Some can’t face removing masks immediately
At a restaurant last week, my server, whom I’ve known for years, asked me if I would continue to wear a mask after the mandate was lifted June 15. It was a good question. I had to admit I didn’t know.
Old habits may die hard, but so may new habits.
After 14 months of wearing a mask in most situations, I’d been looking forward to ditching them. But will I? Will you?
California’s vaunted reopening Tuesday was not a 180-degree pivot. I stopped at the world’s most popular coffeehouse that morning, masked, and found masks and distanced seating were still in force, as if it were Monday. When Kurt Taylor went to a supermarket in La Verne, everyone was masked except him.
The interim public health director of San Bernardino County isn’t throwing away his mask either.
“We’ll still be a little cautious,” Andrew Goldfrach told me Tuesday morning by Zoom. “I’ll wear my mask a little longer when I’m around people in close proximity.”
Because his wife is immunocompromised, Goldfrach hasn’t been inside a restaurant since the coronavirus pandemic began. “I tend to err on the side of caution,” he said. They’ll probably celebrate the reopening with a meal out
later this week.
That said, continuing to mask in certain situations is “more of a comfort level for me,” he said. “If people don’t wear the mask, I fully respect everyone’s opinion.”
In San Bernardino County, 49.5% of the population age 12 and up has received at least one shot, with 42% fully vaccinated. Goldfrach said those numbers are “relatively good,” but “I’d love to see us at 70%.”
Anyone not fully vaccinated — two weeks out from their second shot — is supposed to continue masking in public. Is anyone but me skeptical that half the public in rowdy San Bernardino County will continue masking?
In other words, mask on, mask off isn’t as cut-and-dried as “wax on, wax off” from “Karate Kid.” Besides vaccination status, which is largely on the honor system, there are places everyone still must mask, including public transit, airplanes and airports, or any business that requires them.
(Off-topic, but we could use a steady hand like
Mr. Miyagi from “Karate Kid” these days. That is, if the Japanese American elder could keep his equanimity while strangers scream about the virus and shove him onto the sidewalk.)
On my daily walks,
I’ve gone from wearing a mask to carrying a mask to leaving a mask at home. While I’m masking up inside stores and restaurants, as required, in recent days it’s become less clear how we’re to behave.
A friend and I met for dinner Sunday. We put on masks to enter the restaurant and request a table outside. Once seated outside, where we were the only customers, we took off our masks. Should we have left them on until we ordered? Until the food arrived? It felt ambiguous.
“We’re vaccinated,” my friend volunteered to the server, whose expression behind a mask was unreadable. At least that uncertainty is gone as of Tuesday.
Last week I asked readers on social media what they planned to do come Tuesday.
“Can’t wait to take the mask off!!” replied Kathy Ferguson. To my surprise, nearly everyone else had a more cautious take.
“I may go out more but I will keep wearing a mask,” Ikaras Jones said.
“I’ll probably slap a mask on for the grocery store until the majority of people I see around me are also maskless,” Ryan Sandoval said. “Trickier for us parents of toddlers who still probably have to endure restrictions.”
Bryan Garcia, father of a 2-year-old, said: “If anything we may become more cautious about taking him places, since there’s no guarantee that people will be masked to protect him.”
“I for one definitely will not be running to go into crowded indoor spaces,” Rochelle RochaHowell said. “I feel safe outdoors and around few people.”
Molly Godfrey is going to keep masking wherever her 3 1/2-year-old is required to, because “we are in it together until we don’t have to be.” But she and her husband had
a date-night dinner inside a restaurant recently for the first time.
“To be honest, we do not trust the elected officials in their opinions and decisions to open the state,” Bill Delaney said. “We will wear mask until WE decide it is safe.”
“I’m lovin’ that outdoor dining and ‘can I get my margarita to go?’ are here to stay,” said Christina of Riverside. “As someone who worked in a restaurant in the pandemic, I hope people who prepare food still wear masks.”
Masks for some may become a fashion accessory.
“I’ve collected several cute masks,” Adriana Chavira said, “so I’ll continue to wear them when I go shopping and at any large gatherings.”
Some liked the semianonymity of masking up. “I’ll miss getting to hide behind my mask and sunglasses when I run into people I want to avoid,” Linda Trawnik said. “That’s been super handy.”
Personally, I appreciated being able to mumble to myself or sing quietly without anyone seeing my lips move.
Meanwhile, the Goddess Pomona masked up. I’m referring to the 1885 marble statue of the city’s Roman namesake that’s ensconced in a glass display case at the Public Library.
After the library closed in March 2020, a couple of staffers placed a respirator mask on her face, using pipe cleaners rather than elastic to avoid the risk of damage. The result was a visual representation of the pandemic involving one of Pomona’s icons.
The prank eventually got official sanction — another reason to love Pomona. Prior to a May 27 preview event to show off the library’s new touches, the facilities staff was going to remove the mask before being told to leave it be.
“I said, ‘Not on your life. Not until June 15.’ They thought I was kidding,” said Mark Gluba, the deputy city manager. He wasn’t.
Library staff slipped off her mask a few days ago in preparation for Tuesday’s library reopening. But the Goddess is still practicing social distancing. She’s surrounded on all four sides by glass.