In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, our beliefs and knowledge about illness have changed drastically as a society. Actions around responding to and preventing COVID have become heavily politicized. In my experience at Grinnell, although many still mask when sick, we can still do better. Wearing a mask when an individual is sick should be the norm in order to prevent the spread of illnesses and protect individuals with health issues. Further, the social stigma around wearing a mask at Grinnell needs to be improved. 

As an individual with various health problems, I have been wearing a mask in almost all indoor spaces since 2020. During my sophomore year of high school, and in the first months of the pandemic, I got long COVID and was forced to spend five months sick and in bed. Long COVID is defined by the CDC as “signs, symptoms and conditions that continue or develop after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection.” Even after a recovery from these symptoms, I have struggled with post-COVID related health issues ever since. What may be a normal cold for my peers can lead to multiple weeks in bed for me. Becoming sick with a severe illness, such as COVID or influenza, greatly affects my ability to succeed at Grinnell academically, mentally and socially.

Because of this, wearing a mask is one of the only ways that I can protect my health and ability to participate at Grinnell like everyone else. Despite many claiming that the pandemic is behind us, COVID is still infecting people. During the week of March 23, 2024, there were 9,345 hospital admissions because of COVID. Masks are still effective at preventing Covid, even among vaccinated people, as well as preventing influenza and other viruses.

In our current day, I understand that mask mandates are no longer reasonable. Wearing a mask is a personal decision that individuals deserve the right to make when they are not putting others at risk. However, I feel that Grinnell as a community does not understand the importance of wearing a mask when sick for individuals like myself. 

For immunocompromised individuals and others with various other health problems, getting COVID still stands as a high risk. Furthermore, long COVID can affect anyone regardless of age, vaccination status or health status. Thus, our priority needs to still be on preventing COVID, or at the bare minimum, protecting high-risk individuals. People’s decision to not wear a mask when they are sick at Grinnell greatly affects my and others’ abilities to participate and engage at Grinnell! When people are coughing in class unmasked, this completely disrupts my ability to focus and engage. I have to consider whether I need to leave the class, when really the priority should be on the student with a sickness to leave. Although there are major institutional changes that need to be made at Grinnell to allow for students to more easily miss class and rest when they are sick, preventing illnesses from spreading should still be a priority among everyone!

Wearing a mask is an easy way of showing allyship to those who are at high risk. Since masks have become heavily politicized, being the only individual wearing a mask in a space is socially isolating and exhausting. Seeing others wearing masks reduces my health anxiety and allows me to participate more fully. Additionally, wearing masks in spaces or events where high risk individuals have to take off their masks, such as the dining hall or events where these individuals are performing, allows us to continue living our normal lives instead of struggling with health issues because of sickness. 

A student wearing a mask should not be deemed out of the ordinary. I have received a plethora of invalidating comments related to my masking during my time here. Making comments about wanting to see the bottom of someone’s face or expressing that you would not recognize them without a mask only further isolates students wearing masks. Additionally, you do not have the right to ask someone why they are wearing a mask. I personally do not mind telling people about why I wear a mask to share awareness for long COVID, but this experience is still incredibly exhausting. Immunocompromised people or those with health problems should not have to explain them to anyone who asks! I believe that if people were willing to wear masks more often, wearing a mask would not be seen as unusual and therefore, high risk individuals would feel less isolation. 

Although I hope to not have to wear a mask everyday someday, I will never achieve this if people do not wear a mask when they are sick. There are multiple places on campus where students can get masks when they need them, including Student Affairs, Student Health and Wellness (SHAW) and the Stonewall Resource Center, allowing for students to keep masks on hand in their room or backpack. Students, professors and staff need to prioritize preventing the spread of illnesses in order to create an equitable learning environment and institution.