We’ve been wearing face masks for a year now. This used to be called the “new normal”, but for many other people, it’s more than that. Some people hate face masks and can’t wait to toss them away for good. But there are also those who intend to continue wearing them even after the pandemic is over, for various reasons.
Over the past year, the voices of the people who dislike face masks have been making it to the news, and even to the highest positions in our government. But for some, face masks are actually just what they needed all along. You may not have noticed this, but face masks boost a lot of people’s confidence and people with social anxiety or skin conditions find comfort in face masks.
We already know that wearing face masks is seen as normal, even when there isn’t a pandemic. It has always been normal for people to wear face masks in Japanese society. This was common in Japan even before the pandemic, and this can be the same for America as well. The people who’d like to continue wearing face masks can feel free to be themselves and express themselves as they like. They can have all of this, while also protecting themselves from thousands of other viruses and dangerous levels of air pollution in the US.
COVID-19 has been spreading in China in low numbers, but people continue to wear face masks. This is a good example of what is going to happen in the months to come. It’s safe to say that COVID-19 will likely not be eradicated, and will stay with us as an endemic, like the flu. In that case, some people may choose to continue wearing face masks as a precaution, and some cities might bring back restrictions if the virus reappears. For example, the flu appears every year during winter, when temperatures drop.
But thankfully, we can rely on face masks in cold weather. A lot of people live in cold places, and for those who don’t, the recent events in Texas have shown us that it can get really cold really fast in places where it usually doesn’t. For that reason, there are even face masks created specifically for cold weather. This was a creative move from the face mask industry, which is also likely to continue selling face masks after the pandemic is over.
The companies who sold face masks during COVID-19 have made lots of money because of high demand. Some people on Amazon, eBay, and other websites were overpricing them at the start, before the police started making arrests and companies started regulating price gouging. Although the demand for face masks won’t be as high in a few months as they are now, face masks will definitely continue to be sold.
People in Japan started wearing face masks after the deadly 1918 influenza pandemic. This is important, because we are currently living in the last months of a global pandemic, just like those in Japan who were still wearing masks in the last months of the Spanish Flu. Face masks became a part of life for the people in Japan, and they should become a part of life for us, too.
After all, it can’t be the “new normal” if it was only meant to be temporary.
