"Hygiene theater", the kind of symbolism that makes people feel like they are caring about their fellow humans, isn't going away, so get used to having someone unqualified stick a thermometer up to your forehead and we'll all pretend your grandmother will die if they don't.

The reason is the CDC, and then ridiculously hyperactive states like California, who still haven't even adopted the overly conservative stance of the CDC. Vaccinated or not, you have to wear a mask unless you are drinking coffee - and they weirdly tried to tell people to mask up between sips, the opposite of what every expert says.

Some of the blame is, of course, epidemiology. We have been critical of the giant umbrella, including its unscientific kooky fringe, for years. How can we expect the public to trust disease epidemiologists when IARC claims that weedkillers is magically a risk factor for human cancer while hot dogs are for sure as dangerous as plutonium?  All they see is epidemiologist, they don't know that the statisticians claiming every chemical that isn't labeled "organic" is an endocrine disruptor are data dredging and p-hacking while disease epidemiologists are not.

The same scientists who were quick to blast a Republican for believing a peer-reviewed paper about hydroxychloroquine didn't blast the head of the CDC who misinterpreted a paper on the need for masks outdoors by a whole order of magnitude?

All hygiene theater really accomplishes, other than annoying people, is wasting funds - as if wiping down subway cars is the the thing the NYC MTA should be spending taxpayer money on - and makes people who have not yet gotten a vaccine in no rush to get it.

Still have to wear masks? Still have to carry Clorox wipes? Then what is the point of the vaccine?

It isn't going away, once government makes social control the norm it never gives ground. That is why your toothpaste is a massive security threat for an airplane if it's 4 ounces but not 3.