This pride I’m asking the tough questions. Like whether you can be radical in your desire for communal support while going maskless.
I have friends who covid could kill. And I have friends who had no underlying health conditions but who covid laid horribly, terrifyingly low. I know chronically ill or at-risk people who can’t leave the house because of people like a woman I saw at the Sky game the other day, telling her children she was sick as she attended a game at a packed arena, or like a woman who tweeted she was going to her Eras Tour show despite a positive test.
I’ll be truthful. I don’t always wear my mask outside anymore. And I often wear cloth mask in lower risk spaces rather than a kn95 or n95, which is not as effective. In the summer heat, cloth masks are less likely to make me overheat, which is a serious issue for me in the last few years. But I still mask indoors when I’m not eating. I try to isolate and be careful over several days after any big event or travel. I am cautious and test often.
Because I refuse to spread covid. I take a lot of risks myself—going to concerts, traveling—and so I mask and take precautions. Too many people don’t. You aren’t masking just for you. You’re masking for everyone else. Every event I attend is weighed against my fear and timed against when I’ll next see an immunocompromised friend.
So please, this pride, if you go to huge, packed events, mask or try to isolate and test afterwards. Your pride isn’t that radical if it doesn’t put a modicom of personal comfort aside for disabled and chronically ill people who can’t celebrate this year or last year or the year before. If you’re traveling a lot, maybe plan in some time to isolate before attending a concert if you’re going to be maskless. And for frick’s sake, if you’re feeling ill or have symptoms or a known exposure, do not go to the big event. Just don’t go.
This pride, thousands of people suffering from long Covid or at high risk for it can’t attend any events for fear of being laid low by a disease we stopped taking seriously way too early. Please mask this pride.

















