For the last two and a half years I’ve been one of the cautious ones. I kept isolated at the beginning, got every vax and booster as soon as I was eligible, and wore a mask everywhere. First cloth, then two, then medical. For my 2020-2021 classes, we stayed masked even though we were also outside. The following year we did an inside/outside hybrid, still masked indoors.. Last spring I loosened up a little and allowed masks to be optional for my preschool-aged students. (Masks were always optional for babies and toddlers.) When I started our new classes fully indoors a few weeks ago I stuck with the requirement of masks for adults in the Grownup ‘N Me classes. Everyone seemed fine with it. But I noticed that few people actually had masks with them when they came, but rather grabbed ones from the basket as they came in. Elsewhere in the community I went from being one of about half the people in a bookstore, grocery store, or library who wore a mask to often the only one. Times were changing.
Community transmission in the city is low, children can be vaxxed, and a new booster targeting Omicron is out. Does COVID still loom? Of course. Are masks still an effective defense? Yes, particularly if everyone in the room is wearing one. But the zeitgeist seems to be that it’s time to live our lives in full view despite the risks. People are shedding their masks.
For the last few months our private teachers have made their own decisions about whether to mask during lessons. Some do, some don’t. Often it’s a mix, depending upon the preference of the students and families they work with. Since some of my classes are with babies too young to be masked, my situation is different. The little ones’ safety was my focus and the comfort of us adults around them less so. But I’m feeling the balance shift, weighted now toward the value of young children seeing the full facial expressions of those around them and of having their adults feel at ease.
So perhaps it’s not solely about the data but also about our willingness to risk one thing in order to gain back something we have lost, and in the case of my toddlers, something they have never had. Maybe there’s a place for that concept as I decide my mask policy going forward. —Linda