My Refusal to Continue Wearing a Mask
It’s finally happened. My claustrophobia-induced panic attacks from masking every day finally took their toll. I emailed my principal on Superbowl Sunday and said I would no longer wear a mask to work. We had discussed the matter a couple weeks earlier when I took two days off and my psychiatrist wrote a note detailing my anxiety disorder. I told her I didn’t want to make anything of it, that I would try to stick it out. But in the subsequent two weeks, I was crying every morning before school, having anxiety attacks at school, and then falling into depression in the evenings.
What made all this harder was that the new governor of my state, Glenn Youngkin, signed an executive order his first day in office last month banning mask mandates in school. Some of us knew all along, but at this point, everyone pretty much agrees that cloth masks do little if anything. Our superintendent still refused to make masks optional for students and staff; in fact, ours is one of seven Virginia school districts that joined in a lawsuit against the executive order. Considering the circumstances, I was forced to conclude that masks in schools are no longer about health or safety. I’m not sure they ever were, but they definitely aren’t now. Public schools, particularly those in blue states like Virginia, are run by far-left sorts, and my personal theory is that they want the masks to stay in place because if the masks go away, and there’s no surge in cases, it would not only make Youngkin look good, it would only show more that Democrats were wrong to mandate masks in the first place. In short, there’s no end in sight.
This despairing thought was the final straw and finally led me to let my principal know that I had had enough. She called me not long after my email and told me she very much did not want to lose me and to take some personal days and try to work out an exemption with HR. My HR rep told me that the best he could offer me was a face shield which would have to be accompanied by always staying six feet away from students. I tried wearing a face shield for a couple of days at the beginning of the pandemic and they weren’t much better in terms of my claustrophobia. They’re also awkward to wear, and the added stress of having to make sure to be always social distancing didn’t sound like a palatable alternative. My HR rep then said that the district also doesn’t want to lose me especially when the mask requirement may be gone quite soon. He suggested I take medical leave until we know something more. Seeing it as my best option, I agreed.
With the new law, most nearby school districts have either dropped the mask mandates or announced a specific date, like this coming Tuesday. I’m still waiting to hear from mine. Will I need to keep wearing a useless, stifling cloth on my face despite being triple-vaxxed and having already had Omicron? Will I need to do so indefinitely? Well, no I won’t. Because if the announcement that is coming today says mask up, I will be quitting the job I love. I won’t be stifled and dehumanized anymore.
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