Category: Virus

In the early days of the pandemic when mask mandates were required, people who chose not to comply were often confronted about it and “mask shamed” either in person or on social media. Of course, the reverse can also be true – now that the pandemic is more or less behind us and restrictions have been lifted, there are those who still choose to wear masks and they may be shamed or ridiculed for it because everything has gone back to normal.

The Macmillan Dictionary has an entry for mask shaming:

criticizing or confronting someone who is not wearing a face covering

As the country begins to open up, the mask shaming has moved from social media to in-person confrontations.

Mask shaming shows how quickly new behaviours can go from rare to common.

The Urban Dictionary also has an entry for this term:

When others treat you with disdain or contempt for (1) not wearing a mask in public or (2) wearing a medical grade mask that health care providers need.

I was mask shamed while lining up for groceries without a facial covering. The piercing stares and angry mumbles from those wearing masks left me feeling uncomfortable.

GD

Mask shaming regularly appeared in the news around the time that Covid restrictions were being instituted. An article published for NBC Bay Area News on May 7, 2020 reported that individuals were being publicly shamed for not wearing a mask: “’It happened to me the other day,’ said Oakland resident Katherine. ‘I went for a walk in the morning and someone came up to me and said ‘put on a mask!’ I felt bad” (McSweeney). Some feel that “mask shaming” is necessary to remind people that everyone is responsible for doing their part to prevent the spread of Covid-19 while others feel that shaming people simply adds tension to the situation.

The other kind of mask shaming – insulting those who continue to wear masks – has been an issue for people going back to the office. In April 2022 the Society for Human Resource Management journal published an article about mask shaming colleagues. It noted that “employers have observed an increasing lack of respect in the workplace, including so-called mask shaming—insulting colleagues who, out of concern over COVID-19, continue to wear masks” (Smith). The article quotes Katherine Dudley Helms, an attorney with Ogletree Deakins in Columbia, S.C. who says that “Many people have decided that, either having had COVID or receiving the vaccine, no further precautions are needed. However, there are others who for many reasons still choose to wear masks and clean their hands frequently. Employers should communicate to their employees the expectation that either choice is valid and should be respected.”

A CBS Sacramento news clip featured interviews with those who have been mask shamed for wearing or not wearing a mask:

Whether you agree with the mask mandates or not or you don’t like the fact people still choose to wear masks in public, you should respect their choice. Don’t mask shame them.

Social Media Trends as of November 12, 2022

Facebook #maskshaming: people are posting about this
Instagram #maskshaming: 1,181 posts
TikTok #maskshaming: 1.1 million views

Google Trends: “mask shaming” appeared the week of April 5, 2020 and peaked during Memorial Weekend of that year. This was the time when mask mandates were widespread across the United States. The popularity of the search term tailed off at the beginning of 2021 as more and more states removed their mask mandate.

Sources:

boneritis69. Mask shaming meme. iFunny Brazil. 18 May 2020. URL: https://br.ifunny.co/meme/kMHPcjaf7.

CBS Sacramento channel. “Psychologist Explains Mask-Shaming During Pandemic.” YouTube. 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONj98dtX88Y.

“Mash shaming.” Macmillan Dictionary. June 29, 2020. URL: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/us/dictionary/american/mask-shaming.

GD. “Mash shaming.” Urban Dictionary. April 4, 2020. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Mask%20Shamed.

McSweeney, Terry. “‘Mask Shaming’ Becomes New Topic of Discussion During Fight Against COVID-19.” NBCBayArea.com. May 7, 2020. URL: https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/coronavirus/mask-shaming-becomes-new-topic-of-discussion-during-fight-against-covid-19/2285899/.

Smith, Allan. “Stop Employees from ‘Mask Shaming’ Colleagues.” SHRM.org. April 4, 2022. URL: https://www.shrm.org/resourcesandtools/legal-and-compliance/employment-law/pages/stop-mask-shaming.aspx.

From the Delta variant to the Omicron variant, it seems like every week there is a new variant of Covid-19 or a subvariant of a given variant. Quite often you see disturbing headlines of a new strain of Covid-19 and the fear machine gets going. Enter the “scariant” – a bigger, scarier new variant of coronavirus, impervious to all previous vaccines and renders your immunity with impunity.

On 26 April 2021 a Cambridge Dictionary blog post had some word suggestions to add to the dictionary. Here is the definition for scariant:

any new variant of covid-19 that people are very worried about because of the way it is reported in the media, despite the lack of scientific evidence to suggest it is any more dangerous than the original virus

Cambridge Dictionary

Not to be outdone is the Urban Dictionary definition of scariant:

“Portmanteau combining scary and variant. Exaggerated fear of a COVID-19 variant.

What scariant is on the menu this week. India? South Africa? Or is it a double fusion super scariant?” (ChrisR41).”

How to fix the "scariant" problem, the fear from #SARSCoV2 variants that are incompletely characterized@WIRED by @MeganMolteni https://t.co/9rcV53dBMv

— Eric Topol (@EricTopol) March 5, 2021

The short video below, entitled “Variant, Scariant, Lab Error” discusses the new variant Deltacron which consists of strains of both the Delta and Omicron variants of Covid-19.

Social Media Trends as of October 23, 2022

Facebook #scariant: people are posting about this
Instagram #scariant: 198 posts
TikTok #scariant: 8,259 views

Google Trends: scariant first registered during the week of April 19, 2020 but didn’t reach its popularity peak until the last week of November that year.

