Pearls Before Swine by Stephan Pastis for September 27, 2021

As long as the weather is good, eat outside.

Worst case scenario, you can get a long, sharp stick and have rat-kabob tonight.

Take the mask off. Put the mask on. Looks like a Pat Morita character.

Does pig now have a beer belly? It looks a lil’ bigger than before?

It’s not that complicated, Pig. But I agree on choosing take-out. The only restaurant meals we have had recently were outdoors, and now the weather is changing.

It’s like this, imo: We are masking because even though we’re vaccinated, others around us are being covidiots, so we use the mask to filter out their body fluids. And then, since we’re vaccinated, if we DO get infected, the odds of us actually noticing aren’t as high as we would like, so we wear it to help prevent our potential infection from spreading. And of course, because someone in authority has said we should.

Bottom line for me: It’s a lot like washing your hands during common-cold season. I don’t get all strict and uptight, but I try to REASONABLY maximize my and my companions’ health by REASONABLY minimizing my own chances of getting or spreading the problem. In particular, I wear a mask when I’m inside unless I’m eating, drinking, or scratching my nose. And outside until I get to a convenient spot to buff my glasses… except in a serious crowd in which case I keep it on. And, inside, I wear it until I want to eat or sip, and I put it on after I’m done with all that.

And I eat outside when it’s reasonable to do so.

The mask guidelines are evolving…while confusing I like to believe people are doing their best

Eh, I’d rather wears a helmet that has a transparent lid before face. Easier that way. Opens lid, closes lid.

Oh, c’mon now – it isn’t all that hard: Wear your mask indoors at a restaurant unless you’re eating; you don’t have to wear your mask if you’re seated outdoors.

I make most of my meals at home, it’s been a long time since I ate out not counting the fair I went to yesterday!

I don’t think it’s a funny joke, but what I really want to know is why no one is making a good transparent mask. Not those plexiglass pieces of garbage, but a flexible KN95-type mask made of a transparent plastic. Or maybe cotton that’s treated to be transparent?

“If you make a better transparent mask, the world will beat a path to your door!”

I’m still waiting for the first realistic mask-tattoo.

well done Pig, keep it simple

Because science!

Yep

I’m good with take out, actually not opposed to to cooking dinnerUntil we were put on Time of Use – 4-9pm, *7 days a week * the rates are sky high. No AC, no heating elements.

Just when you get ends to meet, someone moves the end.

So in the summer I used a burner on my outdoor grill or we had cold suppers. It had to be simple, and some things we ate often are now lunch fare (I DID encourage a change to “big meal at noon”)

But it still doesn’t make eating out look any more appealing.

Guess I’ll have to buy a big Thermos for keeping soup warm until supper.

The waiter should always wear one when presenting the bill and it has nothing to do with COVID.

“We don’t need the fun police to come in and try to micromanage and tell us what we should or shouldn’t be doing. We know what we need to do to protect ourselves.”

I have to admit, I kind of go along with what Toon Boy is saying here… the mask rules in restaurants are rather confusing, and somewhat odd…I don’t go out to eat very often at all, but it seems that whenever I do, the rules are different each time, and each place seems to have their own interpretation of what the rules should be! So, for now, I’ll just fire up the grill on the back deck and grill my own steaks or heat up my own pizzas in the oven until this mess gets sorted out…

Jet Blue told us quite seriously “and if you take a drink, lower mask, sip, mask back on, lower mask…” But be sure you stay hydrated.

Too much bull! I’m with Pig! takeout!

Humanity is going backwards…and I’m not a fan.

Even before the pandemic, I felt that eating in restaurants was more trouble than it was worth most of the time. Haven’t done it at all since, and this is exactly why.

having lived with these rules for some time now, it’s not really all that complicated…

If you live in NYC, you have to be vaccinated to eat inside a restaurant, which makes perfect sense, and leads to piece of mind.

It makes some idiots throw tantrums, but if they insist that “freedom” means “my freedom to spread disease and cause others to be quarantined and hospitalized” then they need to realize that “freedom” isn’t “freedom from consequences.”

The punster’s on target this time.

From a grocery worker, veteran of the whole virus cluster…Don’t be an ass. Wear a mask.

Can pigs even get Covid?

What if you’re moved by the spirit?

Yepper…

Well, I guess we know where Pastis stands on the great mask debate. It’s really not that complicated and if keeps people safe – I’m all for it. (Anti-vaxxers feel free to pile on…)

Don’t forget, being vaccinated doesn’t prevent you from OBEYING all rules. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED…….

US COVID incident rate = 131,000/MCanada incident rate = 42,000/MUS death rate = 2,119/MCanada death rate = 716/M( and yes, their urban density rate is within 1% of the US)What is the difference? In Canada – they protect each other by wearing masks, continue to social distance without complaining (generally) to PROTECT EACH OTHER rather than complaining.I love you Stephan and I love Pearls – but please don’t feed the bulldog on our deadly and sloppy “it’s all about me” handling of COVID

So Stephan is an anti-masker.

Exactly.

Regarding cloth surgical masks, the CDC says at: https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/npptl/pdfs/understanddifferenceinfographic-508.pdf

“Does NOT provide the wearer with a reliable level of protection from inhaling smaller airborne particles and is not considered respiratory protection”

One of my life’s rules: Never use a toilet after a pig just came out of the stall.

That is basically the premise behind why take-out and delivery have surged ahead of all the in-house eating options.|I am sure even with the vaccinations and passport cards, many people will still stay with take-out and delivery.

Wearing the mask in the toilet room could be a good idea period. It may not block all of the odors, but it could help.

Yeah, ’tis complicated

Don’t know why the wearing of a mask so as to protect the public is such a big deal. Pastis is trying to make it more difficult than it really is.Each age, each decade, seems to have a label. If so, this will be the age of stupidity, of people saying stupid things that most of them know to be stupid, but for no more reason than to deny what someone else said.

Yet Again, on mask effectiveness:

https://hms.harvard.edu/news/mask-slow-down-sars-cov-2-0

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronavirus/in-depth/coronavirus-mask/art-20485449

https://medical.mit.edu/covid-19-updates/2020/07/do-cloth-masks-work

https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2021/09/surgical-masks-covid-19.html

https://www.epa.gov/sciencematters/epa-researchers-test-effectiveness-face-masks-disinfection-methods-against-covid-19

https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent

https://www.pbs.org/video/how-well-do-masks-work-ke2qje/

Is consistency too much too ask for anymore?

The great Mystery of the Mask.

Sometime’s you feel like a nut, sometime’s you don’t….

What I want to know is, where is Pig’s Covid beard? Also where is Pig’s pug?

Let’s just take out the mask-obsessed . . .

Take out going on a year-and-a-half now…

safest way to eat out….make it to go !

The IGNARMUS-19 virus is really showing here in the comments.

“Wear a mask inside unless you are eating or drinking” is not that complicated a concept.