This weekend I traveled back to school from the weekend in Wellington, and saw a space suit. It looked like a CDC episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Wow, I thought to myself, some people are still just as terrified of COVID as when it first began.  It made me wonder, what exactly is the new normal?  

Since the mask mandate has dropped students are able to make their own choices about their health and whether or not they want to wear a mask.  Students walk and bike across campus with their skin exposed to the elements, but indoors many students come to class with masks and others with nothing. A space suit seems extreme, but it caused me to question the perceptions of many of my fellow students when it comes to personal comfort level and COVID precautions.

For example, I have difficulty understanding why students will get in cars with friends and not mask up and go out to various nefarious indoor activities without a second thought of safety and still feel most comfortable masking up. I set out to explore the internet for answers, and actually ended up with some pretty good ones. 

Articles suggested that masks reduce anxiety, allowing people to create anonymity, which may be helpful to students who go to class to actually learn. Didn’t have time to shave? Put make-up on? No worries because a mask will cover that. People can hide their expressions behind a mask, the eyes of a person only say so much which makes it much harder for others to read a masked expression. A mask is a version of a shield; many students in today’s world have social anxiety when it comes to interacting with other students and this tool or mask could help them feel more confident. 

Masks have become accepted as part of the social norm. Teachers don’t judge, other students don’t judge, so it seems masks have become another article of clothing that we can choose to wear or choose not to wear. It’s a personal choice.  And who knows, next time I’m running across campus after a training session that ran late, I may just grab the “just in case mask” that I keep in the front pocket of my backpack.