2020, the year of the terrible outbreak of COVID-19. Just last year, uncertainty lingered in households and festered in our sinuses. Wait, it’s 2022- the outbreak was not just last year. While the last two years of living with the pandemic flew, the question of when and how time would return to normal persisted. To prevent the spread of the virus, citizens worldwide were advised to stay home and wear masks. Well, now it’s somewhat safe to leave our homes, but what about masks? The spring of 2022 brought not only its usual showers and flowers but also the lifting of mask mandates in New York State. Is it too soon to unmask?
Sweat, Horror, and Masks
A 9:30 am lecture starts my Mondays off. I’m not a morning person, and my commute is 52 minutes- depending on my luck. On these mornings, it’s the absolute best when the trains come in just as I walk through the turnstile. But of course, this is never the case. And so, since I’m a staunch procrastinator with no perception of time, I’m forced to speed walk or even do that awkward jog with a backpack to be on time- willing a 5-minute margin. I tend to get to class so anxiously because my heart is racing, and I’m trying to resist sweating buckets so I don’t soil the still air of the classroom. I aggressively take off my jacket and even another layer to cool down, and just as I’m near adjusting, my mask feels like it’s pooling with sweat. I’m already down to my t-shirt, so my mask is the only layer I can’t take off. I start to sweat more, stressing about how hot my face is. I want to sip my water, but I’m scared someone will see the beads of sweat accumulating under my nose. Wondering if anyone else seems as heated as I am, I see everyone in hoodies and puffers.
Seeing that my body has trouble regulating its temperature, the lifting of mask mandates doesn’t sound too bad. However, wearing a mask for hours gets hot, itchy, and just so uncomfortable- I’m tempted by the thought of being in public naked faced. Of course, that’s a vulgar way of putting it, but I think it honestly reflects how scandalous not wearing a mask can be. The pandemic has become so politized that wearing a mask can be so divisive to display support for either conservatives or liberals- and only those options in today’s polarized environment. In an interview for the Harvard Gazette, Michael Sandel delves into the ethics in “what we owe each other in a pandemic” (Walsh, 2020). He explains that the “wearing of masks has become a flashpoint of partisan disagreement” as masks have been argued to be a “violation of individual liberty”-from the far right, of course. So as mask-wearing has become a testament to one’s party, science is quieted by the terribly ironic political mask.
Beyond politics, mask-wearing can be a testament to morals. Am I being selfish by not wearing a mask? Am I risking the health of others around me? Can it be taken this far as to be a judgment of respect? Sandel explains that “our ethical obligations are, first of all, to minimize the possibility that our behavior will expose others to the risk of contracting the virus.” So yes. Mask wearing can be indicative of morals and ethics. The virus transmits in a domino effect; we force exposure onto others when we choose to unmask. Thus, by possible infection onto others, we further risk the healthcare workers who treat COVID-19 patients, perpetuating the pandemic’s life. All in all, mask-wearing can be connoted to how much you really care about others and, ultimately, ending the pandemic.
Now, I can complain about how bad my skin has gotten or how I started a conversation with a mistaken stranger I thought I had a class with, but can I? Sure, I’m uncomfortable. But how might healthcare workers feel that mask mandates are lifting for the public they must care for? My sister is a nurse who’s had to wear an N-95 with a surgical mask and face shield over it for 8-hour shifts since the pandemic started. I’ve seen her come home at midnight with residual face lines from the N-95 mask, even after her 30-minute commute. So she says,
“I find it selfish that people can take their masks off when I can’t since I’m reminded each day when I clock in that the pandemic is still so prevalent.”
(Raymundo, 2022)
A study from April of 2021 researched the relationship of mask mandate adherence to the rate of COVID-19 in the United States. It suggested that “high adherence to mask-wearing could be a key factor in reducing the spread of [the virus]” (Fischer et al.). So, while masks effectively filtrate exhaled and inhaled particles carrying the virus, can I blame them for not filtering my impulsive words? (Again, sorry to that kind stranger who I thought was Violet from my Genetics class).
