It will be nice to see people’s faces again.
There are some people who I see at work every day who I’ve never seen without a mask. That is not a new thing for me. I once worked in an industrial plant where, because of fumes, we all wore respirators, and I could only tell who each person was by their body language.
I’ve been thinking about how people have used masking in the past and when did they finally unmask. In years to come, old photos of us will show all of the colourful face covering that we wore, whether they were on our faces or on our chins.
This is not the first time that people looked forward to dropping their masks. After the flu pandemic of 1919, there was actually an anti-mask league which was formed in San Francisco, where one meeting was attended by 2,000 people. Many articles about the 1919 pandemic describe the masking rules, but I could not find one that tells of when people finally stopped wearing them. Did they continue the practice for some time or drop them all at once? I don’t know.
Japan’s mask culture
Wearing masks on the street in Japan for those with colds and other respiratory illnesses, has been common there even before COVID-19. I assumed that it was always the case, but masking in Japan was not always a common thing. They began masking during the 1919 flu pandemic, but it was not until the early 2000s when the Japanese government began a public health campaign to encourage mask wearing in public, for those who were sick.
Now, in their culture, everyday wearing of masks in public is a sign of respect by the wearer, to show consideration for their family and co-workers.
It will be interesting to see how mask-wearing will play out in the USA, where it has become a politically charged symbol rather that the simple personal protective equipment that it was intended to be.
I will continue to wear a mask at work, since that will be easy and it’s just another piece of PPE to put on, along with my safety shoes. I will also wear it in some crowded situations, to protect myself and others around me who are at higher risk, but I’ll be glad to not have to wear one when I’m in an elevator by myself and other places like that.
Mother nature isn’t giving up on her attempts to make us sick just yet however. In case you are not aware, there is a new COVID variant that was detected in November 2021, called “Stealth Omicron.” It is even more contagious that the current COVID-19 Omicron variant, and it is expected to make up at least half of the infections in the near future.
So, I won’t be putting my supply of masks away any time soon. I just hope that we are all gaining some residual immunity from all of these shots (they are now talking about a fourth shot, too) and that the new bug won’t be too hard on us all.
James Golemiec is a Canadian Registered Safety Professional with over eleven years’ experience coordinating and managing complex safety systems at manufacturing facilities and performing inspections on project job sites across Canada.