My band is booked May-September at an outdoor amusement park, and we are required to wear facemasks even when singing. The sax player may slip his mask down when playing but has to put it on when not playing his horn. The stage is very large, about six feet above the open air dance floor. These rules seems a bit a bit over the top, but I understand, we have to be a good example to the guests, and I do believe mask wearing is an important element in slowing down COVID.

On the other hand I am also playing at a church on Sunday mornings, and absolutely nobody is wearing a mask. This is indoors. I am the only one in the whole church with a mask. I am vaccinated, but it does concern me. The things I do to keep on working!

can't be too safe. It's just for a little while longer then all will be well. Just thank god you have a job.
MEL

Outdoors is much safer than the CDC has acknowledged. There was a good article in the NY Times this morning about quantifying these risks. All that being said, I guess it's best to follow the rules. I do think outdoor mask restrictions will be relaxed soon.

Yes, Mel and Ted, it's better to be safe than sorry. I have no problem trying to set a good example but it's not easy singing in in mask especially in the Texas heat! Hopefully by the time the summer heat really sets in, the park will relax the mask requirements. But either way, I am happy to be working and have no problem following rules.

Totally, unutterably, ridiculous to say the very least. They keep saying follow the science, but then come up with this kind of crap and expect people to swallow it, hook, line and sinker. Ironically, the bureaucrats that make up these rules and regulations have absolutely no background in medical science, do not have a clue to how diseases are transmitted, and don't follow their own rules and guidelines themselves. The odds of contracting any type of flu or virus from these distances are zip to none. Any second year med student knows this. "Trust me - I'm a politician and I would never lie to you." Maybe it's time for the politicos to actually look at the CDC and other agency guidelines before opening their mouths.

Gary

Sounds more like corporate ass covering than government overreach to me!

The problem seems to be the strong resistance to any form of mandated proof of vaccination, as if that’s any more restrictive than mandated proof of a driving license or proof of voter registration. A form of proof of full vaccination would allow us to gather unmasked with others in the same situation, which is getting upwards of 35% of the population nowadays.

What better incentive to get vaccinated, the ability to unmask in public?! To be able to enjoy public gatherings of fully vaccinated people, to go to concerts, sporting events, restaurants and bars?

But the Luddites with their objection to mandated proof are ruining for everyone. And I wouldn’t put it past them to use fakes even if there were vax proof cards.

Tell you what… if you don’t feel we should have to carry vax cards, don’t drive, don’t drink, don’t vote, don’t go to the pot dispensary, cause those impose on your ‘freedom’ too!

Amen

They all have their agendas, which consists of money and power. Luckily, Florida is open and we can use our own discretion about masks. I don't mind a mask at stores that gets orders from above. The far bigger picture of clashes at the government level is a different story.

Texas is open too, but business owners can decide on mask polices.

A guest in the park came up to my wife after our set and seemed to suggest that we were caving into left wing extremists views for wearing our masks outside while performing, we just laughed and politely said it was company policy.

Here's a picture of us performing masked up in the park, in the Texas heat. Hopefully by summer they will relax their policy.

https://www.sixflags.com/overtexas/show/el-grupo-cache

I agree for the most part. In this case I think the park is probably trying to protect themselves from lawsuits, perhaps from people who claim that they got the virus at the park because of no mask enforcements. It's the classic "cover your ass" scenario.

Anyways it always good to hear from you Gary, and hang in there my dear friend.

Let’s face it, the last global pandemic (unless you count AIDS, and that’s a whole different kettle of fish) was a century ago, and it’s not really fair on the CDC to expect them to have a flawless playbook with clear unequivocal advice for what to do. They are having to respond to less than zealous following of their advice in the first place, it has become obvious that every time we relaxed from their initial advice we got a huge spike in infections and diverted from the path their advice was supposed to take us.

So there’s always been this less than rigid advice, because people weren’t following it to the letter. No doubt the same people blaming the CDC for being flexible with their advice would be criticizing them had their advice remained rigid..! It’s so much easier to blame others than look in a mirror!

It’s educational to read about America’s response to the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918- The same mask fatigue and idiotic resistance to being told what to do by doctors and politicians led to the same spikes in infection and death we have seen this time around.

So much for ‘progress’ by the people..! Thank God at least science came up with an effective vaccine so quickly this time. Science progresses, but people are the same dumb animals they’ve always been!

The good news is, brand new CDC guidelines…. No masking necessary whatsoever for the fully vaccinated. Yay. No watch the idiots that haven’t been vaccinated turn that into another spike in infections as they lie about having had the shots so they can go unmasked. 🤔🥺🙄