What's the silliest, most pointless COVID safety rule you've seen?

Dumb rules wrote:

My silliest list:

1. One way running/walking around outdoor parks (e.g., must go clockwise around this pond).

2. One way aisles in grocery stores.

3. Wearing a mask outdoors, especially if you're doing the "pulling your mask up for 2 seconds to go by somebody then pulling it down again" thing.

Not sure if it is the silliest, but the grocery store aisles one is the most often ignored. Maybe in big urban areas where the density can be high, but in my grocery store (at least when I have done) people are pretty spread out. I seldom have anyone else in the aisle with me. If we are, we are passing one another quickly (and wearing masks).

Luv2Run wrote:

Dumb rules wrote:

My silliest list:

1. One way running/walking around outdoor parks (e.g., must go clockwise around this pond).

2. One way aisles in grocery stores.

3. Wearing a mask outdoors, especially if you're doing the "pulling your mask up for 2 seconds to go by somebody then pulling it down again" thing.

Not sure if it is the silliest, but the grocery store aisles one is the most often ignored. Maybe in big urban areas where the density can be high, but in my grocery store (at least when I have done) people are pretty spread out. I seldom have anyone else in the aisle with me. If we are, we are passing one another quickly (and wearing masks).

Agree on both counts.

go to eat, wear a mask while Im walking to my seat, but once I sit down I can take it off. Im so glad the virus is gentleman enough to allow me to eat my meal, and enjoy conversations with my friends and will only attack me on neutral ground.

I just got Covid updates for a half marathon in the keys. Bring your own water bottle. No water provided on course. Race day temperatures routinely start in high 70’s with dew points matching.

So they don’t want anyone to get Covid, but they do want them to get dehydrated and have heat exhaustion.

The idea that a mask made out of an old T-shirt covering my mouth and nose can save me from a virus like I'm trying not to smell a bad fart in class.

Dumb rules wrote:

My silliest list:

1. One way running/walking around outdoor parks (e.g., must go clockwise around this pond).

2. One way aisles in grocery stores.

3. Wearing a mask outdoors, especially if you're doing the "pulling your mask up for 2 seconds to go by somebody then pulling it down again" thing.

The no reusable grocery store bags one in California was pretty stupid. Glad that one has been lifted.

Reduced opening times.

Where I live liquor stores are mainly ran by the government (there are private stores, but most are government) and in response to covid they reduced their opening hours.

Reduced opening hours means more crowding, which would increase the chances of catching covid...

SummerSlogger wrote:

go to eat, wear a mask while Im walking to my seat, but once I sit down I can take it off. Im so glad the virus is gentleman enough to allow me to eat my meal, and enjoy conversations with my friends and will only attack me on neutral ground.

That one's good, especially when it's sidewalk seating, so you have 20 people sitting eating drinking without masks, but me jogging on the same sidewalk is expected to wear one.

In my state, you can go out to a bar to sit in a booth, but only if you're eating. So you order a couple apps and drinks, but if you finish your apps before you're done drinking you have to order more food to stay. Some places would actually enforce it, one place I go to just gives every table a plate of fries and says don't touch it if you don't want to order food.

SummerSlogger wrote:

go to eat, wear a mask while Im walking to my seat, but once I sit down I can take it off. Im so glad the virus is gentleman enough to allow me to eat my meal, and enjoy conversations with my friends and will only attack me on neutral ground.

That one always cracks me up especially at breweries with outdoor seating. One in my area has tables that are round electrical spools w/stools and fire pits in between as obstacles to negotiate and after a couple beers can be a little tricky with or without masks. But...you have to pull mask up to enter and reorder.

I love the groups of hikers that all panic pull their mask up 50 yards away and turn their backs to you on a trail. I'm always curious as to how many of them actually live with each other or just friends hanging out for the day and spreading among themselves but virtue signalling to others while outside.

Closed beaches. How f-ing dumb is that where sun, ultraviolet Ray's, etc... Exist? The beaches where I live are often wide open spaces.

I drove into a wilderness area on the PCT with a resort this past weekend. Probably no more than 20 people in site. I have a pic of a guy in a rowboat 100 yards offshore with his mask on.

Primo Numero Uno wrote:

The no reusable grocery store bags one in California was pretty stupid. Glad that one has been lifted.

My local (California) grocery store still does not allow reusable bags to be brought into the store. They'll put your groceries back into the cart and you have to take the cart out to your car and put them in your reusable bags out there. In the 100 degree heat. Kind of a pain.

I love when people sit down on outdoor benches but not until they wipe them clean wish some kind of solution.

I guess you can get covid thru your clothes from a bench someone else wearing pants sat on before

Not a fan of those masks either, but filtering small drops filled with virus particles is actually a lot easier than a smell= gas.

FartyMcpants wrote:

The idea that a mask made out of an old T-shirt covering my mouth and nose can save me from a virus like I'm trying not to smell a bad fart in class.

You would have had to do that in March, but Dr. Fauci wisely prevented a shortage of old T-shirts by claiming it wouldn't work.

Requiring a mask - no health exemptions accepted! - and temperature check (even though I told them what it was) - before being allowed to enter the building to renew my driving license in California.

/

Senior shopping before 8 am at Costco and perhaps other places too.

I've heard the lines are long for that, and I rarely go anywhere before 2pm anyway.

Costco pointing the laser at your hand when the zap your card, which they've always done.

They freak out about touching anyone's card, then hand the receipt to you with the hands.

/

Stores that spray all the carts with toxic sanitizers, soaking the handles.

I always get a cart from the parking lot and tell them I don't want that spray on me.

/

Trader Joe's having people stand 6 feet back from the counter while they ring up the sale.

Then, even more dumb, they stand back 6 feet from the register while you're paying for it.

Then they grab the receipt in their hands and toss it in the cart.

/

People who have their little children wearing masks <--- which is child abuse.

Bars allowed to open at 50% capacity. Everyone completely blew it off and packed in the bars. The rest is history.

FartyMcpants wrote:

The idea that a mask made out of an old T-shirt covering my mouth and nose can save me from a virus like I'm trying not to smell a bad fart in class.

Fool.

Virus = particle

. . . . like the bits of solids in your sharts that create skid marks in your shorts

Fart = gas

south africa; banning alcohol and tobacco sales

SummerSlogger wrote:

go to eat, wear a mask while Im walking to my seat, but once I sit down I can take it off. Im so glad the virus is gentleman enough to allow me to eat my meal, and enjoy conversations with my friends and will only attack me on neutral ground.

If wearing your mask for those additional 10 seconds reduces your chance of spreading covid by... say 10%... I think it’s logical. Further, I know many people who won’t enter a restaurant where people are not wearing masks while waiting/walking around. Businesses would be smart to cater to those individuals during this rough time.

The other option is completely shutting down restaurants. Seems like an easy decision.