I'm sick of wearing masks. I've had it up to the nostrils. Sick of them.
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I know the science. I'm not a denier - but I resent the fact that I can't read on the bus because my glasses steam up.
Masks are irritants. They make my skin itch. I don't want them.
I think my annoyance may be a mild symptom of a wider condition: "lockdown fatigue", as the Australian Psychological Society calls it.
This endless pandemic of social distancing, blocks on travel, the daily look at the paper for COVID numbers is very wearing.
The psychologists cite some symptoms: "negative thoughts like 'I'm over this', 'I can't see an end to it all', 'I'm so tired, I've just got no energy or motivation', 'I can't stand this anymore'."
It's probably too strong to call it a syndrome, but the endlessness of abnormality is very tiresome. It gets to us in an insidious, slow way.
And it prompts irritation with rules we once accepted.
Increasingly, I've started making my own judgements about safety. I look at how close people are to me, and if there is distance, I break the rules and let the mask slip.
Increasingly, other people seem to be doing the same thing.
The other day, the masked driver of the bus I was on leaned over to me (in my masked state in the front seat on the other side) and pointed out that we were the only masked people on the bus.
Every other passenger had spaced themselves out to keep their distance, but quietly removed their masks completely or (and this is the new technique) slipped them down so they weren't actually covering their mouths and nose.
There was a time when I would have been angry, but not anymore - it's just navigating the new normality. I cling to the empty coffee cup on the train to Sydney because a mask isn't mandatory while eating.
We have moved into the final endless phase of the pandemic - the one where we accept it and learn to live with it, always there in the background, always with that little knot in the mind.
Wearing a mask or not wearing a mask is no longer a big statement (though masks were obligatory for journalists on the election bus with Anthony Albanese - but not on the one with Scott Morrison).
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My suspicion is that intelligent people (and that's most of us) make calculated micro-decisions through the day. Do I go into this crowded room? Should I walk around this person? We choose a different aisle in the supermarket to avoid a clutch of customers.
Masks do remain good protection from the infections of others, and for others from our own infections.
But we are all epidemiologists these days, and we make informed decisions. After all, we would be completely safe if we stayed home all day, and didn't cross the road or drive a car (let alone a motorbike). But we go out, because life is for living.
As a true epidemiologist, Professor Adrian Esterman of the University of South Australia, puts it: "I still wear a face mask on flights just in case I have someone sitting near me who is coughing or sneezing.
"I think the key is for individuals to assess their own risk and make the decision as to whether or not to mask up.
"If you are elderly or high-risk, I would definitely wear a face mask everywhere. Younger, fitter people, might decide that their risk is small and they won't wear a mask."
But he thinks it's "common decency" for anyone over the age of six with symptoms to wear one (what your mother would once have advised as "put your hand over your mouth when you cough").
I'll keep wearing a mask when I'm told to - but I'll find more excuses to take it off. Cups of tea will last longer. I'll hide my bare face in a distant darkened seat in the cinema.
Masks are a pain in the face. Get this pandemic over.
- Steve Evans is a Canberra Times reporter.