I think some of the mask thing is more people are seeing the numbers and the push to control a narrative that just isn't there. While it is serious, no more so it appears than the flu, especially once one looks at perhaps criminal maneuvers such as pushing sick people into nursing homes and forcing ventilators down peoples throats while publishing fake peer reviewed papers disqualifying promising medicine (which appears to be because it can't be patented and only costs like 5.00 instead of 3000.00). Then one sees inflated numbers (die by being shot or motorcycle accident but counted as a Covid death) and it starts coming off as a blown out of proportion panic that they won't fess up to.

Glad your hours are picking up. Some of the stimulus appears to pay employers to keep folks on the payroll and off unemployment, so wondering if that's why they are seeming to create work for you.