When the pandemic began two years ago, health officials were slow to adopt a mask mandate. Concerns over its effectiveness, public outcry of violating their personal freedom, and comfort, and people weary of wearing masks started sprouting all over the country.
Despite scientific data supporting the effectiveness of masks in preventing an infection, people asserted their right to freedom of making health choices for themselves.

Meanwhile, as governments at all levels are trying their best to slow down the spread and burden on hospitals, mask mandates were rolled out, albeit with great hesitancy and confusion, much to the public’s disadvantage.

The History of Mask Mandates

When the first few cases of coronavirus in the US surfaced, the Center for Disease Control’s own surgeon general (CDC) had advocated against face masks. Two months later in April 2020, the agency slowly reversed their position following a growing body of scientific evidence that points out people with no symptoms spread the infection thereby contributing to a faster and wider spread of the virus.
And by November 2020, some states, municipalities, and counties have various mask mandates and guidelines rolled out to protect businesses and people.
When President Joe Biden assumed office, one of his first executive orders was to mandate mask-wearing in federal offices and spaces. This marked a symbolic acceptance of masks as a form of protection against COVID-19.

The Backlash Against Mask Mandates

While the CDC changed their stance on mask wearing as more data emerged supporting the effectiveness of a mask in preventing transmission, people’s sentiment on masks were largely divided. Masks became a heavily politicized topic. Many Republican states released bans on mask mandates while Democrat states did otherwise.
Protests and rallies were held for and against mask wearing. Viral videos spread about random individuals expressing their outrage and refusal to comply with mask policies of various establishments. People started asserting their personal rights and citing personal freedom of choice over government-imposed restrictions and mask mandates.
Meanwhile, at the community and business level, some stood in defiance of state bans, electing to expose themselves to a possible lawsuit by choosing to enforce their own mask policies. In their defense, the health of their staff and customers take priority over a state’s ban on what the CDC essentially says is an effective form of protection against coronavirus.

The Beginning of the End of Mask Mandates: Or Is It?

As coronavirus cases seem to decrease this past few weeks after a couple of months’ resurgence due to the extremely transmissible Omicron variant, states have now introduced a step forward back into the normalcy we used to know, i.e. carrying on in public without masks hiding half of our faces.
States such as Connecticut, New Jersey and Delaware have released announcements on the end of their state-imposed mask mandates. Meanwhile, California has also announced its own end of its indoor mask mandate on February 16.
As states lift their mask mandates, it seems it is a step right into the path of normalcy once again. But this move wasn’t borne only out of a desire to return to normalcy. With Pfizer-BioNTech’s request to amend their EUA after submitting clinical trial data for babies and children as young as 6 months old. COVID-19 treatments and data on best treatment plans become more available, and the relative decrease of Omicron-variant cases, everyone may finally allow themselves to hope that lifting mask mandates is just one of the starting steps in reclaiming a sense of normalcy we all have been deprived of for almost two years now.