On May 13th, the Centers for Disease Control lifted the mask mandate that has been in place since last year, as many people across the country have finally been getting their vaccinations. The CDC cites that there are "numerous reports" regarding the validity and effectiveness of the vaccine, and this is reason enough to let people who have been vaccinated to be able to walk around without their masks.
According to the director of the CDC the most recent seven day average of new Covid Cases falling by 23% and the White House Covid Advisor saying that deaths related to Covid are at their lowest in over a year.
Because of this overwhelming evidence that vaccines are working this is a relatively surefire sign that perhaps there is a chance at the United States and the rest of the world having an opportunity to reopen and the CDC giving a thumbs up to those who have been vaccinated, this chance is slowly becoming reality.
Despite the CDC giving a thumbs up for those who have been vaccinated to be more lax in their behaviors, some states might not go through with this until a later date. In the past some Conservative states have already given the go ahead for looser mask rules so there's no reason to say that states which have already had strict rules might extend these rules for a longer time, until the state legislature considers it safe for states to open up. California has been shown to be one of the states with the lowest Covid Cases due to the successful implementation of social distancing policies so perhaps until a certain statewide threshold is met, the State might continue to enforce these policies.
The possibility of this outcome is related to the concept of dual federalism, with states being able to set their own rules on public health, which has already been shown with states like Texas relaxing their mask requirements before the CDC giving the go-ahead.
On a side note: I do not think that this will go over as smoothly as the general idealistic view of a post-vaccine world. After our behaviors being so significantly altered and conditioned to always be wearing masks in public and always trying to keep a distance from those we aren't sure about being safe or not, it will most definitely difficult to re-adjust to the social norms that once existed in a pre-Corona Virus world. I do not believe that many people will be able to take their masks off and adapt to life despite longing for over a year now for things to return back to normalcy.
Links to articles:
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/science-news/s-science-convinced-cdc-lift-mask-mandates-rcna932
https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/vaccine/ct-coronavirus-unmasked-anxiety-20210312-rdicvxz4nrg2fhii5rrxolsuti-story.html
Some Questions to take note of:
1. Do you think people will be willing to take off their masks?
2. Should we return to the social norms of pre-Covid times, why or why not?
3. Do you think some states will keep strict guidelines or will they comply with the CDC mandate?
20 comments:
For now, I think it's best not to take off masks right away. There'll be lots of uninformed people who become confused when recognizing many people with their masks off. If anything it should be a gradual process considering it's been a long year since this mask mandate started. We shouldn't go back to pre-covid social norms as there are some benefits to keeping things more hygienic.
I also believe that it is very likely most people won’t be convinced by the CDC’s recommendation and will continue to wear masks. In this case, however, I see no problem with people continuing to wear masks out of abundant countries. I am interested to see if the norm in the US and other countries going forward will be to wear masks when leaving the house. I know that even pre-COVID, this was already the case to some extent for certain Asian countries like China, Japan, and South Korea. For the most part, I think states will go forward with the guidelines that they have already set in place. Though the CDC can make recommendations on a national level, state governments probably feel that they have a more nuanced understanding of the specifics of their own situations. Such flexible policy-making is one of the strong points of federalism.
According to an article published by CNN this past Friday, in the United States, one Covid-19 death occurs every 2.5 minutes. This is just one data point that shows that we aren't at the end of this pandemic just yet. I also wonder if we have officially reached herd immunity due to the vaccine yet -- if not, although many people are getting vaccinated, there are still millions out there highly susceptible to the virus. Additionally, children under the age of 12 haven't received their vaccines yet either. I definitely trust the science behind the CDC's decision, but I think that we should not stop wearing our masks just yet as a measure of precaution.
On a separate note, it will be interesting to see how states cooperate with this new information posted by the CDC. Mask use has, unfortunately, become a reason for political disagreement over the past year, so I wonder how this easing on mask mandates will play a role in the larger, political scale.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/14/opinions/cdc-new-mask-guidance-concerns-holtgrave-rosenberg/index.html
I think people will be willing to take of their masks. Masks suck. I hate masks. For people like me who are vaccinated, there is no reason to were a mask. It provides zero added protection, so this announcement by the CDC is great news. I defiantly think we should return back to daily life as long as you are vaccinated. There is no reason to hide at home any longer, many industries depend on consumers and social life outside of the home is what people live for. I think that it will vary from state to state at first, but I think in the next month most states will completely drop their mask mandate and align with the CDC policies. I don't understand why the other people in this comments section are so apprehensive to take of your mask. I believe in science, and the science says its time to take off your masks!
