No one wishes for a future that looks anything like the past year. Thankfully, vaccinations and lowering infection and death rates make a return to pre-pandemic times seem closer than ever.
Life after this global health crisis will look a bit different, but that does not mean we should live in a constant state of fear. At some point, “normal” must return.
From the start, masks have been political. Wearing one meant acknowledging the serious nature of the virus. Choosing not to wear one surely meant little regard for oneself and the larger population. The argument can be made that reaching these conclusions about mask wearers and non-wearers was perhaps somewhat accurate, but only in the time before the COVID-19 vaccines.
Now that vaccines have been widely distributed and administered, we need a reassessment. It’s one thing for a business to require masks be worn by customers. Despite the annoyance, patrons who strongly prefer not to wear one should never give employees a hard time for enforcement. However, wearing a mask outdoors has always made less sense. Such behavior grows even more useless as the number of vaccinated people only increases.
As the current data shows, almost 40% of the country has received one dose of a vaccine. And about 26% of individuals in the U.S are fully vaccinated. This is real progress and should be seen as such. The nation has come a long way since vaccine administration began on December 14. That date should be seen as the moment in time the trajectory of the pandemic, at least in the United States, began to change for the better. As more people become vaccinated, other safety precautions should decline out of use.
The desire by some to wear masks even after they’re fully vaccinated is propelled in part by a media that preys on our worst health fears. Those mainstream players have been well aware of the politics associated with the pandemic. While interviewing Dr. Anthony Fauci on her Friday night show, Joy Reid at MSNBC expressed frustration at vaccinated people not wearing masks.
But there is no proof that vaccinated people are a problem. And demanding that those who are fully vaccinated wear masks is an attempt to show off one’s supposed politically correct morality more than anything else.
A New York magazine article called “The Forever Maskers” describes several people who plan to continue wearing them for the foreseeable future. Their reasons for doing so include poor health and being a germaphobe. In the piece, psychologist Lina Perl calls wearing a mask when it’s unnecessary a “safety behavior” and says, “It’s no different than having a drink or taking a drug or running or any number of ways that we kind of manage our anxiety. But you can get disconnected from the actual danger.”
Defending yourself against genuine hazards is a natural human response. There is a good case for using masks to help slow the spread of the virus. However, that danger is all but eliminated when you are fully vaccinated, whether indoors or outdoors.
When needed, safety measures are important. But so is moving on with our lives toward normalcy at home, work, school, and in various social situations. It does no good to use masks as a crutch after the worst dangers have passed and vaccinations increase.
At some point, society must move on from this “new normal.” When masks are not medically necessary, wearing them is nothing but an artificially virtuous display that only furthers anxiety. And doing so practically ignores the major, accelerated scientific achievements that are the COVID-19 vaccines. Given the year that has been, increasing a collective sense of apprehension is the very last thing that we need.
Kimberly Ross (@SouthernKeeks) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog and a columnist at Arc Digital.
