Vaccines were the only plausible way out of restrictions. Since they turned out not to be, it is clear that restrictions are forever.
Oh yes. The "it isn't abusive if they still remember what human contact is" school of thought.
This strain of rationalization for mass punishment is morally abhorrent.
This is intellectually dishonest. No one pushing for mask mandates is attempting to punish people. You can argue that masks are a poor tradeoff or ineffective without willfully casting those on the opposite side as evil or malicious.
This unwillingness to acknowledge each others’ humanity and points of view is precisely why every issue is so unbearably partisan now. It’s not sufficient that we disagree. It’s but sufficient that the other side it’s just wrong. They must be actively evil for being wrong.
Whining about masks in public during a viral epidemic is telling the youth that their personal whims come before the collective health. Which some of you may believe, I'm not here to argue with you if you do. Should masks and vaccines have been the only solution? No. Should families and small businesses have to deal with inconsistent public information and almost no financial support? No.
But given the reality in which we find ourselves the bare minimum would be to not act like a mask is some particular burden. If you want to talk about mass punishment we could get on the topic of what nurses, doctors, and med techs are dealing with. Or all the "essential workers" that were treated like disposable refuse.
It's especially funny when you take into account billions of people around the world regularly wear masks in public during flu season, but apparently North Americans can't handle it.