I agree that the transition back to pre-Covid normalcy will look different in various areas across the country. Wearing a mask has generally been a societal expectation for quite some time, and the level of comfort necessary to shed one’s mask will look different from person to person. Individuals might also be more willing to go out maskless depending on the trust they have in the ways their state and local government officials have allocated restrictions to battle the pandemic. As Vitaly mentioned, some states had already lifted their mask mandate, and it is likely that states like California and New York will gradually do the same with time, but “with caution” (NPR).
https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2021/05/14/996744676/mask-or-no-mask-that-depends-where-you-live
I believe that there are some who have always wanted to take their masks off, but there is also a group of people that would feel weird taking them off because we are so used to it. It would really depend on the location and most likely the policies of the stores around it. We definitely should try to return to social norms of pre-Covid, however as mentioned in most comments, it would be very difficult as most are accustomed to life socially distanced. Going to parties and live events would feel very strange, but like we did when the pandemic hit, we would probably get used to it eventually and go back to normal. However, we should only try to do that when we are sure another surge in cases would not occur. Just as some states had went against the CDC and lifted the mask mandate, some states might go against them and keep the strict rules for the safety of all the citizens in the state.
This was a foreseeable issue since mask mandates were implemented by the government. The pandemic is not going to suddenly end one day, it is going to have a gradual decline which will make it harder to pinpoint a time that is appropriate for all of America to remove their masks. Most people aren't fearing another surge in cases due to the mass vaccinations across the nation, so that is one reason to support ending the mask mandates.
One thing I'm concerned about is the potential conflict between businesses that have interesting consequences. Imagine a state mask mandate is lifted and Business A allows customers in its stores with no masks and no social distancing measures, but its competitor Business B still requires the former rules to be observed. How will the consumers react? Certainly, some will flock to Business B because they may feel safer, but some might not want to wear a mask at all. If the disparity is not 50-50, certain businesses could lose big and others could see an increase in sales. Also, consistent customers of one company may switch to a competitor because of the business's policies on Covid. It's all quite interesting, and only time will tell how it plays out.
I think even if we are vaccinated there are definitely some people who will hesitate to suddenly remove their masks. With other variants and waves showing up across the globe it seems too good to be true to not "need" to wear masks anymore. I agree with Samuel that this is a gradual effort and we need to ease back into lighter restrictions. It would suck to have made so much progress and for that to be taken away by the mandate being lifted so quick.
I think that even if many people get vaccinated many aren't going to stop wearing their masks, this is all sudden, and people are much more alert and cautious surrounding germs and such. So I don't think everyone will be willing to take of their masks, despite being vaccinated. I think its a good sign that we are gradually getting back to pre covid times, but I think its a little too rushed, I think that all the progress we've made so far in relations to covid cases could potentially go to waste if we are quick to rush back to "normal". I do think some states will keep stricter guidelines since without them a surge in cases seems pretty inevitable.
In my opinion, it's good to be hopeful and it's nice to be able to be returning back to normal, but wearing masks is something I still feel definitely helps and doesn't have many downsides to it. The last thing we would want would be yet another wave, maybe even the variants this time, so it wouldn't hurt to continue to have people wear masks. Another issue is the problem of people who aren't vaccinated taking their masks, because it will be hard to tell who has been vaccinated and can take off mask vs who has not. So although perhaps from a medical standpoint it is ok to tell vaccinated people to take of their masks, it might not be a great idea from a societal standpoint.
I think a lot of people who have been really desperate to return to normal and stop wearing masks are going to be eager to listen to the CDCs new adaptation of the rules, and that these groups of people could set trends for how everyone else reacts. As for now, there's definitely a culture surrounding mask-wearing, where a lot of vaccinated people are doing it so others don't feel anxiety about seeing someone unmasked in a public space, or out of courtesy. I'm not sure how quickly that will change, but I think it could be really beneficial for people to continue wearing masks when they're in really large and compact crowds of people, or when they are sick. I'm not sure at what pace states will incorporate these new standards — I know California has decided to not change anything until at least June — but states with a lot of very populated cities may choose to reopen more slowly.
I agree with Josette in the fact that people are desperate to get back to normal. However, I think that in places like the Bay Area this return will be slower than other places. Vaccinated people are still hesitant to take off their masks in the concern they may give COVID to unvaccinated children or those without proper access. For now, I think that we just have to wait a little longer till the June 15th opening date in California and then I think we will have smooth sailing into ending the pandemic. Also, now that tweens can get the vaccine, numbers and concerns around schools will get lower, let's just hope vaccine eligibility expands to elementary aged students soon.
