For the first time in nearly two years, our son will be able to see the faces of some of his classmates in school.
This week, our school district switched to a "mask optional" policy. There's a wide range of emotions among parents: Some are overjoyed, others are terrified, and many feel a mix of cautious optimism and anxiety.
Our family has been supportive of masking to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Nearly 1 million people have died in America, and countless more have been seriously sick -- a staggering amount of loss and suffering. But there's also something lost for students who have spent years in masks.
The extreme politicization of public health practices during this pandemic has made it difficult to talk empathetically about different perspectives.
But let's try.
Those who feel this decision is premature point to the continued high number of daily COVID-19 deaths (still nearly 2,000 a day, on average), the fact that children under age 5 cannot be vaccinated and that medically vulnerable people still face risks of severe chronic illness or death -- even when vaccinated. Wearing a mask is a small tradeoff to protect others, they say.
Those who welcome the change can also cite data and science in their defense. The total number of infections has declined significantly over the past month, and deaths are also declining. Among those 5 and older, 81% have had at least one shot, and a new study estimates that 73% of Americans are currently immune to the omicron variant. For those with both shots and a booster, the chances of serious illness due to COVID-19 are very low. The current variant is milder, and there are effective treatments available. Wearing a high-quality, properly fitting mask like an N95 means you are protected -- even if others around you are not masked.
Meanwhile, spending critical years of childhood and adolescent development with a mask on, while one's peers and teachers are also masked, will impact some children more than others. It's harder to hear people and read expressions while masked. There are legitimate concerns about prolonged barriers to social connections for society as a whole.
The conversation about masking in schools is not as simple as pointing to one side as "living in fear" or the other as "selfish and lacking empathy." It will help young people recover from the instability of the past two years to know that their teachers and school leaders care about them, even if parents disagree with the current mask policy. A central, ongoing lesson of the pandemic has been to learn to adjust to changing circumstances.
I asked my son how many people were still wearing masks after the first day of it being optional, and he said about 60% of the school had stopped masking. Parents in other districts that had dropped the requirement a few weeks earlier said the percentage of mask-wearers has declined over time. In some schools, nearly everyone is unmasked, and has been for a while, even through the recent surges.
I asked our son if he kept his mask on. He said that he did. He's part of the school's band, which has an upcoming trip to perform at Disney World. He didn't want to risk catching the virus and missing the trip, which seems like a logical and practical decision. Teenagers tend to make decisions based on how they are personally affected by the consequences.
The same could be said of adults: The circumstances of the pandemic have changed enough that people are looking at the data through their own risk factors and personal experiences.
Our college student's university still has a mask mandate in place, so she and our high schooler both remain masked in their schools for now.
I can't wait until others can see their smiles again.