Let's Talk About "The C-Word"
Let's Talk About "The C-Word"
I’m of course talking about Coronavirus, more specifically COVID-19.
The last two years have been confusing times. The simple act of living safely has been difficult to navigate and deeply personal.
I stumbled upon a tweet last week from Ellen McCarthy, a reporter at The Washington Post related to this theme:
The tweet went viral, with thousands of replies and was eventually deleted by the author on the same day it was posted, presumably because it was generating so much discussion and was becoming unwieldy to process.
McCarthy’s prompt made me curious; why did the people that have not yet caught COVID been spared? I’ve known people that are still living like we’re in a global pandemic (masking, distancing, etc) who have remained healthy. But I also know plenty of others who have not caught COVID that are largely back to 2019 life, opting to almost never wear a mask, dining out regularly, going to conferences, concerts, and other large events.
So I replied to Ms. McCarthy’s tweet with a prompt of my own:
My tweet generated a lot of interest too, with a few hundred replies posted in a matter of hours. The answers people shared publicly were quite interesting. Here’s a random sampling (lightly edited for clarity):
Currently? I don’t even possess a mask. Our hospitals make you mask and thats it. (@xxtashaxxtg)
I’m not being cautious to be honest. I’ve traveled and flown on planes, go to crowded bars and restaurants all the time, go to the gym and yoga studio. (@sailormary13)
I work from home part-time, I triple mask in the office and while out (errands, etc.), and I very carefully socialize. (@fallenframes_)
I'm immunosuppressed and fully vaccinated. I was extra cautious early on but I don't wear a mask now unless required. I get together with friends, go to museums, concerts and festivals but I do try to be aware of crowds. (@ferrethouse)
It’s hard to know exactly who I’m talking to on Twitter and if they are accurately representing their experience, but it seems like we’re all taking a very individualized approach to the pandemic, especially at this point.
What makes one person at high risk drop masking altogether while somebody else is wearing three masks? It is a failure of our public policies, ambiguous messaging, or pandemic fatigue? Probably some of all of it.
I recently wrote about visiting relatives in Kansas City, which was my family’s first plane trip since the pandemic started. When we left from JFK, I would guess that 60% of the airport was still masked, but flying home from Kansas City, it was closer to 20%.
The CDC is no longer enforcing the mask mandate for travel, but their webpage still very much recommends masking up on all transportation. It’s easy to forget with the pace of the news, but the mask mandate was not dropped because the CDC felt it was unnecessary. Instead, it was struck down in April by a single judge in Florida based on her interpretation of a law from 1944. It was a political calculation by a single official, not a scientific consensus.
However, this decision came on the heels of the CDC loosening their mask guidance in February, only recommending public masking when communities experienced high rates of transmission.
So encouraged on airplanes and subways (but not enforced), not necessary in other public spaces. But if cases are high, then you should mask (but many are not). Confused much?
Personally, I am still masking in any indoor public space, whether I’m in a desolate store with only the shopkeeper or a crowded venue with hundreds of others. It’s a minor inconvenience that offers me some level of protection and also prevents others from getting sick should I be unknowingly carrying the virus. (Happy Masks are easy to wear and highly effective, which have made masking easier).
Even with this level of caution, my whole family contracted COVID a few months ago.
In the early days of the pandemic, we didn’t fully understand how the virus spread and many of us wiped down groceries or overused sanitizer. Science now tells us that COVID is a respiratory virus spread through the air, and masking is an effective way to stop it from being inhaled and exhaled.
But in looking at the Twitter responses to my prompt, some people attributed not catching COVID yet to practicing good hygiene (sometimes in conjunction with masking, sometimes not):
Still wash hands a lot and sanitize but no mask unless mandated by business. (@DatGeekDad)
Double vaccinated and boosted. Still masking. Also this isn’t said enough: I wash my hands frequently. (@CeciliaQuick)
I’ve returned to normal life but wash my hands frequently. (@DeasonDeann)
Here’s the truth of it, we all have busy lives, the news is moving at 1,000 miles per hour, and there are more ways to receive information than ever before. Disinformation is rampant, and local journalism is on life support in many areas and outright deceased in many more. Finding reliable information takes effort.
People often make decisions by consuming derivative information on local news or social media rather than looking at the original source. Much like a game of telephone, the facts lose their efficacy and nuance the more they are passed along. At a certain point, peer pressure takes over too, and suddenly you have a large majority of people who may not even realize what the current guidelines from the scientific community are.
Without a single, dependable source for information, we are forced to cobble together our own individual best practices. For writing this piece, I tried to find a simple answer to the CDC guidelines, and I was quickly confused.
As more masks have come off, I’ve questioned if my approach of masking in any indoor space is too extreme. Perhaps I don’t need to be so vigilant. But part of the reason I continue masking is I think I would regret the decision to unmask if it led to disease. I would be pretty mad if a trip to TJ Maxx landed me in the hospital.
I was curious what made people take off their mask when they did. The answers here were varied too:
I've returned to a normal life. I did mask and social distance prior. Honestly it wasn't a conscious choice. One day I couldn't find one in the car and just went for it. (@WickedReina617)
I taught middle school last year and did not mask once they changed the mandates here- not because I am anti-mask, but b/c seeing my face made a huge diff. (@thtgrlKathereen)
I mask sometimes. But only at the doctors. (@janucristi)
Nick Offerman’s latest book Where the Deer and the Antelope Play touches on these themes. The book meditates on National Parks, American identity, Indigenous People, Christianity, the ills of modern agriculture, and the joys of farming and hard labor.
But what stood out to me was a section where Nick described taking an Airstream trailer to visit his family in Illinois in 2020. He and his wife (actor Megan Mullally) were very careful about how the visit was conducted (perhaps informed by how carefully the entertainment industry has treated COVID protocols), but Nick’s family had a different expectation because of their interdependent lifestyle in their rural community. If you’re interested in hearing Nick’s take on this topic, I highly recommend picking up the book.
I wish that the guidance were more consistent, predictable, and easy to follow, but I don’t expect us to get there. I worry that our fractured response to this pandemic will hamper our ability to solve other big challenges like climate change or even the next election, both of which require us all to agree to a set of facts and a unified approach based on that data.
The solution to these problems, or any public health guidance, is outside the scope of this post. I only hope that whatever choice you’re making in this moment is purposeful and well-reasoned based on what works best for you and your family, and that we all respect others who feel their approach needs to be different than our own.
I’d be curious to hear from you too. What approach are you taking to protecting your health two years in to the pandemic? Are you as vigilant as you once were, and if not, what changed? Leave a comment and share your thoughts- I love hearing from you!
Related Reading
Living with COVID-19 and Granting Wishes
If you’d like to catch up on past episodes of the Quarantine Creatives podcast, they can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen.
Please consider sharing this with a friend that you think might enjoy it, or better yet, share it on social media so you can tell hundreds of friends!
If you’ve missed past issues of this newsletter, they are available to read here.
Stay Safe!
Heath