Impressions
Mask Mandates and Milestones
by Dr . Stephen T . Radack III , Editor
The summer of 2021 is shaping up to be very interesting , especially compared to 2020 . On Monday June 28 , Governor Wolf ’ s mask mandate finally came to an end . Many of us have wondered what will that mean and what will it look actually look like ? In July my family will get together to celebrate my mom ’ s 80 th birthday , my 60th ( wow did I really just type that ?), my son-in-law ’ s 40 th and my grandson ’ s 1 st birthday on the Fourth of July . Oh , and yes in addition to all those milestones , we have another June birthday and my two grandsons are both being baptized . All this and 15 people at my house ! What will all that look like ?
By now most of the population has been used to wearing a facemask in public , and some even while driving along in a car by themselves , since last March when the global pandemic arrived in the U . S . The only times I recall people not wearing a mask in public is when you arrived at your tables in a restaurant to eat a meal or if you needed dental treatment and were asked to “ remove your facemask ” to start the treatment . I am sure most of us had the patient sit in our chairs and begin to tell us their dental issues , and then they still had that mask on and finally ask if we were ready to have them remove it . Well unless our dental loupes also now have some kind of mask penetrating X-ray vision , the answer was YES !
I took my annual golf pilgrimage to Myrtle Beach , SC at the end of April and wondered what that would look like as well . Last year the trip was cancelled , but we were full steam ahead this year . In the past there was always one ocean front beach bar that was absolutely packed full of people enjoying the sun , sand , surf and live music . Would it look like it had in the past ? Could it even be possible ? Well the answer was YES ! I was surprised and a bit apprehensive , but happy to see this return to normalcy .
As April turned into May and more and more people received the vaccine , the mask mandates and other restrictions lifted . You could now walk in to Lowe ’ s or Walmart or the grocery store and not wear a mask IF YOU HAVE BEEN VACCINATED . As our president whispered one day recently , “ vax , no mask , no vax , mask .” So we were now on the honor system regarding our vaccination status and whether we were still mandated to wear a mask . I think we all had a strange feeling to walk into one of those stores without a mask and see people from the eyes down again . Yes , there were still people in the store who wore a mask and will continue to wear masks , which is certainly their choice .
Mary and I joined a few friends for the “ return of live music ” at one our favorite outside bars in Erie . If you know NW PA , you know outside venues have a very short window to be open , and there is nothing better than a warm evening outside with a band thumping out your favorite music and dancing . Walking into the venue was very strange because it truly was most people ’ s first time in a place crowded with strangers who weren ’ t wearing masks . The bartenders and bouncers were the only people who were and the band truly celebrated being back again and playing live with a packed house . One more sign of some return to normalcy checked off the list .
JULY / AUGUST 2021 | PENNSYLVANIA DENTAL JOURNAL 5