That face.

I came back into the main studio at our TV station this week after several weeks in an isolated studio. Omicron concerns.

When I walked into the studio, I was wearing a mask. One of our reporters, who I text with regularly, stuck his hand out and introduced himself. I pulled my mask down and said, ”Justin, it’s Russell.”

He felt awful. I could only laugh. In his defense, we met in person just one time. He came here for his job interview days before Covid separated us all. He got the job during the strangest time ever. Two years later, we finally saw each other again.

As more and more states start lifting mask mandates, we may start to get to know each other again.

Dr. Fauci says the end of pandemic restrictions may be in sight. He tells the Financial Times that he hopes, ”Covid restrictions will soon be a thing of the past.”

Fox News reports that the White House says local officials should have the final say in Covid restrictions. For its part, the CDC is not backing down from recommending that mask restrictions should stay in place. We should hear more today from the President’s Covid Task Force.

Whatever the recommendation, you can feel the tide is turning. I was at the grocery store the other day and noticed fewer people were wearing masks. While I still wear one, I have noticed that I sometimes forget to put it on. I don’t even panic anymore either.

Related to all this, there is a new study out of Canada about kids and masks. It says children have a harder time than adults recognizing the faces of those in masks.

The concern here is that two years into the Covid pandemic children’s brains may have changed in how they recognize faces. Faces, the study says, helps all of us navigate social interactions.

It makes me wonder. When this is over with, how much will we have changed? Just recognizing a face. Will that be what it used to be? Who have I met in the last two years that I don’t really know what they look like?