Masking as Refusal

by e.berry

We create and erase reality with our words. From our articulation of feelings in friendly conversation to marketing event descriptions, our small but continuous grammatical choices shape the way we understand ourselves, one another, and our world. 

When Covid-19 spread through the global population in 2020, many agreed we were living in unprecedented times. It was difficult to find words to explain our worries, our frustrations, our grief, our hope. Across nations, people began to see faults in long existing systems and questioned what alternatives we could pursue. But the promise of normalcy and the relief of routine allowed many to push aside these deeper, revolutionary curiosities. Precautions once commonplace began to disappear from the public eye. Linguistically and politically framing Covid-19 as a concluded event allows people to ‘move on’ from years they associate with immense hardship. 

In 2025, most people refer to the pandemic in the past tense. They reminisce on their unemployment ‘during Covid’ when referencing the early months of quarantines. ‘When the pandemic ended’ often equates to vaccine rollouts, the end of mask mandates, or return to in-person activities. For those of us who remain aware of the growing Covid-19 death count1 and actively try to avoid being infected with a life-altering virus during a mass-disabling event2, past tense language erases our experiences. 

Every day that we mask  as we ride the metro, enter classrooms, or pick up medications, we engage with rogue archival. By wearing masks we refuse the eradication of disabled and immunocompromised people in our learning communities, across Canada, and around the world. Our self preservation is made visible in the present tense. 

What does wearing a mask communicate? 

  • Adaptability rooted in science3 and community care 
  • Dedication to solidarity4,5,6, even through temporary discomfort
  • Commitment to normalizing a tool that protects our communities against airborne viruses, wildfire smoke7, and far-reaching state surveillance8 
  • Strength to face the mounting grief of ongoing loss, violence, and deception9 – Resistance to fascist framing of ‘healthy’ and ‘unhealthy’ bodies10, where those without ideal immune systems are left for dead11 
  • Respect for those who have lost their lives to Covid-19 and other state-sanctioned pandemics12

Masks reject Covid-19 as a past tense threat. They defy our forced disappearance, and suggest that we are capable of radically caring for ourselves and one another. Anyone and everyone can contribute to this rogue, interconnected archival of love. 

For free masks and resources: linktr.ee/action_covid_montreal 

Sources

  1. World Health Organization. “COVID-19 Deaths | WHO COVID-19 Dashboard.” World Health Organization Data, 2025.
  2.  Bonuck, Karen. “Long COVID Persists as a Mass Disabling Event.” Medpagetoday.com, MedpageToday, 23 July 2023.
  3. Greenhalgh, Trisha, et al. “Masks and Respirators for Prevention of Respiratory Infections: A State of the Science Review.” Clinical Microbiology Reviews, vol. 37, no. 2, 22 May 2024, https://doi.org/10.1128/cmr.00124-23.
  4. Western University. “More Exposed And Less Protected” In Canada: Systemic Racism And COVID-19.” 2020.
  5. Murdoch, Blake. “Long COVID Is Harming Too Many Kids.” Scientific American, 18 Oct. 2024.
  6. Alder-Bolton, Beatrice, and Artie Vierkant. “Masks Are a Symbol of Solidarity. Don’t Let Democrats Take Them Away.” The Nation, 28 June 2024.
  7. Ries, Julia. “Can N95 Masks Help Protect Against Wildfire Smoke?” Healthline, 10 Jan. 2025.
  8. Guariglia, Matthew. “Criminalizing Masks at Protests is Wrong.” Electronic Frontier Foundation, 9 June 2025.
  9. Chakravarty, Arijit. “The CDC’s Shiny New Green Map.” Substack.com, Down The Memory Hole, 24 Dec. 2023.
  10. Lurie, Shira. “History Shows That Pandemics Lead to Fascism.” Rabble.ca, 18 Nov. 2024.
  11. AstraZeneca. “The continued burden of COVID-19 for the immunocompromised.” Astrazeneca.com, 11 Apr. 2024.
  12. Benedict, Emily. “Immune System Damage from COVID-19 Is Different from HIV/AIDS — but the Advocacy Has Parallels – the Sick Times.” The Sick Times – Chronicling the Long Covid Crisis, 14 Jan. 2025.