CDC further explained that “experimental and epidemiologic data support community masking to reduce the spread of SARS-CoV-2” by 70%. During the wave of the omicron variant, mask mandates persisted to where transmissions rates are now spiking downwards. Recently, Governor of New York State Kathy Hochul says, “the numbers are coming down, and it’s time to adapt” (Axe, 2022). Michael Osterholm, member of Biden’s Covid board and director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, was even quoted to say that mask-wearing is “symbolic” as the proper fitting of masks is loosely adhered. Now I cue in, oh, how the tables have turned. The same politicians suggesting a return to normalcy by taking our masks failed to act before the epidemic became a pandemic. Once too late, now too soon. Lifting the mask mandates may be reassuring hope for returning to normal, but what if it just perpetuates the pandemic? Why lift the breaks when we just started to slow down?
Returning to normalcy sounds almost fantastical and even unbelievable. But it might be more in reach. Normality today seems like a strive to make now look like the early days of 2020, but perhaps normalcy should “adapt,” Hochul. Had you told me in the early days of 2020 that the general public would be wearing masks, I would have pictured Ghostface from Scream or Jason in the movie Friday the 13th. Scary. But now, if I walk out my door without a mask, I panic and run back for one. Now, I feel like I’m scared for a future without masks.
I’ve ironically found too much comfort hiding behind the physical discomforts of my mask. It’s personally manifested to a theoretical mask, where I feel a sense of comforting anonymity. I feel a freedom to control who I might be at that moment. At times, I enjoy stepping out of my apartment with my mask on, hiding, where no one can see my face. It’s almost cozy. But then I see quotes like Betty Friedan’s saying, “You can show more of the reality of yourself instead of hiding behind a mask for fear of revealing too much” or Alan Moore saying, “You wear a mask for so long, you forget who you were beneath it.” And at that point, I start questioning if I’m discovering some unhealthy patterns in my self-esteem. However, I can’t deny that I’ve favored wearing masks by liking the correlated mystery, especially in this day and age when everyone’s privacy is broadcasted on social media.
The sense of normalcy needs to adjust– it can’t frame an expectation to return to how it was before the pandemic. Imagine an American colonial saying, “How much do I owe the Queen for the tea tax again?” after the revolutionary war. My normalcy has found comfort in the allure of the mysterious anonymity behind a mask. The beads of sweat under my nose can lie behind my mask but my compassion and obligation to society will not be masked. My will to mask is furthermore reinforced by the proven advantages in avoiding transmission- suggested by the CDC and many experts. I believe you, science! If health care workers on the forefront of this microbial war can wear masks for more than a third of their day, I could sacrifice a few of mine a day. Normalcy is ambiguous. Hawaii may be the last state in the United States to enforce mask mandates still, but political and medical controversies aside, I’m still going to choose to cover my face. Masks aren’t only for horror films. The electric duo Daft Punk won four Grammys covering their faces behind masks. Sure, the duo split, but perhaps that’s a metaphor for social distancing.
Bibliography
Axe, David. “Statewide Mask Mandates Are Being Lifted — but What Happens next?” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 10 Feb. 2022, https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/pandemic-covid-19-state-mask-mandate-1298338/.
Fischer, Charlie B., et al. “Mask Adherence and Rate of COVID-19 across the United States.” PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, 14 Apr. 2021, https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0249891#:~:text=Mean%20COVID%2D19%20rates%20for,the%20spread%20of%20COVID%2D19.
Howard , Jeremy, et al. “An Evidence Review of Face Masks against COVID-19 | PNAS.” PNAS, 11 Jan. 2021, https://www.pnas.org/content/118/4/e2014564118.full.
Raymundo, Katrina. Personal Interview, 24 February 2022.
“Science Brief: Community Use of Masks to Control the Spread of SARS-COV-2.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 Dec. 2021, https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/science/science-briefs/masking-science-sars-cov2.html.
Walsh, Colleen. “Sandel Explores Ethics of What We Owe Each Other in a Pandemic.” Harvard Gazette, Harvard Gazette, 1 Sept. 2020, https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2020/08/sandel-explores-ethics-of-what-we-owe-each-other-in-a-pandemic/.
