The COVID-19 crisis has meant sacrifices for most people.
On the front lines, healthcare workers may have added hours and responsibilities, and for men there was one other change required.
When the new coronavirus hit the University of Virginia Medical Center, administrators ordered male doctors and nurses to be clean shaven – to assure their protective masks sealed properly. Mark Adams is the nurse manager of coronary care.
“Even though mine would fit over my mustache, I wanted to do it in solidarity with all of the men who were shaving, as well as not to quibble over what clean shaven meant,” he explains.
At home it was a big deal. His kids had never seen him without the mustache.
“My daughters just had spasms. They just started laughing and screaming. I mean they’re 26 and 21 now, and they just couldn’t believe it,” Adams recalls.
But at work, he says, there was a real sense of brotherhood.
“We see one another in the halls, and granted we’re masked, but there’s just this little gleam to our eyes – Yeah, I know what’s underneath – or not underneath that mask now.”
25-year-old Ryan Golschmidt also complied, but losing his facial hair was distressing.
“It was kind of the first beard I really grew. It couldn’t really be tugged on, but it was still there.”
Now, he says, his baby face is showing again, but he consoles himself with the fact that the COVID pandemic will pass, and the beard will grow back.
