It’s time to move beyond Covid
In many ways, last Saturday and Sunday was a quintessential late spring Cambridge weekend. Temperatures in the upper 60s and 70s and bright sunshine made the weather perfect for gathering outside. Harvard and Central squares teemed with people, and outdoor dining areas were packed.
But a gaping void sent the clear message that Cambridge has not recovered its pre-pandemic spirit – and that we still have a lot of work to do to restore the vitality that has long made our city special.
Saturday would have been the date of the Cambridge River Festival, had it not been canceled due to fears of Covid. The festival has long been a perfect symbol of what makes Cambridge so special: It highlights our diversity, creativity, energy and joy. It’s not that those qualities were entirely missing this weekend – the Harvard Square Open Market was a delight – but something clearly wasn’t right.
The 2019 Cambridge River Festival was a showcase of Cambridge’s vibrancy. (Photo: Cambridge Arts)
Covid has left behind a wake of trauma. More than a million Americans have died; countless others at high risk – predominantly the elderly and the highly immunocompromised – have been forced to navigate a world where a highly infectious and deadly novel virus is circulating. It stands to reason that a return to normalcy would make some people skittish.
But we can’t continue to live in fear of this virus. The time to move beyond Covid has come.
Covid is no longer the threat it was. With the immunity conferred by vaccination and natural infection, the case fatality rate for Covid is now lower than that of the flu, whereas it was once more than 20 times as deadly. During Massachusetts’s current mini wave, intensive-care unit admissions have been similar to the numbers we saw last August. We have better treatments than ever. The immunocompromised have more options, too.
Despite the dramatically reduced risk of catching a severe case of Covid, good vibes in our city are fitful. The reasons go beyond the cancellation of events such as the Cambridge River Festival. Masking undeniably plays a role.
Good vibes have been in short supply for more than two years. (Dan Eisner)
While certainly reduced from earlier this year, masking is still widespread. There was a great deal of it at the “Meet the Finalists” city manager candidate forum at Cambridge Rindge and Latin School last week. Some people are required to wear a mask; a surprisingly large number of people cover their faces even outdoors, a very safe environment.
If we could be honest with ourselves, we’d recognize that there’s something alienating and dystopian about an environment where large numbers of people cover their faces. Our faces express much of our humanity and contain the beauty we all possess. When they’re covered, we are diminished.
Masks make it more difficult to communicate, inhibit the expression of emotions, obstruct our smiles and interfere with our ability to form human connections. Smiles don’t just express our own happiness and joy, they spread happiness and joy to others. Sometimes I think about all the smiles we have been unable to see during the pandemic. It’s depressing.
Widespread masking has dulled the mosaic that is our city. Each tile in the Cambridge mosaic is one of us and has its own character and energy. When people live their lives unencumbered by fear, the mosaic shines bright. As more individuals hide their faces, more tiles are dulled and the mosaic loses its glow. The Cambridge mosaic hasn’t shined fully in more than two years.
A strong case could be made that it would be worth it if there was clear evidence that masking as people do it in practice works. But there isn’t. Areas with mask mandates have had case rates similar to places without mask mandates. Even East Asian countries with very high rates of masking have seen case rates exceed those of the United States at its January peak. We’ve been told repeatedly that masks work, and when people consistently and properly wear high-quality masks, that’s surely true. But how many actually do that? How many wear tight-fitting KN95s, KF94s or N95s without ever putting themselves in a risky situation? The truly vigilant can avoid Covid for some time, but not forever.
Although more Cantabrigians wear high-quality masks now than they did pre-omicron variant, they’re still in the clear minority. More folks choose surgical masks, which provided only minimal protection before the highly infectious variant emerged but are now even less effective. Others still wear cloth masks, which are nothing more than an amulet.
It rests not only upon Cantabrigians to carry the city out of its Covid morass. Our leaders and government also need to step up. For starters, the city really ought to stop sharing official communications promoting the use of masks. City councillors should model good behavior and no longer wear masks during their meetings or in public.
Cambridge’s spirit is improved from a few months ago, but I worry that the dourness will return. Winter in New England is plenty dreary even in normal times; another winter of discontent could exacerbate seasonal affective disorder and enshrine forever masking.
For more than two years, we’ve restricted ourselves to survive. But we haven’t lived. The words of former Cambridge resident Henry David Thoreau are as fitting today as when he lived on Walden Pond: “I wished to … not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practise resignation, unless it was quite necessary. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life.”
