How Do I Love Masks? Let Me Count the Ways

My body, my choice. It’s a free country.
Also, I have an immunocompromised daughter I’m trying to protect.

We weren’t hermits during the pandemic. We followed all public health guidelines and recommendations, got vaccinated and boosted, and were grateful we were able to safely stay at home. We didn’t find out we had a high risk person we needed to protect until we spent a month in the hospital. And even then, once the initial shock and fear that Covid + patients were literally next door being treated by the same nurses, we understood that precautions work. Covid + people were in the hospital for reasons other than Covid, and our nurses followed protocols before going in and out of their rooms. Protocols work. We were rapid tested every day. And other than a bit of rawness inside our noses from the swabs — I am SUPER FAST at testing myself now — we were able to focus on recovery and lead as normal a life as one can when one’s family member spends a month in the hospital.

In many places now (thankfully not the hospital) mask use is no longer mandatory. My son is currently wearing a mask at school in order to protect his sister. Since kids can be jerks about just about anything, we’ve given him our support if he needs to stand up for himself since we know kids will pick on just about anything if they think they can get a reaction. And over the past two years, we’ve learned that bullying is definitely not reserved for elementary school.

I’ll confess, it took me a while to find comfortable masks I could wear without fogging up my glasses. I’ve definitely experienced a bit of “maskne” from time to time. And finding reusable masks for kids that were good for school took some time. But even if we didn’t have someone close to us that we wanted to protect, and beside the greater good, there are definitely going to be occasions were I’ll continue covering up

5 Reasons I Love Masks

They are a great disguise…

There have been moments during the pandemic where I really missed human connection. And then there were moments were I was glad to hide behind my mask and not have to talk to anyone. We had it easier than many families but we still struggled. Hiding behind a mask made it easier to hide when I needed to.

Conversely, my mask hid my hurt feelings when I would recognize people who clearly were hiding behind their mask to avoid me.

They protected my skin…

Paired with a hat and sunglasses, a mask provided total UV protection. Right before the pandemic I had a couple of brown spots zapped off of my face, and wearing a mask helped me keep further damage at bay (in addition to daily sunscreen, of course).

They are bad breath shields…

Let’s face it, sometimes we have a coffee or eat onions and don’t always have gum or a mint handy. While you may have to subject yourself to your bad breath, you can at least be assured no one else will have to tolerate it. The six feet of social distance helps with that, too.

They *mask* smells, too…

Some of the masks with filters or N95 masks helped to mask bad smells as well. I didn’t mind going for a walk on garbage day as much if I was wearing a mask. See also: other people’s digestive issues.

They hid bad face days…

The fact that they may have caused the pimples aside, sometimes I just didn’t want to venture out and show the world the second or third head that was growing out of my chin. And other than a slash of eyeliner and mascara, masks meant no makeup necessary.

And if I’m stressed or tired, I have a bad tendency to wake up with a nasty cold sore. There were so many times in the past I wished I didn’t have to go out in public with one. Truthfully I maybe had only one or two in the past two years, but if I had to go out with it I didn’t have to fret about grossing people out.

I Love Masks Because I Don’t Want Covid

Nobody in my immediately family has had Covid (that we know of, anyway). And I really don’t want to get it. I know many people who have had it and been fine, or tested positive and truly been asymptomatic. But I don’t want to be the tiny percentage of people who get really sick or end up with Long Covid. Or knowingly been the cause of someone else’s health issues.

I love masks because they give the sense of being safe while really keeping others safe. We’ll be masking up for a long, long time.