Face Masks: A Reflection
I last left the house bare-faced in mid-March, when my friends and I took a spontaneous trip to the Williamsburg outlets. We traveled 30 minutes together in a sedan, shared ice cream, and burned our mouths with hot sauce samples, the threat of COVID-19 no more potent than the common flu in our minds. An hour into our excursion, Harvard University announced that students would not return for the remainder of the semester after Spring Break. In the coming days, one-by-one, my friends and I waited to receive emails about extended Spring Breaks, and later, full-on shifts to online classes.
The United States has since seen over 12,540,000 coronavirus cases and more than 259,000 deaths. What we thought was a simple flu outbreak has become a national crisis as businesses like restaurants, retailers, and movie theaters have been forced to close to prevent the spread. Many colleges and schools remain online, depriving students of critical social and educational milestones that they will never make up. Even the fashion industry has been forced to adjust to the new way of life brought about by COVID-19 with the cancellation of physical red-carpet events like the Costume Institute Gala or the switch from in-person to virtual fashion shows. Despite President Donald Trump’s lax response, as the weather grows colder, things are only going to get worse.
Face masks–simple rectangular strips of fabric–have somehow become one of the most divisive wearable symbols of this era, as controversial as the miniskirt or bumster trousers. The difference is that face masks are necessary tools for preventing the spread of a highly contagious respiratory disease; however, for others, they are symbols of government control and liberal propaganda. Like them or not, it’s undeniable that face masks are the most essential item in our wardrobes right now.
According to the CDC, face masks help prevent the spread of COVID-19 by stopping the transmission of respiratory droplets that can go airborne due to sneezing, coughing, or merely speaking. The best mask to wear is the non-medical, disposable type — however, cloth masks made from tightly woven, breathable fabric with multiple layers are also acceptable. There’s no reason not to have a mask, as almost every online retailer has added them to their inventory in a variety of colors and logos and with varying prices. And despite what some people might think, there’s also no reason not to wear one, save for if you’re unconscious or under the age of two.
A coronavirus model by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluations is now projecting that an additional 100,000 people and counting could die by the beginning of February — if 95% of people in every location were to wear masks. At the rate we’re going now, the total number of deaths could reach almost 471,000.
So, please, wear your masks. Invest in masks that you like, masks that match your outfits. Make what is necessary enjoyable, and wear them around your friends, in your workplaces, and around family members you don’t live with. If we want to return to a world of bare faces, we’ll each have to do our part.
