More and more, we see faces masked less and less. What’s nice about Hawai’i (usually) is that people can do their own thing at this point in the waning pandemic days (we hope) without being outwardly judged or admonished. Concerned for yourself, respectful of others? Wear a mask. Immunocompromised? Wear a mask. Caring or often in contact with ones deemed most vulnerable? Wear a mask.
Masking in Asia was an accepted practice long before the COVID virus made most other continents aware of its potential value. People wore masks in Asia over 60 years ago and the reasons why have increased- to prevent the spread of germs, to avoid wearing makeup, to battle air pollution and auto exhaust, and even as a “social firewall” in China, according to a March, 2020, Voice of America commentary.
So, what happens next? Will the upcoming flu season encourage more people to remain masked more often? After all, our isolation tendencies plus masking were key reasons that flu deaths in the U.S. fell from an average of 36,000 annually from 2010-2019 to about 700 during the 2020-21 flu season.
We’re just now experiencing what it’s like to socialize regularly in person sans masks for the first time in 2+ years. We’re all doing that post-COVID social dance- do I hug or fist bump, shake hands or high five, give a minor bow or a semi bro hug? It’s all so confusing. Heck, we socially distanced at six feet when, in retrospect, perhaps 12-feet would’ve served us better.
We went into restaurants masked and then pulled down our faceguards for 90-minutes as we stuffed our faces and/or enjoyed well-deserved libations. Seems incongruent now, doesn’t it? We stuffed nine or more Zoom meetings into eight hours, a self-defeating business game that has been shown to be a stress-inducing, rather ineffective, and an incomplete use of our time and brains.
We “trusted” family members and really good friends to come visit, but distrusted the general public, because we had no clue who “they” had been in contact with, or for how long.
In 1988, comedian Dennis Miller joked that the toughest job in America was bank teller in Alaska… you know, everybody walks in with a mask on! It was funny back then.
We may breathe easier; many have decided that they’re kinda done with this novel coronavirus, but is it done with us?
Think about it…