Sources:

ChrisR41. “Scariant.” Urban Dictionary. April 22, 2021. URL: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Scariant.

knowshares. Scariant meme. Imgflip. 2021. URL: https://imgflip.com/i/5wcobp.

OTV News channel. “Deltacron: Variant, ‘Scariant’, Lab Error… What We Know So Far.” YouTube. 2022. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEqFx16WthM.

“New words – 26 April 2021.” Cambridge Dictionary. March 5, 2021. URL: https://dictionaryblog.cambridge.org/2021/04/26/new-words-26-april-2021/.

Topol, Eric. “How to Fix the Scariant Problem” tweet. Twitter. Mar 5, 2021. URL: https://twitter.com/erictopol/status/1367932195243880449?lang=ca.

A face shield is a clear plastic protective covering for the face which many people wore, in addition to the mask, for added protection against coronavirus. The California Department of Public Health produced a handout containing a list of frequently asked questions about face shields. Here is some more information:

A face shield is a transparent barrier that covers the face and is typically open at the sides and bottom..[It is] primarily used by health care workers to protect their face (eyes, nose, and mouth) from splashes and sprays of body fluids. Face shields are not commonly used alone, but are often worn with other protective equipment, such as respirators or surgical masks, to protect the wearer from Covid-19. Examples include a nurse caring for a hospitalized Covid-19 patient or a health professional collecting a nasal sample from a person being tested for Covid-19.

Face shields are not to be worn in place of masks. The illustration below shows the correct way to wear a face shield with a mask:

Here is a quick and easy YouTube tutorial on how to make your own face shield that will protect you from someone who has suspected Covid-19:

Social Media Trends as of September 4, 2022

Facebook #faceshield: 194,000 people are posting about this
Instagram #faceshield: 471,958 posts
TikTok #faceshield: 132.7 million views
YouTube #faceshield: 4,100 videos and 3,100 channels

Google Trends: faceshield isn’t a new search term but it reached its peak in popularity during the week of April 5, 2020 as people looked for ways to make one or find out where to buy one to increase their protection from Covid-19.

Sources:

“Faceshield FAQ.” California Department of Health. November 2020. URL: https://www.emergencyslo.org/en/resourcesGeneral/faceshield_handout.pdf.

“Person using face shield mask.” Freepik. URL: https://www.freepik.com/free-vector/collection-people-using-face-shield-mask_8381151.htm#query=face%20shield&position=11&from_view=keyword.

CreativityWindow channel. “DIY PPE: Quick and Easy Face Shield.” YouTube. April 4, 2020. URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9FSDSc76q4.

I had never heard of the word “intubated” before the pandemic. This is a procedure where a tube is inserted into a person’s mouth or nose all the way down into their airway or trachea so that air can get through. The other end of the tube is connected to a machine that supplies oxygen. The oxygen may also be delivered through a mask instead of a tube (Cleveland Clinic). Some people who suffered very badly with Covid-19 were unable to breathe on their own so they had to be hooked up to a ventilator.

An article published on the Yale Medicine website explains that “if the body’s immune system does not fight off the infection, it can travel to the lungs and cause a potentially fatal condition called acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). In ARDS, the alveoli (tiny air sacs that allow oxygen to reach the blood stream and remove carbon dioxide) fill with fluid, which diminishes the lungs’ ability to provide vital organs with enough oxygen. ‘ARDS entails severe inflammation of the lungs, but the main problem is that it makes portions of the lungs unusable,’ Dr. Ferrante explains. ‘It can be very serious, and many of these patients will need to be on a ventilator’” (Macmillan). The length of time a patient can be on a ventilator can be anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. For longer periods of time, a surgeon will perform a tracheostomy whereby a hole is made in the patients neck and the tube is inserted into the trachea with the other end connected to the ventilator.

New Jersey still publishes the list of those who tested positive for Covid-19 which includes the number of those on ventilators: “There were 1,038 patients with confirmed or suspected coronavirus cases reported at 69 of the state’s 71 hospitals as of Friday. Of those hospitalized, 105 are in intensive care and 37 are on ventilators” (Furst).

Social Media Trends as of August 24, 2022

*** Trigger warning – some images can be distressing to watch ***

Facebook #intubated: people are posting about this
TikTok #intubated: 13.9 million views

Google Trends: intubated is not a new term but the popularity of the search term peaked during the first week of April 2020 coinciding with the start of the pandemic.

Sources:

Furst, Camile. “N.J. reports 2,067 COVID cases, 8 death. 3 counties remain ‘high risk’ for transmission.” NJ.com. August 26, 2022. URL: https://www.nj.com/coronavirus/2022/08/nj-reports-2067-covid-cases-8-deaths-only-3-counties-have-high-risk-for-transmission-cdc-says.html.

“Intubated.” Cleveland Clinic. URL: https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22160-intubation#:~:text=Being%20intubated%20and%20being%20on%20a%20ventilator%20are%20related%2C%20but,a%20device%20that%20delivers%20air..

Macmillan, Carrie. “Ventilators and COVID-19: What You Need to Know.” Yale Medicine. June 2, 2020. URL: https://www.yalemedicine.org/news/ventilators-covid-19#:~:text=Some%20people%20may%20need%20to,tube%20into%20the%20trachea.