Some of you may be misunderstanding the purpose of masks. Masks are not here to prevent you from getting the virus, they are not meant to protect you from potential droplets; they are meant to reduce your chances of getting the virus. If you do, unfortunately, get the virus, it's meant to reduce the possibility of your spread to other people.
For those of you comparing the COMMON FUCKING COLD to a NEW disease, ONCE AGAIN FOR THE SECOND TIME, are doing yourself a disservice. This is not a common infection that will knock you down and go away within a few days or weeks, this is an infection that has been researched/continued to being researched to have ramifications and complications FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE! Yes, the flu is lethal; but, once again, comparing the flu to a new disease will not work. These are two completely different entities and you should treat it as such. Stop comparing the common cold to COVID. We have years of research for influenza, we do NOT for COVID-19.
I want to stress that this is a new disease, we do NOT know long-term complications, its too early. If you want to know potential long-term effects of COVID, I suggest looking into long-term effects of SARS, both come from coronaviruses. One such long-term implications (as highlighted by the WHO) of SARS include chronic fatigue. WE! DO! NOT! KNOW! ENOUGH! ABOUT! THIS! DISEASE!!!!!!!! < This is something that this thread seems to take for granted.
Whether you are Republican or Democrat, I think both sane sides of the aisle can agree that we need to play this safe. We need to limit as much as we can. It is a heavy shame that this is not so and there are those that simply refuse to wear masks. Yes, wearing a mask or not is your right; it is also the right of whatever restaurant, convenient store, outlet, what fucking ever, to kick your dumb ass out because you refuse to wear one. You negatively affect their business and you are one of the reasons why the virus will continue to last as you refuse to follow ONE simple request of human decency. If you get COVID-19, it is not your fault, it IS your fault if you spread it. As Kieran said, there are medical professionals literally pleading to humans to wear a mask. This virus is not a joke, stop treating it as such.
Lockdowns and masks are there to LIMIT spread. You cannot contain an infectious disease by complete lockdown, that makes no sense. Just because you trap those infected in their homes for a long period of time does not mean the virus will stay there, it will get out. Total lockdown will NOT fix this disease!
You may not like your mask, but please wear it. There are people dying every day to this virus, there are medical professionals who are presenting with increasingly negative affect because of the stress this virus has had on them and the community they are a part of. You may be a good person pre-COVID, but if you do not wear a mask because of your political affiliation or because it infringes on your freedom, STAY! THE! FUCK! AWAY! FROM! PEOPLE! It's that simple.