Gee & Ursula: When you can choose to wear a mask at work, will you?

As Washington state’s indoor mask mandate is set to end on March 12, and many offices are choosing to follow the same timeline, it could soon be your choice whether to wear a mask at work.

Gov. Inslee moves end date for state’s indoor mask mandate up to March 12

“We’re going to get Daylight Saving that is going to hit us this weekend, we’re going to get the masks coming off your face (if you want to) after the weekend. This morning, I woke up, left the house, there was a little bit of daylight, so we are heading to — if you will — the light at the end of the tunnel,” KIRO Newsradio host Gee Scott said.

Gee says chances are that if you want to keep your mask on, you could be in the minority. For those who do still mask up at work, the Huffington Post put out some tips.

“Number one, they say keep in mind that masks still work, and yes, we are still in a pandemic,” Gee said. “Nobody has ever told you or said that it’s over, because it’s not.”

The second tip is that wearing a mask doesn’t have to be always or never — you can choose when you feel comfortable. And the third is to “remember that social awkwardness around masks is real, but it helps to remember your original reasoning for wearing it in the first place.”

Host Ursula Reutin says come Monday, she personally will wear a mask in the office “at times.”

“If someone is close to me and talking right by my face, I’ll probably put it on,” she said. “I’ll always have it around me. Will I wear it constantly if no one is around me? No. And I look forward to that.”

“But I hope that there are people who are not going to be shaming people or assuming that, ‘oh, you’re just doing that for virtue signaling,'” she said. “Conversely, if someone chooses not to wear a mask, if you don’t feel safe around them, don’t go around them. But don’t chastise them because they are now choosing to not wear a mask.”

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Gee thinks there’s one other benefit of wearing a mask …

“I kind of like the mask for times when you’re not so sure. What does that mean? You’ve ever been not so sure about what that breath is like? So if you’ve got that mask up, at least you’re good,” he said. “Because sometimes, I’m not always going to be 100% in the breath department.”

Listen to Gee Scott and Ursula Reutin weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.