The End of the Mask Mandate

March 14, 2022 The state mask mandate was lifted for school settings as of last Friday night at midnight, and to be honest, I debated all day on Sunday whether or not I would continue to wear mine in my classes. It is still highly recommended, and in fact I am still required to wear one in class for my community college classes. Like everyone else, I am tired of wearing masks all the time, but I also believe they have done a lot of good in mitigating the spread of the virus over the course of this pandemic. On the other hand, the variants seem to have minimized devastating results in Covid patients for those who are vaccinated, which I am, so I feel pretty safe on the whole without one these days. Ultimately, I know that many of my students will rejoice in being able to take off their masks as will many of my colleagues. However, a significant number of my students will continue to wear masks either because they have medical conditions that make them more vulnerable, or someone in their family does, or they have a family member in the medical field, or they might just be more cautious. Regardless, I have decided that at least for now I will continue to wear a mask in my classroom even though I feel safe without it in order to support my kids who have chosen for various reasons to continue wearing theirs. I want to support them and keep it normalized to wear one if that is what makes them more comfortable.