I think the company I work for is the LAST facility in Minnesota to doff masks for good. It’s been a long time coming and while our faces were still covered by blue paper masks, our neighboring peers’ faces were full of smiles. They had been mask-less for at least three weeks before us!

Even though it took us longer to get to this point, I’ll relish not having to rebreathe my own air for 8 hours a day, and not having mascne (acne from the mask) or extra oils clogging my pores. Gross.

Some patients can’t help themselves and comment stupid crap, such as, “Ugh, I can’t breath in this thing. How do you do it?” and “You know **** (the other hospital in our area) doesn’t have to wear them anymore. When are you guys gonna get rid of them?” Well, A) we don’t have a choice and when you don’t have a choice, you become accustomed to the situation, and B) we follow the CDC and MDH and blah blah blah.

What one really wants to reply to these folks is not even close to kind words but one must remain professional (insert finger wag).

May 1st, May Day, is going to be a wonderful historical day for our Health Care workers. We have been wearing masks for 3 years! THREE YEARS! The days of Covid, masks, and extra PPE, along with fear and anxiety, seem like such a surreal period of our lives. I’m glad it’s over.

Monday I’m going to be seeing full faces and wondering who the heck are they!? I probably will need several seconds for my brain to make the connection.

I’ve gotten so good at reading people by their eyes only, which is a good skill set to have, but now I’ll have to reign in my facial expressions. They’ve been hidden for such a long time, and now they’ll be in the open. Yikes. I am very worried about that. I love using my face to express myself for all types of emotions, and honestly, most expressions are automatic and out of my control!

Welp, I’ll keep an empty box by my desk for my belongings just in case my face gets me into trouble. If that happens, will you be a reference for me?