The scene: A crowded shopping center in the weeks before Christmas. Or a warehouse store. Or maybe a packed airport terminal or a commuter train station or another place where large groups gather.
There are people B次元官网网址� lots of people. But look around, and itB次元官网网址檚 clear one thing is largely absent these days: face masks.
Yes, thereB次元官网网址檚 the odd one here and there, but nothing like it was three years ago at the dawn of the COVID pandemicB次元官网网址檚 first winter holidays B次元官网网址� an American moment of contentiousness, accusation and scorn on both sides of the mask debate.
As 2023 draws to an end, with promises of holiday parties and crowds and lots of inadvertent exchanges of shared air, mask-wearing is much more off than on around the country even as COVIDB次元官网网址檚 long tail lingers. The days of anything approaching a widespread mask mandate would be like the Ghost of Christmas Past, a glimpse into what was.
Look at it a different way, though: These days, mask-wearing has become just another thing that simply happens in America. In a country where the mention of a mask prior to the pandemic usually meant Halloween or a costume party, itB次元官网网址檚 a new way of being that hasnB次元官网网址檛 gone away even if most people arenB次元官网网址檛 doing it regularly.
B次元官网网址淭hatB次元官网网址檚 an interesting part of the pandemic,B次元官网网址� says Brooke Tully, a strategist who works on how to change peopleB次元官网网址檚 behaviors.
B次元官网网址淗ome delivery of food and all of those kind of services, they existed before COVID and actually were gaining some momentum,B次元官网网址� she says. B次元官网网址淏ut something like mask-wearing in the U.S. didnB次元官网网址檛 really have an existing baseline. It was something entirely new in COVID. So itB次元官网网址檚 one of those new introductions of behaviors and norms.B次元官网网址�
THE SITUATION NOW IS B次元官网网址� SITUATIONAL
It tends to be situational, like the recent decision from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center hospital system to reinstate a mask mandate at its facilities starting Dec. 20 because itB次元官网网址檚 seeing an increase in respiratory viruses. And for people like Sally Kiser, 60, of Mooresville, North Carolina, who manages a home health care agency.
B次元官网网址淚 always carry one with me,B次元官网网址� she says, B次元官网网址淏次元官网网址檆ause I never know.B次元官网网址�
She doesnB次元官网网址檛 always wear it, depending on the environment sheB次元官网网址檚 in, but she will if she thinks itB次元官网网址檚 prudent. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 kind of like a new paradigm for the world we live in,B次元官网网址� she says.
It wasnB次元官网网址檛 that long ago that fear over catching COVID-19 sent demand for masks into overdrive, with terms like B次元官网网址淣95B次元官网网址� coming into our vocabularies alongside concepts like mask mandates B次元官网网址� and the subsequent, and vehement, backlash from those who felt it was government overreach.
Once the mandates started dropping, the masks started coming off and the demand fell. It fell so much so that Project N95, a nonprofit launched during the pandemic to help people find quality masks, announced earlier this month that it would stop sales Monday because there wasnB次元官网网址檛 enough interest.
Anne Miller, the organizationB次元官网网址檚 executive director, acknowledges she thought widespread mask usage would become the rule, not the exception.
B次元官网网址淚 thought the new normal would be like we see in other cultures and other parts of the world B次元官网网址� where people just wear a mask out of an abundance of caution for other people,B次元官网网址� she says.
But thatB次元官网网址檚 not how norms work, public safety or otherwise, says Markus Kemmelmeier, a professor of sociology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
In 2020, Kemmelmeier authored a study about mask-wearing around the country that showed mask usage and mandate resistance varied by region based on conditions including pre-existing cultural divisions and political orientation.
He points to the outcry after the introduction of seatbelts and seatbelt laws more than four decades ago as an example of how practices, particularly those required in certain parts of society, do or donB次元官网网址檛 take hold.
B次元官网网址淲hen they first were instituted with all the sense that they make and all the effectiveness, there was a lot of resistance,B次元官网网址� Kemmelmeier says. B次元官网网址淭he argument was basically lots of complaints about individual freedoms being curtailed and so forth, and you canB次元官网网址檛 tell me what to do and so forth.B次元官网网址�
FIGURING OUT THE BALANCE
In New York CityB次元官网网址檚 Brooklyn borough, members of the Park Slope Co-op recently decided there was a need at the longstanding, membership-required grocery. Last month, the co-op instituted mask-required Wednesdays and Thursdays; the other five days continue to have no requirement.
The people who proposed it werenB次元官网网址檛 focused on COVID rates. They were thinking about immune-compromised people, a population that has always existed but came to mainstream awareness during the pandemic, says co-op general manager Joe Holtz.
Proponents of the mask push at the co-op emphasized that immunocompromised people are more at risk from other peopleB次元官网网址檚 respiratory ailments like colds and flu. Implementing a window of required mask usage allows them to be more protected, Holtz says.
It was up to the storeB次元官网网址檚 administrators to pick the days, and they went with two of the slowest instead of the busy weekend days on purpose, Holtz says, a nod to the reality that mask requirements get different responses from people.
B次元官网网址淔rom managementB次元官网网址檚 point of view,B次元官网网址� he says, B次元官网网址渋f we were going to try and if thereB次元官网网址檚 going to be a negative financial impact from this decision that was made, we want to minimize it.B次元官网网址�
Those shopping there on a recent Thursday didnB次元官网网址檛 seem fazed.
Aron Halberstam, 77, says he doesnB次元官网网址檛 usually mask much these days but wasnB次元官网网址檛 put off by the requirement. He wears a mask on the days itB次元官网网址檚 required, even if he doesnB次元官网网址檛 otherwise B次元官网网址� a middle ground reflecting what is happening in so many parts of the country more than three years after the mask became a part of daily conversation and daily life.
B次元官网网址淎ny place which asks you to do it, I just do it,B次元官网网址� Halberstam says. B次元官网网址淚 have no resistance to it.B次元官网网址�
Whatever the level of resistance, says Kemmelmeier, the culture has shifted. People are still wearing masks in places like crowded stores or while traveling. They do so because they choose to for their own reasons and not because the government is requiring it. And new reasons can come up as well, like when wildfires over the summer made air quality poor and people used masks to deal with the haze and smoke.
B次元官网网址淚t always will find a niche to fit in with,B次元官网网址� he says. B次元官网网址淎nd as long as there are needs somewhere, it will survive.B次元官网网址�
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