Truth is, there are just plenty of people who really don't care that much. It's kind of a "cultural thing". In certain groups, the "culture" is to REALLY care about covid. But in some other groups, it's pretty much the opposite.

For instance, I'm a healthy liberal cis male in my early 30's, most of my friends are cis males and tend to lean left politically, although most are not very politically focused. Most of the people I know don't really care about covid. Most have had it more than once. They'll get it, quarantine, then get back to normal life and just keep going. I think there are lots of folks who regard covid in this way now. It's just an acceptable level of risk for them, and they're willing to run through the quarantine if they need to.

Me on the other hand, I seem to care a tiny bit more than my peers. For example, I still wear a mask in high risk situations (when traveling, if I went to an indoor concert, etc). But even me, I generally am not wearing a mask at the grocery store and places like that, and am more-or-less just living my life as usual. I got the first booster but never got the bivalent because I was seeing mixed information on whether it makes sense for a young healthy person to get the vaccine or not. It DOES have verified risks, and I figured I'd be better off just continuing to be kinda careful with mask wearing in high risk situations, and run without the most recent booster.

I managed to go 3 full years without catching covid, but just this past week I came down with it for the first time. It feels like a bad flu to me. I do kinda wish I'd gotten the recent booster, and probably will get boosted at some point in the next several months just because I'd like the extra protection.... but beyond that, I don't intend to change how I live my life too much.

It does seem like covid is more-or-less here to stay, and I don't think this type of approach is reckless. I don't blame or judge those who take even "riskier" approaches to life than I do.

I might be missing something, what point were you trying to get across with your initial comment? It seems more like you’re justifying the behavior than pointing out the mindset…

Yeah, I’d be voting for the affordable housing even if I lived there because I have some selfless values and believe that others are entitled to a chance at similar comforts to those that I’ve been privileged to live with. Not every decision I make needs to be in my own self interest, especially true for people like me with a bit of wealth/ safety net. I wish more folks with wealth had this perspective.

Why does it matter if we’re doing better or worse than others? Wouldn’t you be more interested in living up to your own ideals?

I’m not OP, but personally I’d like to see us do a better job of taking care of those experiencing homelessness, mental illness, etc regardless of how anyone else is doing it. I’d personally like to see my community doing a lot more than we do.