I’m still wearing a mask outside, and I have no idea why

I was at Great Adventure this past Sunday, and much like everywhere else, you need to wear a mask while you’re there.

This makes some sense, as waiting in lines is still a thing, and some of the lines are very much in closed-like spaces, but outside of that ... nah. Doesn’t make sense. Study after study after study shows it’s anywhere from very difficult to damn near impossible to catch the virus outside.

Of course, probably about half the people I saw were wearing their masks around their mouth, leaving their noses free and clear. I didn’t take a poll, but I could guarantee you the people who were wearing their masks correctly were also getting vaccinated at a much higher rate than those who weren’t. Basically, wearing a mask outside at this point is mostly a signal that you’re taking the coronavirus risk seriously. And while wearing a mask outdoors is probably overkill, at a crowded place like Great Adventure, it probably makes sense. Kind of. Sort of. I don’t know.

*****

“Is everyone vaccinated here?” I asked my buddy, as we were standing outside, in a giant backyard, later that day.

“Yeah,” he said. “At least everyone has their first shot.”

I was at the tail end of a kid’s birthday party, post-Great Adventure (yes, we went with our 10 and 12-year-old while our scandalized 7-year-old went to the party instead). The entirety of the party was outdoors. Parents were milling about. All our kids go to the same school. All of us there are serious about the coronavirus. Everyone was at least partially vaccinated, which is basically fully vaccinated for all intents and purposes.

And yet, there we all were, wearing our masks, showing each other how seriously we take the virus.

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“Israel has removed its outdoor mask mandate, are you considering something similar because it’s been shown there’s very little outdoor transmission of coronavirus?” asked News 12 New Jersey’s Alex Zdan at Gov. Phil Murphy’s coronavirus press briefing Monday.

“Israel has done an extraordinary job, period,” Murphy answered. “If you look at every metric they’ve done an extraordinary job, particularly most recently in vaccinating, but we’re not there yet on changing our mask mandates. I hope we will be but ... it’s a much warmer weather country than we are state right now ... so they can be outdoors in a big way. We also have a rate of transmission that is much higher than in Israel right now.”

At this point, I can’t even work up the ol’ anger machine to spit venom at Murphy, as his mandates make so little sense at this point. General outdoor gatherings? Limited to 200 people. But indoor wedding receptions? That you can pack 150 people into. This makes absolutely zero sense, but here we are.

So no, not surprised Murphy isn’t considering lifting the mask mandates.

Zdan also asked him if “hygiene theater” should end, where Murphy does things like wiping down a pen after he uses it at a bill signing, noting the CDC says there’s a one in 10,000 chance of getting COVID from a surface.

“Better to be safe than sorry,” Murphy said.

Worth noting: You have a one in 103 chance of one day dying in a car accident. I assume Murphy

will now walk everywhere he goes.

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Listen: As I’ve said numerous times in this space, I was - and pretty much remain - Chicken Little when it comes to the pandemic. Some 13 months ago, I shut my house down, I wiped down every grocery, I double masked, I did it all. Why? Because I was following the science. This is why I agreed with most everything Murphy did.

Now? I’m still Chicken Little, but I’m also still following the science. I haven’t disinfected a grocery in over a year, I’m fully vaxxed, and I’m never wearing my mask outside unless I’m mandated to.

The fact we’re still wearing out masks outside simply does not follow science. If anything, at this point, all it is is virtue signaling. I know that’s a term the far right likes to throw around, but in this case, it’s true. What was the point of wearing the mask at the birthday party? Basically, it was simply to show respect for the other parents. But one day soon, one of those parents - and it might be me if my wife doesn’t tackle me first might say something like, “Uh, hey guys, whaddya think we, y’know, ditch the masks since we’re outside and vaccinated and the chances of any one of us actually having the coronavirus is probably close to zero and the chance of passing it to someone else is probably, actually, literally zero as a result?” and then we can all carry on with our lives. Just a thought.

Having said all that … if you’re inside, wear a mask, dope.