Why I Started Wearing a Mask Long Ago — And Why I’ll Continue
Simply put, they’re magic
Not to brag about being ahead of trends, but I started wearing a mask on airplanes four years ago, well before Covid even existed in humans. It’s not that I’m prescient. What happened is that winter after winter I had been struck down by bronchitis and sinus infections and even pneumonia, and I was worn out from it. As fall rolled around (the witching season, for my respiratory system) I decided I had to figure out a way to avoid getting sick. To make matters more urgent, I was about to leave on a twenty-city book tour, which meant flying day after day (marinating in airplane air full of germs) and meeting hundreds of people in crowded indoor venues. After my talks, I usually sat and signed books, and quite often, people liked shaking hands after they got their books, and I obliged.
In fact, there is lots and lots of hand-shaking on book tour. You get off your flight and meet the person who is driving you to your hotel, and you shake hands. You meet the head of the venue (handshake) and the people who are joining you for dinner (multiple handshakes) and then, the aforementioned book-signing line. Tours are a very high-touch flesh-pressing experience.
Because I was obviously a germ magnet and a lung ailment vector, I worried that the tour would…
