Why do the vaccinated still have to wear masks when they are on their own?

«I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach. Oh, tell me I may sponge away the writing on this stone!»
«A Christmas Carol» by Charles Dickens

Lübeck is a nice city. Okay, it wants to have its institutions appear older than they are (the university logo is rather made to look old for a university founded in the middle of the 20th century).

But still … it is nice.

And while their Christmas market has a certain consistency (if you’ve been once, you know where to find what the next year), it is a rather nice Christmas market.

They have nice furs, salmon, and potato pancakes.

But this year, they opted for 2G (you have to be vaccinated against covid or have a certification that you have recovered from it, which is not as easy to get as it sounds), which means I will not visit it.

But interestingly, despite 2G — only having vaccinated or recovered visitors — they still require all visitors to wear masks.

Why?

After all, it’s open air, there are only vaccinated or recovered people. So why the masks? Why shouldn’t these people, who either did trust the vaccine as expected of them, or had Covid and the wherewithal to get it certified, enjoy the season? Just walk through the market without masks and enjoy the season?

Yeah, perhaps the whole pandemic of fear has less to do with the unvaccinated, but more with the ineffectiveness of the vaccines. For which a scapegoat is needed.

And, yeah, sigh, which I love xmas markets, while I would like to give some of my money to people playing instruments (if they do it well … enough), while I would like to buy a few things … I guess, they can go take an xmas tree and …

Okay, I stop now.

Covid — and the human reaction to it — remains … interesting.

 

BTW, if you need an escape, «A Christmas Carol» by Charles Dickens is actually a pretty good book. Highly recommended.