I don't believe that people would be willing to take off their masks for a long, long time, considering how important they were during the height of the pandemic, and how important they still are to prevent infection in the most populated areas in America. It would take a lot of time to get everyone to stop keeping their masks on given that there's more reason to keep them on just in case than to take them off. Related to the above point, I don't believe we should return to pre-Covid social norms because again, as much as we imagine that Covid is completely eliminated, it's still important for us to prevent another spike, especially since we're only just out of the pandemic and it's still very much possible to spike up again. Also, related to the point about heavily populated areas still needing a mask mandate in place to keep infection under control, I definitely think some more heavily populated states like California and New York will keep the mask mandate, or at least should. Lesser-populated states will probably be the first to life the mask mandate, as well as more conservative-leaning states given that states like Florida lifted their restrictions far too early and got a second spike.
There are definitely people on both sides of this debate. There are certainly people who will certainly want to finally be able to take their masks off. However, due to the fact that all Americans are not vaccinated, there are also large groups of people who still may not feel comfortable taking their masks off. It's also not the most prudent idea to quickly take away any and all restrictions as it could be better to slowly take them away. This is mostly just to ensure that cases do not go up drastically due to new waves/variants. As others mentioned, the manner in which this whole mask issue should be responded to certainly varies by location as the same exact response may not be plausible in highly populated places and places with smaller populations.
A lot of the people who commented on this post agree that eventually masks will become unnecessary but some people will choose to keep wearing them. While reading I had another question come to mind regarding this dilemma. Should masks still be in place if we know that Covid doesn't have a massive chance for lethality anymore? Before March of last year, there were plenty of diseases that one could easily contract such as the flu or even more deadly and quite transmissive diseases like TB. If such a threat like TB existed pre-Covid times and we weren't mandated to wear masks, would it still be required for a post-vaccine world where the likelihood of contracting Corona is significantly reduced? In an article within Scientific American, there exist a lot of theories regarding the possible evolution of Covid, with one relating to the Spanish Flu from 1918. That flu evolved to become less deadly and so hopefully Covid will follow the same path. Covid will eventually become another part of our daily lives as it will come in seasons and waves like the common flu, will we have to adapt isolation measures every Covid season or will we be able to live like we did before the pandemic began?
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-will-the-coronavirus-evolve/
I feel that after life returns back to normal, people will still be cautious and probably wear their mask as a safety precaution. Essentially, masks won't be needed, but many will still probably wear it. I definitely think social norms of pre-Covid times will not totally go back to normal. People will not only be more cautious, but more sanitary. Hopefully, social norms go back to before, but, people continue to be safe. I think some states may, reason being that they don't want cases to go up.
I o not think people will take off their masks because of social pressure an fear. I feel like many will still try to keep their mask on until the pandemic comes closer to an end, or once more people get vaccinated. Although some people may feel comfortable taking their masks off if they are vaccinated. I think we should slowly start moving back towards normalcy, because we need to start adjusting to how times were pre-covid. I think many of the republican states will lift their mask mandate such as Texas, who already lifted the mandate. I think the more liberal states will still maintain the mask mandate until covid cases severely decrease.
I think people will take off their masks and some won't. Some will still be terrified of the disease and other will be more willing to go back to normal social life. The CDC made it sound like slowly people will be able to walk around without a mask but not at places like concert or airplanes. That is too much of a risk to people and they might not want to take that much of a risk. This is the problem I see with the masks. There are people who are over it and people who are scared of those types of people and wear a mask because of them. It well be a process but I do see the United States being mask free in years to come.
I think there will be a mixed response to the lifting of mask mandates nationwide. With California set to "full reopen" on June 15th, that will mark a shift in COVID protocols to a much more relaxed level into the summer. While I support the lifting of mask mandates for fully vaccinated individuals, I worry that unvaccinated individuals will take advantage of the probable lack of enforcement/checking of vaccine records. If the US fails to reach herd immunity and too many people go unvaccinated, we will not live in a "covid-free place" (whatever that means to you/ will look like). I don't know the exact numbers/ stats that make the risk minimal/nonexistent for vaccinated individuals to be in inside and busy places with unvaccinated people, so thus will be keeping my mask on in those circumstances, and believe many others will do the same. I also hope when the "normal" flu seasons return in the winter, people will be more inclined to wear masks to not pass on possible viruses, just as we have all become accustomed to mask wearing for COVID now.
While the CDC has chosen to lift the mask mandate, I would choose not to follow their decision. While there may be more people who are willing to take off their masks due to the increasing rates of vaccinated people, I think it's better to keep it on for now. I think it is better to assume that not everyone will be vaccinated currently, at least in California, where places are still crowded, so I would rather keep my mask on to keep others safe. While this won’t stop some people from following it, I think it is best to see how the conditions are in the area you live in and make the choice for yourself. I think it's best to slowly ease yourself into return into I guess what you would call normalcy here.
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