I think it’s not so much that Kevin and I disagree on risk, exactly. I actually suspect we both think the effect of mask wearing in our highly-vaccinated local population is fairly marginal, especially in our own house, with vaccinated close friends whose family and work patterns we know.
It’s more that we ‘weight’ things differently.
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Kevin’s an introvert, and is generally happy spending most of his time alone. While he doesn’t like the physical feel of a mask on his face, he sees it as a really minor inconvenience overall, and would be willing to wear a mask for even a teeny-tiny improvement in public health. He also barely sees people outside our family, except for teaching, and that’s been the case for this whole almost two years, and he’s fine with that.
I’m much more extroverted, get seriously depressed if I don’t get enough people-time, and while I actually don’t mind the physical feel of wearing masks, I desperately miss being able to see the faces of people I care about. It also makes my job significantly more enjoyable if I can see my students’ faces. (Strangers’ faces, I don’t particularly feel the need to see.)
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Kevin’s basically of the view, “If it might help, even a little, might as well do it. No big downside.”
I’m basically of the view, “I’m exhausted, this has been really hard and miserable, I’m in desperate need of a break, and I’m willing to exchange a possible marginal increase in risk, for a substantial increase in joy.”
Same (or very similar) risk assessment, very different experiences and priorities.