Feeling shaky about taking off that mask, reader? While I seriously hope the Delta variant does not undo our newfound freedom, the fact is America has been masking up again after a brief period of exposed faces. The WHO has come out to say that students and teachers can go unmasked if everyone has been vaccinated, but now Delta is rewriting rules in the middle of this game and, more crucially, do you trust everyone around you to be vaccinated?

“Everyone” is the key word in the above sentence.

I easily find a number of solid arguments for masking up. Yes, the classrooms are often underventilated and social distancing in those rooms can be impossible. Kids are also haphazard about personal hygiene — they wipe snot on their masks and sleeves all the time. A look under desks can reveal whole booger cities. Meanwhile many more kids appear to be getting sick lately.

But here’s the main reason why I am wearing my mask in closed spaces: I won’t take people’s word for their vaccination status. I wish I could but…

From a study by Bella DePaulo, Ph.D., a psychologist at the University of Virginia, The Truth About Lying | Psychology Today: “Lying might be considered endemic in our culture nowadays. Both men and women lie in approximately a fifth of their social exchanges lasting 10 or more minutes; over the course of a week they deceive about 30 percent of those with whom they interact one-on-one.”

People lie frequently — not always and not invariably, but often enough. People rewrite inconvenient truths to make their lives easier. I remain slightly shaken that my very likeable and competent massage therapist lied to me about his vaccination status. He told me he was vaccinated. A few months later, apparently having forgotten his original statement, he shared the experience of his just-accomplished first vaccination.

Eduhonesty: Mask up, teacher reader, and everyone else out there who has to be in groups and crowds. It’s just a mask. But that and the vaccination are the main tools in the toolbox for ducking COVID right now.

In particular, trusting vaccination promises made by people who don’t want to wear masks is like believing the “I never got the email” line. Maybe that piece of email did actually get lost in the spam folder, but I remember an earlier time when “the check is in the mail” filled the same function — getting out of trouble. “Car trouble” and “my alarm didn’t go off” made frequent appearances as well.

Humans lie to make their lives simpler. Why do people lie? 12 main motives for deception (ideapod.com) lists a number of reasons why people lie. The following motives apply to lies about vaccination status:

1) To steer clear of consequences; this one’s the biggest reason for the Lie, I suspect. Liars don’t have to wear a mask indoors. No one will demand they take regular COVID tests as a condition of their employment. Plus massage clients will keep booking hours with them. Etc.

2) To avoid feeling awkward; they don’t have to explain why they have not gotten that shot. The vaccinated will take their masks off, thinking the liars are unlikely to be a source of contagion, whether that’s true or not. Liars in this category may not plan to get anyone sick, but they obviously are not greatly concerned one way or another.

3) To fit in with the crowd; if everyone in the English department except Joe has gotten their shot, Joe gets to avoid explaining his position and can join in the group camaraderie without questions.

4) To get ahead; Joe can also look like a team player even if he is not.

5) The lies get caught in a web and feel out of control. Once liars first tell people they are vaccinated, they can’t say anything else without risking being caught.

6) Lying gives liars a sense of control over you or their situation. This is the “They can’t make me!” argument. It’s the, “she’s just a sheeple but I need her to sign my paperwork” argument.

Obviously, these reasons for lying overlap often. Avoiding consequences may be all about fitting in and getting ahead for one person, for example. Exact numbers will vary from study to study, depending on participants, how we define lying and other factors. But it’s not a big leap from Joe saying, “I love your Google Slides” (not true) or “Great haircut!” (SO not true) to Joe saying, “Oh, yeah. I got jabbed last March.” It’s not a big leap. Not for many of today’s Joes anyway.

Mask up. Because you can trust most people to do the right thing, but all it takes is one COVIDIOT to shut down the whole kindergarten because they decided to send their sick kid to school — one COVIDIOT to get family after family sick when they lie about their kid’s headache and fever. And all it takes is one Joe to compromise the whole teacher’s lounge.

Parents and teachers should reflect on that sad truth as we go about day-to-day business during the upcoming school year. I offer this as one more solid reason to keep the masks on, I hope for not much longer. ________________________________________________________________________

A snapshot of our ripped political quilt: Fortunately, many locations are demanding proof of vaccination from teachers and/or students but this is still the COVID Wild West in terms of who is running the show. See: Some states move to block Covid-19 vaccine requirements in public schools – CNN Teachers and parents in California are safer than their counterparts in Alabama, for example.

Readers, please share with friends and others. I have seen many mask articles, but none that tackles this single issue: In today’s emotionally-loaded time, the easiest answer to “Have you been vaccinated?” may be “Yes!” Any parent or teacher knows from experience that the easiest answer doesn’t have to be the true answer. Answering “yes” to the vaccination question has become extremely convenient and as convenience goes up, I fully expect truth-telling will go down.

Hugs to my readers! Jocelyn Turner