Hey Bo
New Yorkers by and large wear masks. At first you would see joggers not masking up but i'm even seeing an increase in masked joggers. Gyms are closed so many people work out in parks or on the sidewalk outside of the gym. Outdoor basketball was forbidden up til about a month or so ago (playgrounds were locked up and rims taken down) but have opened up but i see some participants playing basketball with masks on). I live in Brooklyn, i've taken the subway a handful of times in the last few months and it is mandatory to wear a mask on the subway and there's a high 90s% compliance rate from what I've observed. Of that group not all wear their masks correctly -- I would say about 20% wear the mask under their nose.
A few weekends ago I traveled to Lancaster PA (often called Amish Country though we stayed at the Marriott in the center of their downtown). We had taken mass transit there (subway to Penn station and then Amtrak to Lancaster with a short stop in Philadelphia). We wore masks the entire time and the hotel had a mandatory mask rule and only let two folks use an elevator at a time.
As soon as we stepped out of the hotel though the contrast was stark. People weren't wearing masks. We started walking on the sidewalk not even two blocks from the hotel when a woman walked by our group and said out loud "it's too fucking hot to wear a mask". We felt a strange form of social pressure there to unmask. We kept our masks on a bit further and when we got to a less populated area we removed our masks. It felt good not to have to wear a mask outdoors but it also felt strange and we would mask up whenever someone else (usually maskless) was walking past us.
Restaurants were at 1/3 capacity and you couldn't get in most places unless you had made a reservation. Many restaurants allowed indoor seating but we felt strange sitting indoors and asked to be seated outside. Most restaurants had a 90 minute time limit and all of them required we order a meal and not just order drinks. We went to a brewery and they made sure we ordered food there and not just a side salad or order of french fries. Apparently a PA law requiring a food item be on every drink receipt.
It was nice to get away from the city and experience the social mores of small town america for a weekend. But it was a strange kind of social pressure to be maskless in public and get funny looks from the locals when we were walking around with masks on. In fact, while we were waiting for a table at a coffee place two women got up from their table to leave, one of them had left her keys on her chair. My friend ran halfway down the block to give her back her keys and she turned around and told him "Thanks for bringing me my keys and thanks for NOT wearing a mask". Such an odd comment to add. Would she have been upset to have her keys returned to her by a masked person?
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