{ SPECIAL REPORT }
TO MASK— OR NOT TO MASK?
With most mandates now rescinded, Bergen residents must decide on their own whether to use face coverings—and where. Here’s some expert advice. By Leslie Garisto Pfaff The entry doors to the Bergen Town Center bear the words “Please mask up.” On a recent early summer afternoon, however, only about one in five shoppers appeared to have heeded that request. In the center’s Target store, though, more than half of shoppers were masked. That mixed verdict may reflect the state of masking in general, some two-and-a-half years into the COVID-19 pandemic—at least in our corner of northern New Jersey. With government mandates no longer in place, the decision to mask has largely become a personal one, with the major exceptions of hospitals and prisons, doctors’ offices and other healthcare institutions. Inside that Target, Teaneck resident Miosoti Francisco is masked. “I wear it everywhere I go,” she says, “because I know COVID is still with us.” Veronica
Oh, on the other hand, who’s here from Manhattan’s Upper West Side, is combing the aisles unmasked. She recovered from a bout with COVID about a month ago, she explains, “so I feel like I’m kind of immune to it.” She does, however, put on a mask when she’s in crowded, closed-in spaces like the New York City subway. And if she feels a cough or a case of the sniffles coming on, she’ll don a mask for the safety and peace of mind of those around her. Maybe they’re both right. The small print below the Town Center’s request to mask up offers a caveat: “Face masks should be worn in compliance with CDC regulations.” And if you go to the “Mask Guidance” page of the website of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the advice you’re given appears to be somewhat equivocal: In
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