Cozumel is heading back to “normal”

[sefuchs]

As far as mask on dive boats, from my experience on 40-50 dives with a couple different dive ops in Coz and the Baja folks wear masks until the 1st person takes it off then masks are nonexistent. Almost as though who will be the 1st person to “dare” pull the mask down. I know I’ll get mask shamed by the SB crowd by my comments & may not be the politically correct thing to say but it is what it is, like it or not.

 

[BRT]

As far as mask on dive boats, from my experience on 40-50 dives with a couple different dive ops in Coz and the Baja folks wear masks until the 1st person takes it off then masks are nonexistent. Almost as though who will be the 1st person to “dare” pull the mask down. I know I’ll get mask shamed by the SB crowd by my comments & may not be the politically correct thing to say but it is what it is, like it or not.

My experience too.

 

[ReefHound]

That claim is not at all supported in published facts. It is more dangerous for the older and unhealthiest, but it has infected many across the population.

Re: "the vast majority that suffer from covid are very old and unhealthy, with obesity a factor in 80% of serious cases."

It absolutely is.

About 78% of people who were hospitalized, placed on a ventilator or died from COVID-19 were overweight or obese, a new report from the CDC shows.
Nearly 80% hospitalized for COVID-19 were overweight or obese

Statistics are statistics whether someone likes them or not, even if one can provide anecdotal exceptions.

 

[gopbroek]

anecdotal exceptions

But the US media sensationalizes the anecdotal, especially if highlights the negative.
Covid coverage by the U.S. national media is an outlier, a study finds.

 

[ggunn]

Again we encounter the difference between points of view - public health vs personal health. Although older and less generally healthy people are much more likely to get very sick and die from COVID infection, that tendency is not mirrored in the probability of getting infected and becoming a conduit for spreading the disease to others. That's what masking and social distancing are about, not so much the protection of individuals.

 

[ReefHound]

Again we encounter the difference between points of view - public health vs personal health. Although older and less generally healthy people are much more likely to get very sick and die from COVID infection, that tendency is not mirrored in the probability of getting infected and becoming a conduit for spreading the disease to others. That's what masking and social distancing are about, not so much the protection of individuals.

I can agree with that.

Speaking of masking, I'm seeing a lower amount of masking by locals right now. Sure, most of the locals that interact with customers are masked up but about 3/4ths of locals I pass on the street are masked up (seemed higher last September) and less than half for those that are just "hanging out" sitting on doorsteps and such. Fewer are taking temps. Mega is diligent and doing it right. About half the restaurants are with many just scanning your forearm. Very few of the small shops are scanning. The disgusting covid floor mats are looking neglected and no one cares if you just step around.

 

[Grateful head]

I can agree with that.

Speaking of masking, I'm seeing a lower amount of masking by locals right now. Sure, most of the locals that interact with customers are masked up but about 3/4ths of locals I pass on the street are masked up (seemed higher last September) and less than half for those that are just "hanging out" sitting on doorsteps and such. Fewer are taking temps. Mega is diligent and doing it right. About half the restaurants are with many just scanning your forearm. Very few of the small shops are scanning. The disgusting covid floor mats are looking neglected and no one cares if you just step around.

I see it differently regarding the locals. I am on island right now and yesterday we were way way back in San Miguel. Not another tourist in sight for many blocks, and without exception, nearly 100% of the locals were wearing masks. Again, not for optics for tourists sake, far away from any tourist area, almost 100% masking. I actually see less masking in the tourist areas by the locals, maybe because a good percentage of Americans don’t mask up while out and about.

 

[ReefHound]

I'm on island too, though in the tourist areas so far. We will have a car next week and get around more.

 

[BRT]

I see it differently regarding the locals. I am on island right now and yesterday we were way way back in San Miguel. Not another tourist in sight for many blocks, and without exception, nearly 100% of the locals were wearing masks. Again, not for optics for tourists sake, far away from any tourist area, almost 100% masking. I actually see less masking in the tourist areas by the locals, maybe because a good percentage of Americans don’t mask up while out and about.

I think you were in a different Cozumel than I was in in February.

 

[Lorenzoid]

You are on a boat in the open ocean with a breeze blowing - not some enclosed bathroom stall with six people in it.

I agree. It definitely affects the odds of transmission. Still, I have been on a boat where I have unfortunately been precisely downwind of another diver, if only briefly. If divers are sitting, however spaced apart, along the gunwales, and the boat is moving ahead, the divers farther back are in the wash of the divers ahead. I have no sense if the likelihood of transmission is better, worse, or the same as, say, sitting on a patio drinking a margarita six feet from the next table, which the experts seem to say is safe (well, except for the margarita). Like everything else about this pandemic, I just don't know.