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 91裸聊视频� lots of people. But look around, and it91裸聊视频檚 clear one thing is largely absent these days: face masks.
Yes, there91裸聊视频檚 the odd one here and there, but nothing like it was three years ago at the dawn of the COVID pandemic91裸聊视频檚 first winter holidays 91裸聊视频� 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 COVID91裸聊视频檚 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, it91裸聊视频檚 a new way of being that hasn91裸聊视频檛 gone away even if most people aren91裸聊视频檛 doing it regularly.
91裸聊视频淭hat91裸聊视频檚 an interesting part of the pandemic,91裸聊视频� says Brooke Tully, a strategist who works on how to change people91裸聊视频檚 behaviors.
91裸聊视频淗ome delivery of food and all of those kind of services, they existed before COVID and actually were gaining some momentum,91裸聊视频� she says. 91裸聊视频淏ut something like mask-wearing in the U.S. didn91裸聊视频檛 really have an existing baseline. It was something entirely new in COVID. So it91裸聊视频檚 one of those new introductions of behaviors and norms.91裸聊视频�
THE SITUATION NOW IS 91裸聊视频� 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 it91裸聊视频檚 seeing an increase in respiratory viruses. And for people like Sally Kiser, 60, of Mooresville, North Carolina, who manages a home health care agency.
91裸聊视频淚 always carry one with me,91裸聊视频� she says, 91裸聊视频�91裸聊视频檆ause I never know.91裸聊视频�
She doesn91裸聊视频檛 always wear it, depending on the environment she91裸聊视频檚 in, but she will if she thinks it91裸聊视频檚 prudent. 91裸聊视频淚t91裸聊视频檚 kind of like a new paradigm for the world we live in,91裸聊视频� she says.
It wasn91裸聊视频檛 that long ago that fear over catching COVID-19 sent demand for masks into overdrive, with terms like 91裸聊视频淣9591裸聊视频� coming into our vocabularies alongside concepts like mask mandates 91裸聊视频� 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 wasn91裸聊视频檛 enough interest.
Anne Miller, the organization91裸聊视频檚 executive director, acknowledges she thought widespread mask usage would become the rule, not the exception.
91裸聊视频淚 thought the new normal would be like we see in other cultures and other parts of the world 91裸聊视频� where people just wear a mask out of an abundance of caution for other people,91裸聊视频� she says.
But that91裸聊视频檚 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 don91裸聊视频檛 take hold.
91裸聊视频淲hen they first were instituted with all the sense that they make and all the effectiveness, there was a lot of resistance,91裸聊视频� Kemmelmeier says. 91裸聊视频淭he argument was basically lots of complaints about individual freedoms being curtailed and so forth, and you can91裸聊视频檛 tell me what to do and so forth.91裸聊视频�
FIGURING OUT THE BALANCE
In New York City91裸聊视频檚 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 weren91裸聊视频檛 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 people91裸聊视频檚 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 store91裸聊视频檚 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.
91裸聊视频淔rom management91裸聊视频檚 point of view,91裸聊视频� he says, 91裸聊视频渋f we were going to try and if there91裸聊视频檚 going to be a negative financial impact from this decision that was made, we want to minimize it.91裸聊视频�
Those shopping there on a recent Thursday didn91裸聊视频檛 seem fazed.
Aron Halberstam, 77, says he doesn91裸聊视频檛 usually mask much these days but wasn91裸聊视频檛 put off by the requirement. He wears a mask on the days it91裸聊视频檚 required, even if he doesn91裸聊视频檛 otherwise 91裸聊视频� 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.
91裸聊视频淎ny place which asks you to do it, I just do it,91裸聊视频� Halberstam says. 91裸聊视频淚 have no resistance to it.91裸聊视频�
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.
91裸聊视频淚t always will find a niche to fit in with,91裸聊视频� he says. 91裸聊视频淎nd as long as there are needs somewhere, it will survive.91裸聊视频�
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