Make May 13 a national holiday

America needs to commemorate COVID-19. Why not "Unmasking Day"?

Anthony Fauci.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Getty Images, iStock)

How to describe May 13, 2021? There was no dancing in the streets, no ticker tape parades, no sailors spontaneously kissing strangers in Times Square. For me, there were only the tiny pings of my phone's news apps as, one after another, they reported that fully vaccinated Americans no longer need to wear masks or maintain social distance indoors or outdoors.

It felt seismic. A little bit scary! I read the notifications over and over again, making sure I hadn't missed a "still" before a "need to." Although I'd never had a problem with wearing masks, the CDC's surprise announcement on Thursday still had the distinct feeling of being a moment, an ending, a conclusion. "May 13 should be a national holiday," Snapchat's Peter Hamby wrote in response. CNN's What Matters newsletter described it as "the Covid version of VJ Day;" their Reliable Sources newsletter dubbed it "Unmasking Day."

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Jeva Lange

Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.