Is It Time to Start Masking Again?
Well, here we are again. After our fleeting brush with normalcy during Omicron’s retreat, another very transmissible new version of the coronavirus is on the rise—and with it, a fresh wave of vacillation between mask-donning and mask-doffing.
The Omicron offshoot BA.2 is now the dominant variant around the world and in the United States. Case counts are rising in a number of states. It’s too early to tell whether BA.2 will cause a major spike in cases here like it recently did in Europe, but that possibility is worth preparing for by having good masks on hand—and being mentally ready to put them on again.
If the thought of re-masking feels exasperating to you, you’re not alone. As Katherine J. Wu has pointed out in, many people . Most Americans are no longer required to wear masks in indoor public spaces (though in , masks are still mandatory in crowded settings such as hospitals and prisons). People who are vaccinated and boosted are hugely protected from severe illness. Making the most of this recent reprieve, I did something I’d dreamed of since the beginning of the pandemic: screamed my lungs out in a tiny karaoke booth with unmasked friends and didn’t think twice about it. It was awesome.
