I was an early adopter of masking when when the SARS-CoV-2 virus was first being characterized. Arrogant, paternalistic public health agencies were still spreading the misinformation that Covid wasn’t spread by respiratory droplets, even though they knew damned well that it was. In any case, wearing a mask seemed like a simple, straightforward, relatively painless way to protect myself and, since I was a healthcare worker in daily, frequent contact with sick folk, protecting myself (and them!) seemed like a good idea.
I don’t need to mask much anymore. It’s not that Covid is gone (it’s not), but I live in a rural place and have very few interactions with others anyway. I still mask in busy stores or when I’m traveling.
I used to travel quite a bit. I never really enjoyed it, and I always seemed to pick up a respiratory infection when I flew. It’s a particular kind of hell to be away from home, moving around in unfamiliar places and trying to keep to a schedule and get work or sightseeing done when you’re also sick. Yuck.
During Covid lockdowns I discovered that, by the simple expedience of wearing a mask in airports and on planes, I could avoid what seemed like the inevitable post-jet URI. Oddly, I knew this was likely the case, but I hadn’t actually practiced it until prompted by Covid hygiene. Now I mask religiously when traveling through ports and on planes, and magically I have stayed healthy.
—2p