This is not it. Wear a mask or don’t, but let’s not get to the point where we’re judging other people’s personal health decisions. Cambridge has plenty of good vibes, you’re just looking for a reason to complain.
“Wear a mask or don’t” …. except by cancelling the festival the choice was made for us…..
Correct Sam just like zoom school decision was made for us. Meanwhile every private, parochial in Cambridge remained open with in person options in one form or another.
It’s incredible – incredibly sad the exodus we’ve seen which still continues.
Thank you for this refreshing perspective. The city is gloomy & depressing. There is abundant evidence that mask mandates don’t work, yet tons of people wear #TheCloth in a superstitious manner. This is a failure of public health messaging and a clear indication that Cantabridigians aren’t as smart as they think they are.
Dan, I’ll leave analysis of your medical argument to medical professionals and instead speak as someone at higher risk for COVID-19. While I don’t expect everyone to continue to take as many precautions as I still do, it would be nice for people to do a better job than you seem to be doing of taking the situation of people like me into account. Regarding one of the links in your opinion piece, do you seriously expect people like me to take a medication that’s still investigational – Evusheld – just so that people like you can stop masking and feel better? To no surprise, none of my doctors has advised me to take Evusheld. If I were healthy enough to take experimental medication just to make other people feel better, I wouldn’t be at higher risk for COVID-19.
A more humane response to pandemic fatigue, not to mention a more effective one, would be to take realistic steps to address the continuing burden that the pandemic is having on those of at greater risk, so that people at lesser risk would have less of a need to wear masks around us. For example, if you want to leave your mask off in the common areas of your apartment building, then get the building to improve its ventilation, and help those of us who just don’t belong in an apartment building during a pandemic find safer places to live. If you want the events that you attend to be in person again, make sure that there’s an option for higher-risk people to attend virtually. And similarly for work and every other occasion when people get together. If you can’t work on these issues yourself, then ask your elected representatives at every level of government, bosses, union representatives, and other relevant people to work on these issues on your behalf.
I don’t disagree that dealing with COVID-19 is a drag, and I don’t want people to be unhappy. But we’re a city that prides itself on its brainpower, expertise, and compassion. Instead of ditching precautions because they make people feel sad, let’s find better solutions that will make everyone happier, not just people at lower risk from COVID-19.
Thank you for this Dan. Unfortunately it is an act of bravery in Cambridge to speak one’s mind on this subject. Losing riverfest again seemed ludicrous to me just as losing the dance party in Central is too. It really seems like the City is still living in a moment that most have moved on from. I also chalk some of that to the manager change. As for people well some have been given a great symbol of virtue they’re going to have a hard time giving up, some folks are still terrified, some have real medical concerns, but the good news is they all have options and those options don’t hang on anyone else but themselves. Cheers to a better more rational future.
Masks do work, as anyone who has ever worked in the medical field will tell you. This is why they continue to be mandatory at Mount Auburn hospital and other medical facilities.
Oh, I’m sorry to yuck your yum. It must be hard to see people in masks when you want joy.
Despite your obviously hard-earned analytical and medical expertise, you still miss the fact that per Cambridge.gov 33% of our population is not fully vaccinated, and that doesn’t cover students and tourists.
Also, you omit that from 40-60% (!!!really, even I am surprised) of the population have chronic medical conditions. (The Emerging Infectious Diseases Journal cites 45% in one article.)
I’m am one of those people. Another family member in my house is even more susceptible. This could be deadly to us.
Wearing a mask indoors is for some people advised by their doctor. For others, it is a sign of courtesy to those at risk. If servers in a restaurant or store are wearing a mask, it strikes me as rude to not do so as well.
The top infectious disease docs I know still wear masks indoors.
Our country has already capitulated to the dominance of people whose “tiredness” has dictated policy. Leave mask wearers alone.
Wear the Mask. There is no “All Clear” or wishing the disease away. It exists and because of the Maga Crazies in this country we will not ever be free of it. All we can do is be happy that more of them died then the rest of us who followed the medical advice, changed our lives and reduced our risk factors.
Those of you who had the disease and think you’re fine now, glad to hear it. Your brain and body after having had it (even without symptoms) has aged 5-10 years from having gotten it according to the medical experts.
Necessary infrastructure maintenance and updates to protect against this and other airborne diseases were not done on the mass transit system or in office buildings.
A country that runs its public systems by bids awarded to the lowest bidder contracts or awards them thru nepotism and old-boy networks is a country that will have regular disasters when challenged by the unknown.