Masks Off!
It’s official. The CDC just announced that we do not need to wear masks in most indoor or outdoor situations if we are fully vaccinated. The exception is when we are in crowded indoor spaces such as public transit or concert halls.
It’s been a tough 14 months of isolation, fear, and depravation for all of us. Let’s also not forget the tragic human loss we endured. So, to hear this news on the radio this morning, I almost tossed my pillow in the air in unabetted relief and joy. When that feeling of euphoria passed, however, I recalled a New York Times editorial I had read the previous day by Carrie McKean. In it she talked about masks as a metaphor for division. As a divider of our country.
Understanding a different point of view
While we can’t lose sight of how exciting the news of the updated CDC guidelines is, can we take a minute to consider McKean’s astute observation? McKean is a writer who lives in Texas and the mother of two children. She talks about the difference between how the red and the blue states approached wearing masks and how each side expressed smugness and distain for the other.
“’Red state’ or ‘blue city,’ we all have a tendency to view the pandemic decisions we’ve made as well-considered, calculated risks, while deeming other communities’ choices as ill informed, either rooted in irrational fear or exhibiting complete disregard for the well-being of others,” McKean writes.
Opposing views
Given McKean lives in a red state, she attempts to explain why Texans took the approach they did in mask wearing. Until I read her piece, I had considered any rationalization of non-compliance as ignorant, anti-masker rhetoric. Not wearing a mask didn’t logically square with me. But then, I read McKean’s explanations and started to have a better understanding of their choice. She claimed local distrust of Big Government, fear that the vaccine had been pushed through the pipeline too quickly, and confusing CDC messaging had colored people’s actions. She also talked about her state’s local culture which values individualism above all else.
Compare that to the behavior of New Yorkers, and other blue states, who have continued to collectively mask up even when the CDC relaxed the requirements. Might we consider that our current attachment to masking at this juncture in the pandemic is more emotional than rational? Even now, I find myself wearing a mask outside while exercising. When someone walks past me, especially if they are unmasked, I instinctively hold my breath. What is this all about?
Rationalizing a choice
If you ask a New Yorker why they continue to wear a mask, many will say it shows respect for others. Call it a courtesy we’ve chosen to observe in these deeply divided and uncertain times. We’ll also defend our position as a wise precaution given no one knows who has or has not been vaccinated.
When New Yorkers do dare to go mask-free outdoors, we describe it as feeling naked, embarrassed, or almost unpatriotic. Furthermore, we certainly don’t want to be associated with those free-wheeling, irresponsible anti-maskers. On a more emotional level, we reckon that wearing one is at least one of the few things we can control during the receding pandemic. But forever?
The confusion continues
This is a quandary, one which is further compounded by conflicts with local guidelines. Plus, in the back of my mind I’ve contemplated the same question that McKean asked. “What about the science?” Explain what happened when two states took totally different approaches to their outdoor masking mandates during lockdown but ended up with similar results? Confused? I certainly am. McKean makes the argument that our behavior about masks—in both the red and the blue states—may be more about loyalty to our tribe than science. Perhaps she is right. At least partially.
But now that the nation has been liberated with new CDC guidelines, what will our next steps be? It is tempting for the red states to take a “I told you so” stance and mock the blue states for following Dr. Fauci’s recommendations to the letter. It is also tempting to hold on to the notion that the blue states’ numbers merely reflected that they live more outdoors than we do. Afterall, science has confirmed the virus is less transmittable outside than inside.
Meeting in the middle of the road
However, as America reopens, McKean encourages us lighten up a bit. She suggests taking a middle of the road approach to the mask issue rather than falling into either the right or left ditch of the partisan road. In that regard, she has a point. I certainly haven’t done justice to her article “When the Tribe Trumps the Science.” Read it for yourself and see if it doesn’t have a similar effect on your as it did on me: https://nyti.ms/33FQgSH.
But in the meantime, what are we going to do with the mountain of paper and different colored fabric masks we’ve accumulated since March over a year ago? There have been some silly ideas circulating. Turn the fabric ones into a bikini. How about using it to cover your head, along with a bow, on a bad hair day? A patchwork pillow sham? A quilt? Fuel for a neighborhood bonfire?
Don’t toss them out just yet!
My friend Evelyn Pool, whose company Crush Wine Marketing specializes in international trade, gave this answer: “I will be happy to stash them in a drawer deep in the chest. Won’t toss them because I fear they may be needed again.
I have, however, given much thought to a photographic essay on the many different displays of 6 feet apart decals on floors that are now seemingly part of our reality. Someday people will look back on them and say ‘Remember when?’ and a new generation will say ‘How old are you???’”
Dueling opinions from health experts
Whether you decide to keep wearing your masks or not is a personal choice. Ironically, the majority of epidemiologists recently surveyed by the New York Times thought that Americans would need to wear masks in public indoor places for at least another year. But they also acknowledged that the CDC’s latest policy was based not merely on health. It has other goals to consider such as reinvigorating our economy and incentivizing people to roll up their sleeve and get vaccinated.
Some people claim they expect to adopt the habits of East Asian countries. For them wearing masks is de rigueur in crowded place and on public transportation. People here in the West have certainly taken noticed that by wearing masks they’ve been able to bypass their annual bouts with colds, flu and allergies.
Just in case
So, my advice is to be cautious and keep a few masks on hand. We are not yet out of the woods with Covid 19 which continues to play havoc in many countries around the world. And who knows if and when America will face a renewed surge of the virus? But for the moment, we should consider what McKean suggests in her article.
Words of wisdom
She tells the story about taking her daughters to visit their 100-year-old aunt, Lola, who endured a year being quarantined alone in her assisted living facility. When she hugged her family for the first time in over a year, tears came to her eye. “We’ve made it” she said to them. I’d like to think that this wise old woman meant as individuals and well as a country when she used the word “we.”