A lot of people are confused about me and my fellow libertarians. For example, I don't personally use or transact in illicit drugs, I almost never drink (I think I've had one beer and one glass of wine over 14 months), I don't hire prostitutes, I always wear seat belts and don't get speeding tickets.
During the pandemic I've voluntarily gotten all 3 Pfizer vaccine shots and complied with mask policies in airports, clinics, hospitals, assisted living centers, even barber shops and supermarkets when required. In my current job over most of the pandemic, I've mostly worked remotely but in person up to 3 times weekly between waves (with social distances between cubicles and masking required otherwise beyond one's cubicle indoors). The point is that I've mostly complied because I am in at risk group. I had 2 masks made by one of my sisters (an RN) but for the last several months I've exclusively worn N95's, which are not required by public policy but provide superior protection from bioaerosols.
I recently tweeted in critical response to an ACLU decision to sue newly elected Virginia Gov. Youngkin (R), who has signed a new law making masking parent/student-optional. (His earlier similar executive order had been stalled in court.) The pretext is that health-challenged disabled kids have a legal right to compulsory masking of other children. Now I'm not unsympathetic to the risks of COVID-19 to children, unlike others like Tom Woods who have been dismissive of them. I've got 1-year-old and 6-year-old grandnephews (different families) who got symptomatic during the omicron wave, the former from his schoolteacher maternal grandmother (who got it from...), the latter from a schoolmate (both of whom were double-vaxxed). In an earlier wave, my oldest nephew caught it from one of his daughters, who had caught it over a school trip.
The issue is that the evidence behind mandatory masking (beyond high quality masks, like N95 and surgical masks) is at best sketchy, with any positive effect possibly confounded with other factors, like social distancing. The point is that omicron similarly exploded across both mask-mandate and no-mask-mandate states. The fact is that almost universally used cloth masks do almost next to nothing against bioaerosols. Yes, cloth masks can help mitigate against virus-laden respiratory splatter from coughing, sneezing, yelling, etc; it's "better than nothing". What parents of health-challenged children can do is ensure their own kids use well-fitting quality masks with proper handling, hygiene and maintenance; even if somehow ACLU succeeded in forcing the hands of other children's parents, it doesn't guarantee that the given mask will do much against an unknowingly infected child spreading the airborne virus to others.
As I've pointed out before, my local Maryland county relaxed their mask mandate several months make for most businesses. I've noticed even in going to Walmart and grocery shopping, a large percentage of store employees and patrons voluntarily wear masks. (I usually won't myself mask during brief shopping runs, but I carry a mask with me and will maintain distance from other shoppers, particularly against rare symptomatic people. I'm reluctant to use law enforcement to enforce mandates against asymptomatic people. It's rarely enforceable; people can workaround checkpoints, and it can be difficult to determine how well-fitting, well-maintained and/or effective a mask is Not to mention most people are not infected, and masking can make it difficult to breathe. (I've sometimes found myself winded in airports wearing my N95.) It becomes more of a kabuki dance, for show.
Then there's Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau's recent mandate against prior exempted (essential worker) international routed truck drivers which has spawned a huge trucker protest. An estimated 80% to 90% of truckers are vaccinated. One complaint you will often hear from pro-liberty anti-vaxxers like Tom Massie is the fact a number of unaxxed people like him are formerly infected and have natural immunity; they feel public policy is discriminatory against them. (Trudeau's mandatory quarantines also impact their right to make a living.) Not to mention, like in the healthcare and other (e.g., airline) industries, there are labor shortages, increasing the workloads of other workers. I'm not sure why Trudeau is focusing on truck drivers who normally work with limited interactions with others.
Part of the problem of COVID-19 policy making is unrealistic expectations of effectiveness. As pointed above, mask mandates and vaccine availability didn't really improve that much the infection counts in mostly Dem policy-heavy states. The use of force vs. persuasion is morally hazardous and counterproductive.
