Unmasked

Hope

The CDC announced last week that those who are fully vaccinated can stop wearing masks outside, and in many cases, inside as well.  After over a year of struggling to get the American people to accept mask wearing as a “normal” part of pandemic life, the CDC began the process of returning to “real” normal life. 

Masks became the symbol of all the politics that surrounded COVID.  It was one of the sure signs of political affiliation:  voters for Biden wore masks, many voters for “the other guy” did not.  Masks became a sign of “political speech”.  What should have been a reasonable public health action, became an exercise in the First Amendment:  “If I can wear a shirt with a political slogan, I can choose not to wear a mask”.  

Confusion

The pandemic began with mask confusion.  The reality was – there weren’t enough masks for hospitals and other medical settings.  So the CDC, and the guru of America’s pandemic response, Dr. Fauci, didn’t mandate mask wearing for the general public.  They were afraid that the populace would snatch up all of the available supply, and leave hospital workers even more vulnerable than they already were.

Once the mask supply was stabilized, then the CDC advised everyone to wear masks.  But the damage was already done.  Videos of Dr. Fauci saying “masks aren’t necessary” were played over and over.  Meanwhile, the President was in the process of promising the pandemic would be over by Easter, then Memorial Day, then the Fourth of July.  So the political fight was on.

Masks, by the way, work.  Mask wearing allowed many schools to open, and clearly prevented disease.  If you still question that – look at the flu epidemic of 2020.  There wasn’t one, in fact, numbers for the flu were almost non-existent.  Masks stopped the flu, and it reduced the much more infectious COVID 19 as well.  

Herd Immunity

We were told by those medical professionals on the “mask” side, and even those who seemed to be in favor of just letting it go, that the goal was “herd immunity”.  The idea, that we would reach a percentage of folks who either already had COVID, or later, were vaccinated, that the virus would stop spreading.  More importantly, “herd immunity” would reduce the risk of viral mutations that could thwart vaccines and treatments.

The number varied, but it was generally accepted that 80% of the population would need to be “immune” before herd immunity would kick in.  And once “Operation Warp Speed” succeeded in helping produce multiple vaccines – we thought that “herd immunity” was in sight.

But vaccines got mired in politics as well.  Folks from “the right” said the vaccine was another infringement on their “rights”.  Folks from the anti-vaxxer world (many on “the left”) warned that the vaccines were rushed and untested.  By the way, those arguments might have had more strength, if we didn’t already know that the anti-vaxxers would be against the vaccines regardless – they would find any reason for opposition.  (It is with sadness that one of the leading anti-vaxxers is the son of one of my great political heroes – Robert Kennedy).

The politics create enough friction that it’s unlikely that the United States will ever reach a “herd immunity” status.  Instead, pandemic experts now say we will have to continue to modify vaccines to meet the changing mutations, and develop more effective treatment for those who become infected.  We won’t end the pandemic – we’ll learn to live with it.

Masks Off

But vaccination is still important.  And the CDC recognizes that there needs to be some “reward” for being vaccinated.  The numbers (“the science”) seem pretty clear.  Vaccinations have a 90% or better rate of preventing infection, and an almost 100% rate of preventing hospitalization or death.  So get vaccinated – and the CDC has provided the reward.  Take off your mask!!

What about those not vaccinated?  Their choice – now – and their risk.  Vaccines are so available that they are giving rewards for getting them.  Ohio pays one vaccinated person a million dollars – every week.  In New York, you can get “a shot and a shot” at your local bar.  So if someone chooses not to get vaccinated then they risk infection.  COVID, like polio and the measles, has not “gone away”.  It’s simply been “tamped down” by the masks, and now by vaccinations.  

So not wearing masks will definitely increase the incidence of COVID infection – but not likely among the vaccinated (and those with immunity from having had the disease).  But the argument goes – if you won’t get vaccinated, you probably weren’t wearing a mask anyway.  So why “punish” those who are following public health recommendations?

Me

I am a track and field official these days – spending many evenings and Saturdays outside on the track.  Even before the “science” caught up, we knew that being outside made COVID infection less likely.  Look at the Black Lives Matter protests last June, that we thought would create “super-spreader” events.  They didn’t.  

I’ve been wearing a mask at every meet.  There’s lots of kids (not vaccinated) and lots of “heavy breathing” going on.  In the next few weeks I’ll be on the track a lot more as the high school season finishes up.  I’ll be standing beside a runway, unintentionally “socially distanced” from athletes, coaches and spectators, officiating pole vault and long jump.  

If the Ohio High School Athletic Association tells me I have to keep my mask on – I’ll do it.  But I’m fully vaccinated (Pfizer), and if they give me the go ahead – it’s masks off for me too.  I’ll be happy to put my sunglasses back on – no masks means no fogging up!!!!