UNMASKED AND ANXIOUS

OFFICES are filling up, stadiums are packed to the rafters, parties and concerts are back in full swing. Life has been getting back to normal in the weeks since the mask mandate was lifted in South Africa, along with all remaining Covid-19 regulations.

But not everyone is ready to shake hands and attend big family get-togethers. Not everyone is up to sharing an office full-time or kissing and hugging “hello” and “goodbye”.

For many of us, masks became a reassuring habit, a security blanket, a ritual as automatic as brushing our teeth.

“The hum of anxiety underpinning social situations in our new normal brings yet another form of post-Covid anxiety: how can