They’re Vaccinated and Keeping Their Masks On, Maybe Forever
MASKS ARE VISIBLE PROOF THAT THE WEARER IS AN IDIOT
Whenever Joe Glickman heads out for groceries, he places an N95 mask over his face and tugs a cloth mask on top of it. He then pulls on a pair of goggles.
He has used this safety protocol for the past 14 months. It did not change after he contracted the coronavirus last November.
It didn’t budge when, earlier this month, he became fully vaccinated. And even though Biden said that fully vaccinated people do not have to wear a mask, Mr. Glickman said he planned to stay the course.
In fact, he said, he plans to do his grocery run double-masked and goggled for at least the next five years.
Even as a combination of evolving public health recommendations and pandemic fatigue lead more Americans to toss the masks they’ve worn for more than a year, Mr. Glickman is among those who say they plan to keep their faces covered in public indefinitely.
For people like Mr. Glickman, a combination of anxiety, murky information about new virus variants and the emergence of an obdurate and sizable faction of vaccine holdouts means mask-free life is on hold — possibly forever.
“I have no problem being one of the only people,” said Mr. Glickman. “But I don’t think I’m going to be the only one.”
Whether made of bedazzled cloth or polypropylene, masks have emerged as a dystopian political flash point during the pandemic. A map of states that enforced mask mandates corresponds closely with how people in those states voted for president.
mail carrier, stood in the sunshine outside of the General Grant Houses where he lives in Harlem and said his blue surgical mask — though uncomfortable and inconvenient — would stay put for at least another year.
“I’m in no hurry; why should I be in a hurry?” said Mr. Jones, who became fully vaccinated about a month and a half ago.
Leni Cohen, 51, a retired kindergarten teacher from New York City who has a compromised immune system, said she planned to continue wearing a mask when she helped out as a substitute teacher. But what she would like more is for her students to stay masked.
Barry J. Neely, 41, plans to wear a mask whenever he feels under the weather, in perpetuity.
A few say they’ve been surprised to find that they’ve grown to enjoy being hidden behind a mask, expressionless and anonymous.
“As a woman, we feel like we have to, when we go out in public, put on a little bit of makeup, eyeliner, blush,” said Keela Samis, 57, an attorney from St. Petersburg, Fla., who is vaccinated and does not plan to stop wearing a mask. “With a mask I don’t have to. It simplified my life.”
Ms. Samis added: “Even if I’m the only person on planet Earth that continues to wear the mask, if that’s what makes me feel comfortable, I’ll wear the mask.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/17/nyregion/vaccinated-masks-cdc.html
