One of my favorite parts of people complaining about having to show vaccine status at a bar is that you have always had to show your ID to bouncers, bartenders, and waiters - which contains legitimately private info like your home address, birthdate, and license number.
I will be protesting the age passport and pants requirements at my local bar this weekend, and if they don’t let me in at 19 years old and naked it’s an infringement of my rights
Warrior: Just to be clear, I have no privacy concerns. I think privacy hysteria in today’s society is loony. I mildly object to the inconvenience of wasting 30 seconds finding and showing the photo of my vaccination card to a hostperson. I’d rather just upload my vaccination card to OpenTable, Resy, and Tock and have them take care of it with the restaurants. Separately, I object to the charade of wearing the mask when I arrive and removing it for the remainder of the meal in the crowded restaurant. It seems the goal is more to pride ourselves in how seriously we take Covid (unlike those red state morons) as opposed to trying to prevent the spread of Covid, which is plainly impossible.
I think that’s a reasonable position! And I certainly don’t mean to attack you at all. I just keep seeing (other) people object on privacy/fake hipaa/freedom grounds, which is pretty silly to me too.
I hope one day we work out an even quicker and easier system, but for now I don’t mind pulling out my phone and tapping a button. Odds are it’s already in my hand anyway.
The logic of the mask thing is tough and I see your point, especially if the host is working indoors where everyone is eating. Personally I don’t mind erring on the side of caution (or perhaps hygiene theatre) with it though. It just isn’t a big deal to me, and if it stops even one infection then it’s worth it. The emphasis on hygiene may also have been a contributor to reduced food poisoning and flu season, fwiw…
Although for me, for now, because I’m regularly around vulnerable people, I’m just not eating indoors. So take my opinion with a grain of salt. But I do think rational people are allowed to feel differently about it*.
*edit to add, for clarity: allowed to feel differently about personal protection, risk tolerance, and the relative necessity of various non-medical interventions post vaccination, of course.
Entirely preventing the spread of Covid might be impossible, but if you compare places with mask mandates with those without it’s clear that wearing masks reduces community spread.
Certainly there was overkill for a while, but they’ve been backing off as they learn more.