To Mask or Not to Mask: The Question of the Future

Over the past two weeks, as I take my dog on her daily walk, I have noticed a big change in how other people on the neighborhood trail are behaving. We are smiling at each other, making eye contact, and trading our “good mornings” with good cheer. Of course, this is because we are no longer masked with the exception of a few folks. During the pandemic, we all took great care to stay as far away from one another as possible on the trail, avoided eye contact, and certainly did not utter a word to one another. I am feeling incredibly encouraged by the smiles I am seeing. But not everyone feels the same.

As we ponder the end of the pandemic here in the United States, a big question looms for many of us. Do we continue to wear masks or not? And if we do, under what circumstances will we do so?

According to an article in The Guardian, people have a multitude of reasons for continuing to wear a mask. From simply being introverted, to clerks and servers being able to hide their expressions from rude customers, fear of being identified as Asian, many are reconsidering giving up masking. It’s time we took a look at the many issues that masking brings to the table so that we can think about them as we wait for the pandemic to fully wane. The fact that masking has become a political issue makes this discussion even more important.

Health reasons

Most people now understand that masks are effective at mitigating the spread of respiratory illnesses. A survey by WebMd reveals that many people plan to continue to wear masks beyond the pandemic. 38% of women and 27% of men planned to wear a mask during the traditional cold and flu season. 54% of women vs. 40% of men plan to wear a mask “when ill.” 47% of women and 37% of men plan to wear a mask in crowded public places.

The drastic reduction in cases of influenza from 130K/year to 1,316 this year shows us just what a powerful tool the mask can be. In Asian countries, where masking became more regular as they fought both the SARS and MERS diseases, people are likely to wear a mask when they have a cold or other contagious illness out of respect for those with whom they work and live. They also wear masks to ward off pollution. I suspect that many of us will continue to mask when the cold and flu season comes around in the winter.

Other people are dealing with chronic health problems and/or may be immunocompromised. For them, the fact that we may never fully be rid of COVID strains means that they must be extremely careful when going out in public. For example, in 2010, during my cancer treatment many years ago, I became neutropenic, meaning I had very few white blood cells and was severely immunocompromised. I had to wear a mask everywhere to keep myself alive. While I received some quizzical looks, I did not have the stress of worrying that anti-maskers would make fun of me. I cannot imagine if that had happened to me how I would have reacted.

Social pressures

Many of the people in the Guardian article cited a “cloak of invisibility” or a feeling of “emotional freedom” when wearing a mask. They talked about feeling like their face and expressions are constantly being judged when unmasked. Wearing a mask relieves them of that pressure. Those who work in jobs with high volumes of customer interaction, like food servers, especially enjoy not having to expose their face to customers. Having a level of anonymity from rude or intrusive customers feels empowering. When you work at a place where “the customer is always right,” sometimes customers can take that too far and make employees very uncomfortable. Wearing a mask is a way to take back some of that power.

Avoiding the male gaze

Many women have stated that they enjoy wearing masks because it prevents men from telling them to smile. Unfortunately, it has not reduced catcalling. Some women are planning to continue to mask up to at least feel some sort of power over who gets to see their faces.

Religious reasons

Other forms of masking for religious reasons have caused division for many societies to consider. Several European countries have outlawed the niqab including France, Denmark, and the Netherlands, and Austria. And just last month, one arm of the French legislature passed a ban on the hijab and burkini. The French government claims to be “saving” Muslim women from the enforced wearing of hijabs and niqabs, but they do not consider that their own laws force women to dress in a way that causes discomfort. The real issue, of course, is whether the powerful men in the government or the religious community will give the women the right to choose what to wear.

Some Muslim women choose to wear hijab for religious reasons, some because it is the social norm within their community, and some to avoid the male gaze. The reasons are as individual as the women. Now, some western women are beginning to understand why Muslim women may not mind covering themselves. It relieves them of the male gaze and what follows.

Of course, this points to a bigger issue around the sexualization of women’s bodies by men. But that is an article for another day.

Personal choice

Over the past year and a half, we have dealt with masking as a public health measure and must continue to do so.

As we ever so slowly move into a period where masking may not be necessary, it is important to understand why others may want to continue with some form of masking in certain situations. Once masking is no longer mandatory as a public health measure, it will be up to the individual as to whether they want or need to mask. It is a personal choice, not a political one, and must be treated as such.

If you are considering continuing to mask indoors once the CDC removes the requirement, I would love to hear your reasons why. Getting a discussion going on this topic is one of the best ways to avoid issues down the line.

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Originally published at https://chaiselounge.substack.com, my newsletter. If you liked this article, please check it out!

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This post was previously published on medium.com.

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