It's 74 days until this year's Comic-Con International in San Diego…and I am here being optimistic that (a) it will happen and (b) that I will be there. I'm currently prepping panels based on both assumptions and things are looking pretty good that way.
Based on the same assumptions, my friends who run The San Diego Comic-Con Unofficial Blog are revving up with a new season of podcasts and news coverage of what's going to happen at the con. They are in no way affiliated with the actual event or the folks who run it but the Unofficial Blog site is still a valuable tool for attendees.
This coming Tuesday evening at 6:30 PM Pacific Time, they'll be launching their new season of podcasts with their very special guest, me. You can watch it live on their site or I'll have a replay later on this site. That's two chances you have to see me make the usual fool of myself.
In the meantime, I got an e-mail this morning from a fellow who I'll quote in part here. He goes on and on about how it's stupid to wear masks these days. He's angry that Comic-Con International will be requiring them and he writes, "…no one wears masks anymore at indoor businesses. No one wears masks anymore, period!!!" Which indicates to me that he and I do not patronize the same businesses. I see lots of people wearing masks at indoor businesses I frequent and I am sometimes one of them.
He quotes a Florida judge as saying masks are simply not necessary at this point and calls it all "a political power play." I suspect that judge was ruling on whether she thought certain laws requiring masks were in accord with existing laws, not whether they should be worn. There's a big difference there. Here's my simple position on this: I don't respect any opinion on the wearing of masks that doesn't come from a licensed, experienced DOCTOR (caps for emphasis), preferably one who specializes in infectious diseases.
Frankly, I think wearing a mask or not wearing a mask because of what a politician or judge or TV pundit says is stupid. You might just as well ask your plumber if he thinks you ought to have open heart surgery. (And I'm not suggesting doctors are infallible or that 100% of them agree. I just have this odd theory that they generally know more about medicine than politicians, pundits or plumbers.)
Anyway, then the fellow who wrote me wrote, "I'm sure that, as one of the main speakers and leaders at Comic-Con, you could get the fine folks running the event to reconsider the masks policy." Yes, if you want to formulate a responsible, intelligent health policy, listen to the guy who writes dialogue for Groo the Wanderer. Who could be more qualified than that?
I also don't think it's their policy. I think it has a lot to do with the state, the city and the convention center. The San Diego Convention Center, by the way, is a non-profit public benefit corporation created by the City of San Diego. And I'm fairly sure that all those agencies, in formulating the current policy, consulted with DOCTORS. Gee, I wonder why they didn't ask my opinion.
Is the policy over-cautious? Maybe. I don't know. I have several friends who currently have COVID and while their symptoms seem to be mild, there are still people out there suffering mightily and perhaps dying. Here are current stats for California. We seem to be near the end of this thing but we've thought that before and been horribly wrong so I don't think over-cautious is a terrible thing. I also don't think wearing a mask is any more oppressive than not sneezing on someone else or not coughing in their face.