Masks: Why the vaccinated still wear them
Here we are with more than half of U.S. adults vaccinated, said Alyssa Rosenberg in Washington Post.com, and yet “the debate over mask wearing seems to have become more vitriolic.” In progressive areas like Brookline, Mass., and Brooklyn, N.Y., many vaccinated residents continue to wear masks outdoors even though the Centers for Disease Control says the risk of transmission outside is minuscule. Conservatives, meanwhile, are now even more triggered by the sight of masks, with the unmasked screaming insults like “You idiot!” and worse. You’d think nearly everyone would have “ripped those things” off their faces at the first opportunity, said Beth Teitell in The Boston Globe. But after a year of fear, some view masks as a “security blanket” and are confused by evolving advice about what is and isn’t safe. Some of the masked even admit they don’t want to be mistaken for “a Trump supporter.”
The pandemic has “rewired our brains,” said Michael Brendan Dougherty in NationalReview .com. For many, avoiding getting or spreading Covid “became an unshakable moral purpose.” Over long months, the “actual weighing of risks went out the window” and obsessive vigilance— securing your double mask before helping your kids put on their Covid goggles—became fused with these people’s political identity. From President Biden on down, vaccinated liberals insist that wearing a mask is their “patriotic duty,” said Marc Siegel in The Wall Street Journal. Such excessive caution actually sends a harmful message, suggesting “if you get vaccinated, you’ll be afforded virtually no relief” from the burden of wearing a mask, even on a hot day.
As vaccinated people ease back into the world in this awkward “in-between” phase, said Dr. Leana Wen in The Washington Post, “there is no one-sizefits-all answer.” People who have “severely immunocompromised” relatives—who are being treated for cancer or who’ve had organ transplants—may still want to wear masks, as might people who see unvaccinated relatives. Risk tolerance varies: Some see “the 0.008 percent chance of infection and 0.0001 percent chance of death” once we’re vaccinated as a green light for ditching masks, while others fear the rare “breakthrough” case. “We shouldn’t mock the cautious for taking things at their own pace, nor should we condemn those who engage in activities we might not dare ourselves.” As long as vaccinations continue, we’re all on the “pathway back to normalcy.”