No, Thanks, I DON'T Want to Hear Your Opinion About the End of the Mask Mandates

First, let's start with the good news. The facebook status from the hospital today said there were 8 people hospitalized with Covid. At the height of the omicron surge, that number was in the mid-fifties. It's the lowest I've seen the number since I started sharing numbers from our local hospital. (You know, the one where I used to volunteer.)

Lower numbers means ending some restrictions and that has EVERYONE with strong opinions. Saturday was the end of the mask mandate in our state and today was the day that the school my second grader goes to became masks optional. We talked as a family a LOT about this and decided for this week he would try to keep it on while studying in class (he has an unvaccinated brother and vulnerable family members so we talked about how this is in protection of others) but can have it off on the playground, in PE, etc. He's not happy about this but that was our deal. 

So today he got in trouble for spitting in a classmate's ear. 

I tried to get the full story...it's hard...I think they were outside in line (Masks have been optional outside at school since the beginning of the month.) They both got their ears scrubbed out by the nurse and had to promise to never do it again and we worked on an at home consequence.

So the fact that everyone has strong opinions about the lack of masks...it's vaild.

Opinions of my teacher friends run the gamut. I have a teacher friend who is hard of hearing and never realized how much she relies on lipreading until the masks went on. Many of her high school students are nervous about taking them off but love the fact that she'll be able to understand them. A lot of teacher friends loved seeing kids' smiles and wearing lipstick, others were very scared. It's all understandable.

I wish the whole thing wasn't so wound up in virtue signaling and identity politics. We have come to associate the unmasked with anti-vaxxers and Covid deniers and mask wearers with lefties and the woke. It's annoying and makes following science difficult to do. The reality is that the numbers in our area have become comparably low and the virus is transitioning to the endemic phase which is why this is happening. The reality is also that endemic does not and will not mean gone.

So the decision fatigue remains exhausting. I do find my mask comforting to a degree and will probably continue to wear it in most places for awhile. But I also understand that I'm doing it in part to fit in and because the people I'm around are mask wearer types and I don't want to be an outlier. Again, two things can be true. And we will revisit what the kid is doing in school after a week or so. I did tell him in no uncertain terms that if I hear of ear spitting again he'll be back in it full time at school, inside and out. I'm mean mom.

Media consumption: I've been watching lots of Parks and Recreation, it's so soothing. I read a marvelous historical fiction kids novel in verse last night about the Land Wars in Ireland called A Slip of a Girl by Patricia Reilly Giff. And my book group read The Plot, which was great.

Today I'm grateful for coffee, my husband, tea, making things clean, podcasts, friends to send gifs to, and books.