Should I Stop Wearing A Mask? A Practical Guide to Surviving this Moment in the COVID Pandemic

The rule changes came swiftly. The CDC guidance continued to pin masking to your county of residence. Governors in New York and New Jersey were set to back off their masking guidelines, dragging their populous states into the majority of the country.

The City of Cincinnati, which had recently extended mask mandates to the end of March, and my employer, suddenly issued rules cancelling nearly a dozen different masking, testing, and vaccination rules and protocols.

A lot of us who had invested heavily in protecting ourselves, loved ones, and even strangers through masking and vaccinations, were suddenly feeling adrift. Was the pandemic over?

It seemed as if we had simply decided that we would collectively quit playing pandemic. We all were just going to change our behavior, even though the previous two months were among the top five months of COVID hospitalizations since the pandemic began. I mean, things were better. Deaths were going down, and higher vaccination rates meant that even many of the hospitalizations were not ending in death. But things weren’t great. They weren’t even good.

Immediate Changes

Suddenly the world looked different. At work, almost everyone stopped wearing a mask. In grocery stores and restaurants, wearing a mask was now entirely the exception.

I was okay being in the minority in this way. One night, as we dined out at a fish fry for Lent, I noticed I was the only person wearing a mask in the entire school cafeteria.

I knew that I was safer wearing a mask, but I began to wonder why I continued to do so. I needed to weight my options and ask myself hard questions. Was I simply being obstinate? Had my mask become a less reprehensible but equally political statement as refusing to wear one had been months before? I needed a solution.

Therefore, I did what I usually do in these situations. I made a chart and asked myself key questions. The questions were based on the factors that prompted me to wear a mask in the first place.

What does the CDC say about wearing a mask?

When our efforts to control the spread of COVID began, I quickly and avidly took up wearing a mask. From the start I was a mask aficionado, helping friends differentiate between masks that were and weren’t approved by doctors. I shared CDC articles and well-researched articles from reputable sources on social media.

I used my Facebook page to try and talk others into wearing a mask in public places.

I learned and followed the rules about wearing a mask in restaurants and other public places.

But now, the rules have changed. And when these new rules appeared in my work email, I realized that there had been incremental changes all along.

But if I argued early on that others should wear a mask because the CDC said so, what is my motivation now that the CDC says I don’t have to?

Now the CDC has made it clear that it depends where you live. You can easily check whether you live in a high-risk county. Hamilton County is not a high-risk county for the spread at this time.

I should wear a mask if I have symptoms, or if I know I have recently been exposed to COVID. Well, no, and no.

I should also wear a mask if a recent at-home test shows I have COVID. My at-home test last week showed I don’t have COVID.

So in the case of every CDC variable, the answer is no. I don’t need to wear a mask.

We should all wear a mask when on public conveyance

Of course, one CDC guideline still applies to me. Like everyone else, the CDC still recommends wearing a mask when on a public bus, train, or airplane.

The reality is that these confined spaces are not always well ventilated or able to be ventilated, and there is little control over who is riding with you. Is the passenger on the seat next to you vaccinated? Do they have COVID? You simply don’t know, and you can’t trust that they have followed the rules themselves.

For these reasons, and because transit is a major vector / spreader of illness, the CDC says we should wear masks when traveling.

Easy enough.

Who am I protecting by wearing a mask?

Starting in the middle of last year, my COVID fears were heightened because I was caring for my mother. She was 81 and a life-long smoker. She didn’t exercise, and often had to stop to catch her breath after walking 30 yards or more. I knew that COVID was likely to be a death penalty for her.

Also our daughter was eager to return to school where they tested twice a week. She wanted a junior year filled with laughter and struggle and friends – and COVID would mean an interruption.

My mother-in-law is healthy and active, but her age puts her at a heightened risk. When we included her in our COVID pandemic bubble, it became another reason to protect ourselves against this deadly virus.

So our collective vigilance against COVID was heightened at home and on the road. We almost entirely stopped eating out, and as a family we wore our masks in every social situation. We would eagerly shed our masks as we left the grocery or other essential store. And we reveled in time together at home without masks.

But things have changed. Ellie has returned to school. My mother died in January. And my wife, vaccinated and boosted, continues to work from home. Even if she contracted COVID, she’d likely have only a mild case, and would not necessarily need to miss any work.

And my mother-in-law used the lifting of restrictions to make sure she got back to Curves and worked out on a regular basis. From the time she got vaccinated she pushed against our caution, asking the now-famous (in our household) question: “Well then why did I get vaccinated?” This is our cry every time we hesitate about returning to something in life that brought us joy before the pandemic. She is healthy and vaccinated, and there is value gained in living your best life.

At my work, as a 911 calltaker, I need to have my mask off when I answer the phones because it is essential that my questions and instructions are understood the first time.

Simply put, I only run into people at risk of harm from COVID when I am traveling. And at those times, I am wearing a mask.

My situation has changed and it no longer demands that I wear a mask all the time.

What is my vaccination and booster status?

Of course, vigilant masking made sense before there was a vaccine. And a booster. But now that both exist, and are shown to be very effective, do I still need to be wearing a mask?

I got vaccinated the week I was eligible. I got boosted the week I was eligible. And then, several weeks later, I nonetheless caught a very mild case of COVID.

This confluence of events had me researching terms like “superimmunity” and reading articles about potentially never needing another booster. Of course, in reality, COVID seems to be heading in the direction of a serious flu. There might need to be annual or bi-annual booster shots.

But really, there is no real fear for me of catching COVID, and certainly not a serious case of it.

This suggests I do not need to be as vigilant about masking.

It still matters where you are

In looking at my chart, I see that I am wearing a mask out of habit, perhaps a little out of fear, and perhaps because of politics.

I know that I do have at least one valid reason to wear it. The mask remains a symbol of a sort of inclusion. It’s a way to let immuno-compromised people know that I am still looking out for them. They have someone standing with them in public.

For this reason, I am likely to continue wearing a mask in the grocery store and other indoor public places. I will follow guidelines for wearing a mask on planes and buses. But for now, unless the numbers get worse, I think I am going to be able to leave my mask at home a little more often.