Maybe they enjoy not being sick.
Maybe they decided to do something that actively protects vulnerable groups instead of a safety pin or blue bracelet. Maybe they care more about their health and the health of others than about fitting in with societal norms, and are willing to be weird to not go along with government-sanctioned eugenicist policies that abandon vulnerable groups. Maybe they realize that the world as it was in 2019 no longer exists, and they opted to adapt to the risks in this new landscape by taking steps to prevent constant illness in themself or others instead of normalizing it.
a mental health professional’s perspective
In reality, most of the people still masking are among the strongest, most self-assured people I’ve known. They are the least concerned about other’s perceptions, the most concerned about others/our collective well-being, are embodying self-care by protecting their health (and mental health), willing to interrogate their choices and motivations, and are committed to accepting and integrating data and new information - even when they want desperately to be wrong about what they learn. They are also among the most alienated, judged, ignored, harassed, invisibilized, and forgotten.
