Something that I always found idiotic was that provinces and municipalities were permitting people to enter restaurants and shopping center food fairs and then remove their masks to eat.
Obviously you can't eat with a mask on. However the social distancing of 6 feet or 12 feet, or whatever, is ineffective to prevent the spread of air-borne viruses with no mask or face covering.
I recall that a doctor who studied the issue before Covid19 concluded a patient could spread an airborne virus for 30 feet or more by coughing.
Also, in years past, when smoking was still permitted in restaurants, I recall watching how cigarette smoke moved around a fast food place. This particular one, located in the corner of a bus depot building, had sun streaming in the large windows on the two sides forming the corner.
The owner had allocated all of the window tables as the smoking section, so it created an effect where cigarette smoke was very visible under strong sun light. What was interesting, and annoying, is that the HVAC had zero effect on removing that smoke-laden air. It just drifted slowly from those tables to everywhere in the place.
Obviously then, social distancing has little to NO effect at stopping the spread of Covid 19 in indoor spaces, because virus-laden air will move around undeterred by HVAC and because an airborne virus can still infect you at 40 feet or more.
Masks DO help though, because they confine the tiny liquid droplets from your mouth that escape when you speak or cough, that are most likely to spread the virus.
The transparent plastic barriers that are so common now do the same thing.
Also, wearing a mask indoors is a small thing to ask these days.
Many businesses will just provide them to you for free.
And they do not infringe on your privacy or your human rights.
So, packing the pews of a church full of people is a stupid thing to do. If the masks are as ineffective as many claim, then they should continue to limit the number of people inside them. Churches are not essential services, like food stores and pharmacies.
It’s kind of ironic that you were against showing your face in a gun store for a photo because you perceive that it violates your privacy and freedom, but you are quick to support a practice that violates peoples’ fundamental right to worship, stating that churches are not essential services.
For the record, I’m against both practices.
In the first place, limiting the number of people in a church does not violate anyone's fundamental right to worship. Secondly, I never said that I was opposed to a person's fundamental right to worship.
I did say that I believed that churches should not be allowed to be filled to capacity in this pandemic. I stand by that.
And, religious people continue to be able to worship whatever deity that they choose under the Covid19 regulations, and to practice the same religious beliefs as before.
However, they can not fill up a church to maximum capacity simply because they wish to.
They can still visit a church in limited numbers to pray however.
That's not about violating people's rights, and it does not.
It's about preventing the spread of disease.
And just as we must all wear masks in businesses and other indoor places where people gather, we must wear masks inside of a church.
You will notice that I never said that I was opposed to wearing medical masks inside of a gun shop, or to limit the number of persons in a gun shop at any one time, just as in all other public places.
And, I would be just as much opposed to any requirement for church-goers to have to submit to mug shots in order to enter a church, as I would for a gun shop or anywhere else.
And, the definition of an essential service is:
"Daily services essential to preserving life, health, public safety, and basic societal functioning."
That includes:
- health, medical and social services,
- public safety and security,
- Food / shelter public services,
- Energy & utilities,
- Water,
- Industrial,
- Petroleum, natural gas, and coal,
- Construction,
- Agricultural,
- Financial,
- Information and telecommunications.
Churches are not on the list because they don't really fall into any of these categories.
And, church-goers can still attend church and pray.
They just can't pack the church to the rafters during a pandemic.