Opinion: Post-mandates, where do mask-wearers stand?

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Spring quarter has been the term of the face — and by that I mean the statewide mask mandate has been lifted. I, however, have not been as eager as many of my peers to take this step, and I’m not alone. Though I always knew I would continue to wear my mask in nearly all indoor situations, the decision has not been as seamless as I thought it would be.
I expected, being on a pretty liberal campus, most students would continue wearing their masks, especially in large indoor groups. After all, I thought we had learned from our mistakes of relaxing guidelines too quickly and case numbers spiking. But that has not been the case. The large majority of students in my classes do not wear masks, even in large lecture halls.
“It’s a different world than it used to be,” he writes, shocking no one. But it’s true. Much has changed since the embarrassing outing in early 2020 when my mom first forced my family to wear masks in the grocery store for the first time. However, as more people fell victim to COVID-19, the practice quickly became the norm. Masks became an everyday accessory, and I rarely left the house without one.
Now, it seems as if people cough without a second thought. I overheard a worker at the EMU Little Big Burger the other day tell a coworker that he wasn’t feeling well and couldn’t wait to go home. A few minutes later, the same, maskless worker handed me my food.
I find it difficult to see any downside to continuing to wear masks. I liked not being sick for the majority of the pandemic. Even if it’s not COVID-19, I don’t need to worry about getting any other virus, cold or disease from the random guy sitting next to me in class.
That being said, I can’t help but question wearing my mask in certain situations. Not everywhere I go is in a hall of 200+ students or the crowded EMU, and I’ll admit the social pressure of most of my friends not wearing them does get to me occasionally.
I struggle with the decision and often ask myself, is the walk from my dorm room to the bathroom really that far? What is really the difference of wearing a mask in a study room if I had no problem hanging out maskless with the same people in a dorm room hours before? Is it really necessary to cover my face if I am just walking through the EMU to get to class?
I also can’t ignore the data. As much as it may be hard for me to believe, case numbers remain relatively low. Just 45 people affiliated with UO tested positive on the week of April 11, according to an April 18 email update sent out by the university. The vaccine rate also remains high, with 96.8% of students reporting they received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Though it is currently being appealed, a federal judge ruled to void the federal mask mandate on planes, trains and other forms of public transportation on April 19. This means that, for the average person, nearly all situations come down to comfort with or without a mask. But “comfort” is not a word defined easily, and it differs for everyone.
So the question persists: Do I wear my mask out of the abundance of caution I’ve had for the past two years, or can I loosen up a bit and recognize that things are much different than they were even a few months ago?
I don’t know if I have an answer. I’m not a health professional, and my perception changes daily. Sometimes, I’m comfortable walking 70 feet through Lillis on a rainy day maskless. Other days, I feel guilty if I keep my mask off even for just a couple minutes after I finish a meal in a dining hall.
It may not seem to make a ton of sense, but whether I wear my mask is the result of two years of COVID-19 stress and anxiety. Nothing has changed because of some arbitrary date that politicians decided to lift mandates. The decision continues to be a daily struggle, and it often weighs on me more than I’d like to admit.
For now, I know I am definitely not comfortable taking my mask off in any lecture halls or classes. There are too many unknowns, and it’s not all that uncomfortable to wear one for an hour and a half. As for the rest of the time, I take things on a case-by-case basis. If nothing else, I always make sure I have a mask on-hand whenever I go out, just in case.