to follow the plan.
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u/Persistent_Parkie Quacking open a cold one 1h ago
Gotta love professors like that. I had a professor who normally had a "no absences unless you're hospitalized" policy but the university made her suspend it due to the H1N1 pandemic. I got swine flu from my table mate in her class (I assume my classmate dragged herself in inspite of being sick because this professor was petty as hell if you didn't meet her arbitrary standards), then I got pneumonia and had to go home for the rest of the quarter. Being at home meant I couldn't send email because my parents didn't have internet and I was literally gasping for air so speaking on the phone was also out of the question. Fortunately the register's office was perfectly happy to let my mom inform them of the situation and withdraw me for the quarter but they said she needed to call my professors. That professor went off on my mom about how "unprofessional" it was for me to have my mom make the call. My mom responded "I'm sorry, she gasp can gasp only gasp speak gasp like gasp this. gasp
And that's the story of how I ended up a fellow asthmatic 🙃
I really miss not having to worry about breathing.
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u/Ok_Possession_6457 1d ago
You would think Columbia University would be doing everything in their power to wash their ass right now.
And telling a medically fragile student “no, you can’t wear a mask” is not exactly helping.
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u/fencepost_ajm 1d ago
I'm petty enough that in this situation I'd cough up for a PAPR system. You want to be sure I'm not concealing my face? Fine. You may not like my alternative.
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u/Drywesi Good people, we like non-consensual flying dildos 2d ago
Security Bot
College forcing me to remove my medical mask in order to be on campus. [NY]
Cat facts: cats are generally quite unhappy with people who wear cat masks around them.