The biggest problem, I’ve found, is that elderly people who are hard of hearing to begin with struggle so much to understand you with a mask on. Through the whole pandemic, I was losing my voice from what I affectionately call “shouting at old people” all day. Especially with ventilation fans and monitor alarms and people talking in the hallway.

When my hospital finally lifted their mask mandate earlier this year, I initially thought I’d never go back. Then the creeping convenience, “well let me just pull the mask down because Meemaw doesn’t understand me, just this once.” It’s especially helpful with dementia patients who really need that nonverbal communication of facial expression.

I still mask vigilantly if I have any patient with respiratory symptoms, even if they’re negative for Covid/fly/RSV because I learned the hard way that viruses were don’t test for still exist. And of course, with the recent (completely manageable) influx of Covid patients, I’m religiously wearing my N95.

So that’s kind of the what we’re dealing with when considering to mask or not to mask.