It was once an oddity, largely confined to other countries or big cities.
To see someone walk along a sidewalk wearing a face mask was an unusual sighting — until March 2020.
In the intervening two years, mask-wearing has become ubiquitous, and mandated for most indoor settings.
That all changes in Ontario today as the provincial government drops the mask regulation for most places.
But masks aren’t likely to disappear from the landscape, or people’s faces. While many will easily abandon face coverings, others will continue to use masks for the short term and others still may continue to wear them indefinitely.
The risk of the spread of COVID-19 is still there and remains more virulent than any time before the introduction of the Omicron variant. Those who are vulnerable or who have concerns are likely to heed the messages to keep masking.
Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam, urges Canadians to keep wearing masks even after the mandates are lifted. There is anticipation that infections, and with it, hospitalizations will increase as fewer people mask up. The monitoring of wastewater has already indicated the incidence of COVID-19 is increasing.
But it’s not just COVID-19 the masks have helped to prevent.
The flu had been almost non-existent for the past two years. Many have had nary a cold since this contagion of COVID-19 entered our world.
And part of the sentiment around masking is not just protecting the wearer, but also those with whom they have been in contact. Longtime users of masks will put them on when they have a cold or cough as a courtesy to others by reducing the chances of spreading respiratory-borne diseases.
In fact, masks have insinuated themselves into our society.
Facial recognition software has been adapted so it can still be effective on people wearing masks.
Apple announced its iPhone 12 and later models focus in on the eyes and won’t require access to the rest of the face to work. On its support website, it provides instructions on how to activate face identification with a mask feature.
It has yet another feature for those who wear both glasses and a mask.
There are problems, though, that go beyond the basic inconvenience of their use.
It hampers our ability to fully assess someone’s body language. A German study conducted early in the pandemic calls it the readability of emotions.
The hearing impaired who rely upon lip reading are blocked from doing that when someone wears a mask. That’s a refrain we’ve heard about kids in class as well.
Businesses that have jumped into action these past two years to meet the sudden demand for masks are likely to see a sudden drop in that business as well, just as the cost of living is increasing to a level not seen in this country in 30 years.
While the past two years have been very difficult, coming out of the pandemic is now presenting a whole set of new challenges.
Marg. Bruineman is a staff reporter at BarrieToday.
