Herewith a personal story that gives a sense of just how bad it is.

I went to the live – and let live – store described in my most recent Diaper Report (see here) where "masking" isn't asked about, much less insisted upon, with a friend of mine. We rode in her car, together – Undiapered – neither of us being sick nor afraid of sickness the other hasn't got.

We went to this store and enjoyed the company – as well as the sight – of other Undiapered folks, people not turned into quivering hypochondriacs living in panicked dread of sickness and afflicted by the belief that the wearing of a rag over their portals will prevent them from getting a sickness others haven't got and so can't give them.

Anyhow, we shopped – and ate, this place making sandwiches for the hungry – and very excellent ones, made tastier by the appetizing sight of people's faces.

Later, I got a call from this friend who told me her daughter would not come over for dinner that evening as planned – having learned her mother rode in a car with an Undiapered, Undiapered.

This friend-of-mine's daughter – who is a grown woman – was absolutely mortified that her mother would take such a risk as to be in a car with me and in a store with others like me. And like herself as well, since she also doesn't Diaper.