The sign on the subway train was unambiguous.
If you see something, say something.
Normally, this wouldn’t raise any eyebrows. The message would be swiftly forgotten.
But nothing about this moment was normal. America had just been attacked by terrorists, and there was an ominous feeling that an aftershock was coming. Vigilance was the best defense.
So, we all read the signs. We looked around the train car for anything suspicious. And we prepared ourselves to sound the alarm on the next terror plot.
The same was true when we walked down the street. An intense focus overcame us, and any semblance of trust faded away. Such was the modus operandi that was asked of us.
We were in a State of Emergency. And we were acting accordingly.
More than two decades later, those signs are still on the subways. But many of us don’t notice them anymore.
After all, most of the terrorists who attacked our nation are either dead or behind bars. And those aftershock threats we so feared? Our intelligence services shut them down.
We are no longer in a State of Emergency. And we are acting accordingly.
Now, this is not to say the threat is quashed. Far from it.
A series of terrorist attacks have happened abroad. New terror groups have cropped up, putting our society in their crosshairs. And a series of mass shootings here at home has elevated the issue of domestic terrorism.
Yet, we don’t follow the subway signs. We no longer look around anxiously on the while on the street. And if we do happen to see something, there’s a good chance we’ll keep it to ourselves.
Some might say this indifference reflects poorly on us. That it puts us at risk.
They wouldn’t be wrong for saying this. But it was always going to end up this way.
State of Emergency.
Those three words can send chills down the spine. For they represent a dystopian shock to the system.
You see, we experience a State of Emergency when something bad happens. A devastating terror attack. A paralyzing weather event. An economic collapse.
We must uproot our routines to navigate the moment. We must embrace the uncomfortable to see our way to the other side.
This is as true collectively as it is for us individually. And that shared burden increases our distress.
But a State of Emergency is temporary. Emergencies don’t last forever.
Eventually, the storm recedes. The attack ends. The economy bounces back. And we resume our regularly scheduled programming.
And if it doesn’t? If the associated disaster carries a long tail?
Well, we resume a semblance of normalcy anyway.
We must.
For emergencies tap into a specific physiological reaction — the fight or flight response. A perceived threat automatically launches this reaction within us, guiding us on a path to survival.
The fight or flight response is powerful in small doses. But it’s not feasible in perpetuity.
There’s only so long we can fight or run before our energy gives out. And even if we build up our physical endurance, the mental toll of fight or flight is too much to overcome.
So, emergencies need to be temporary — at least within the confines of our minds.
Periods of intense disruption must not persist. Even if the embers of the threat are still out there.
As I write this, we’re not long removed from a State of Emergency.
For two years, our nation has soldiered on under a patchwork of federal, state, and local regulations. These regulations responded to the growing threat of the COVID pandemic. And they impacted how we interact, travel, and work.
This moment has certainly felt dystopian. After all, we hadn’t lived in the shadow of a deadly pandemic before. And we had never seen our society so thoroughly shuttered.
And while our vigilance to the regulations has varied over time, it was almost universally strong in the beginning. Back then, the fear of a deadly virus was great and treatment for it was nonexistent. The stakes were too high not to act with extreme caution.
But now, the State of Emergency is over. COVID is still out there, and so are many local disaster declarations. But the regulations have fallen away.
Well, all except one.
The federal government had kept a mask mandate in place for all public transportation throughout most of the pandemic. And even as other regulations have come off the books, officials have continued to extend that mandate.
These extensions have increasingly diverged from reality. Indeed, with other regulations fading away, people have been able to go to the office, to a restaurant, to a school, or to a ballgame without restrictions. But once they set foot in a train station or airport, they’ve needed to cover their mouths and noses. The inconsistency was blatant.
And the rationale for these extensions from government officials has been even more head-scratching. Instead of referencing actual data, spokespeople mentioned buying more time for researchers to consider the risks of this moment of the pandemic.
Add it all up, and you have a policy in search of an imminent threat, rather than the other way around.
The federal government has done this before. The extensive security apparatus found at every airport in this nation is a permanent remnant of that terror attack years ago. The imminent threat of terrorism has faded from air travel. Yet, the precautions remain.
We are reminded of these precautions every time we head to the boarding area. Indeed, going through the security process can be extremely unpleasant, particularly if you’re flagged for additional screening. But once we’re through the gauntlet, we can enjoy the rest of our trip in peace.
By contrast, wearing a face mask for hours on end while traveling brings unpleasantness to a new level. Especially when such marks are not required in nearly any other public setting. With society opening back up, our faith in this holdover precaution is largely wearing thin.
But now, it seems we might not need to hold our breath anymore.
A federal judge recently put an end to the madness, striking down the mask mandate. Many have welcomed the ruling, with some gleefully ripping off their masks while in flight. Others decried it, even going so far to say that maskless travelers didn’t care about those around them. The federal government, for its part, signaled its willingness to appeal the decision.
Such variance in opinion is certainly welcome in a free nation. But it’s worth noting that the proponents of continued travel mask mandates are woefully out of touch.
Wearing a mask is not, and cannot be, a normalized activity. Breathing, talking, eating, and drinking are four necessities of our daily lives. Masks constrain or prevent all these activities, by design. Expecting such a restrictive apparatus to be mandated long-term is simply inhumane, even if the risk it protects against persists in some form.
And those risks are still out there anyway. People can take off their masks to eat or drink at airports, train stations, bus stations, and in flight — increasing the risk of catching or spreading the virus. Even if they don’t uncover their faces, people can get COVID while masked. There is nowhere truly safe from the malady.
So yes, it’s time to stop shaming and blaming those who dare support the end of this mandate. Blood is not on anyone’s hands. It’s just that the State of Emergency is over.
Time to act accordingly.
There are some who will read this article and bristle with anger.
After all, COVID has claimed nearly a million lives in our nation. Those losses have left scores of devastated loved ones with scars that will never go away.
Turning our backs on heightened vigilance, on mandates, on States of Emergency — this might seem like a betrayal to those loved ones left behind. It might signal that their loss was in vain.
That couldn’t be further from the truth.
It is important to remember those lost, those disabled, and those left behind from this pandemic. I don’t want to minimize that one bit.
But there are better ways to honor a memory than to hold a State of Emergency in perpetuity. Requiring heightened vigilance for minimized risk — that’s something we just won’t go for. And it’s a standard we simply should not be held to.
So, let’s read the tea leaves. Let’s stop the madness, take a step back, and reset.
The State of Emergency is over. It’s time to act accordingly.