I agree on precautions, but my main point is a majority of people have taken that sensible precaution and elevated it into a holy talisman, which the more extreme among them use to enforce their arbitrary will on others. In some areas and cultures, one could even say these mandates and the amplified environment of fear are being used to condition people into blindly accepting authoritarianism.

The funny thing is I'm actually not anti-mask. While the scientific evidence of their usefulness by the general public during a pandemic is mixed, from a purely health risk management perspective there's some potential benefit with little or no downside. So why not use them, at least in certain, specific situations? Yet their potential usefulness from a health perspective is being seriously overwhelmed by the negative social effect associated with them, at least in much of the US. Of course it's not the fault of the masks; it's of the people who make such a big stink from them and divide society. It's why I focus my scorn on the rabid face-mask zealots, not the masks themselves.

As to the crew here, one can assume they're part of their own self-styled "social bubble", but more for their own reasons. As to being 'allowed' to share a car, by whatever arbitrary rules their government imposed? I'm not aware of any such rules in Alaska or most of the US, but even if there were it'd be largely irrelevant. They're taking the precautions they see as best, and won't blindly follow the rules when they don't make sense. It's not a health risk for them, provided they're not picking up random strangers or anything... 😉