TORONTO -- As a paramedic for a major service in Ontario, Stefanie Kranjec Correia knows firsthand the important role masks have played keeping her and her frontline colleagues safe throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. She is fully vaccinated now, but has no plans to retire her masks even in a post-pandemic world -- and she is not alone.

From not wanting to get sick or make others sick, to enjoying unexpected benefits like keeping warm in the winter and finding refuge in anonymity, some people have come to appreciate the small piece of fabric for reasons other than preventing COVID-19 infections.

With vaccination rates going up and case numbers and hospitalizations coming down, the chatter has already begun on when things will return to 鈥渘ormal.鈥 While there are no signs that in Canada will change anytime soon, discussions around mask-wearing have renewed after the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention鈥檚 announcement on May 13 that those who are fully vaccinated against COVID-19 would not have to wear one indoors.

Correia told CTVNews.ca she will keep wearing them on public transit and during cold and flu season, even if 鈥渟ome people might raise their eyebrows.鈥

鈥淚 don鈥檛 care, I鈥檓 going to wear a mask because I鈥檓 not going to bring that crap home 鈥 People can call me overprotective, or neurotic, or paranoid, or whatever.鈥

Correia would rather not see her three children -- all under the age of six -- suffer unnecessarily from colds, but she has extra reason to remain cautious: her husband, Nuno Correia, has an autoimmune disease that makes him especially vulnerable.

鈥淣ow he's walking around in the middle of a pandemic with no immune system. So that's why he got his second dose so fast,鈥 she said.

But because of the medication he takes, they have no idea how effective the vaccine will ultimately be for him. Their children know they have to be extra safe for their dad and have been really good about wearing their masks, Correia said.

鈥淪o that鈥檚 another reason why it makes sense for us to mask up when we鈥檙e in situations where we鈥檙e in large crowds, or we鈥檙e out and about during flu season.鈥

The conversation around masks has evolved dramatically during the pandemic. The hesitancy in the early days stemmed from a combination of public health messaging, concerns about a supply shortage for health-care workers, doubts over the airborne nature of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and skepticism around the effectiveness of masks. For some, masks have been -- and remain -- a political flashpoint as well.

But  that visualized how masks prevent germs from spreading and numerous  over the last year have persuasively demonstrated their protective function alongside physical distancing and hand-washing, particularly if the wearer is sick.

Mask-wearing in public was recommended by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) in May 2020. By September, 97 per cent of Canadians over the age of 12 were publicly wearing a mask, Statistics Canada found.

In Canada and , the public health measures also helped drive influenza numbers to unimaginably low levels. There were so few cases and no evidence of any community transmission across Canada that PHAC . According to government data, there were a total of  during the 2019 to 2020 season, which was also cut short by the pandemic. In contrast, only  of the flu had been confirmed this season as of May 22, 2021.

鈥淚 would probably still wear a mask on public transit, especially if I had a cold. It鈥檚 very packed most of the time,鈥 said Chloe Hong. She lives in the Greater Toronto Area and commuted to work by public transit prior to the pandemic.

It is a sentiment echoed by Julie Gordon, who lives in Ottawa. She and Hong were among a dozen people who told CTVNews.ca they plan to continue wearing masks as needed even when it becomes no longer necessary.

鈥淥h man, I hope that becomes the norm for cold and flu,鈥 Gordon said. Still, she added, 鈥淚鈥檓 wondering about the societal pressure to 鈥榞o back to normal鈥 though.鈥

Many would like to see mask-wearing normalized, which could also help those who can not afford to take unpaid sick days and/or who have no choice but to take public transit for work, for example.

Others say the motivation to keep wearing masks extends beyond catching viruses too.

This past winter, many social media users were delighted to finally have a solution that kept their .

鈥淐an we keep masks when COVID ends? They keep my face warm in winter AND let me hide my God-awful jawline. No downsides,鈥 one  tweeted in January.

And Joyce Alene  in April, 鈥淲hile so many people are tired of wearing masks, personally, I鈥檓 ecstatic to have found something that works for [seasonal] allergies.鈥

Some women found that wearing a mask meant they didn鈥檛 have to worry about their appearance. It also kept men from harassing them or being told to 鈥渟mile鈥, the  and  have both reported.

鈥淲earing a mask is so liberating I might hang on to it, even if they do find a COVID-19 cure,鈥 Clare Mackintosh told the Times last year. 鈥淣ot a single person has suggested I鈥檇 look prettier with a grin on my face.鈥

Susan Orlean, a staff writer for The New Yorker,  about the 鈥渦nexpected pleasures鈥 of mask-wearing and how she has 鈥済rown to like the neutrality of wearing a mask. I like the privacy it affords me, and the fact that my expression is mine and mine alone.鈥

It鈥檚 a sentiment shared by others: 鈥淚 enjoy wearing my mask now, it gives me some privacy lol. I think it will be a permanent part of my lifestyle,鈥 one Twitter user  earlier this month. 

A blog about urban China once compared wearing masks to wearing  -- serving as a 鈥溾 or a 鈥渄o not disturb鈥 sign when in public.

In many parts of Asia where mask-wearing was normalized prior to the pandemic, it was also not uncommon to see people wearing them when they were under the weather or when the air quality index -- which measures how polluted the air is -- was particularly high, for example. And celebrities wore them to maintain their anonymity while out in public.

To be sure, while there are a number of valid reasons why some people will be glad to see the end of masks 鈥 from medical exemptions to -- wearing them has been contentious since the beginning. And in the U.S., there are numerous reports of a backlash against those who continue to wear them despite the CDC鈥檚 new guidance.

Correia is sympathetic and could see some people who were not anti-maskers during the pandemic behave and react poorly toward mask-wearers like herself in a post-pandemic environment.

鈥淪eeing someone with a mask is going to be like a slap in the face to them,that things are not the way they were, and it's going to make them uncomfortable and when people get uncomfortable, they react badly 鈥 just because they don't want to be reminded of the hell that we've been through,鈥 Correia said.

The mental health toll experts warned about throughout the pandemic is unlikely to disappear overnight. Despite some people鈥檚 wish to ease away from masks, there remains a lot of nervousness around returning to normal after living in a pandemic. A Leger survey in May found that 52 per cent of respondents felt some degree of anxiety over the idea of going back to how things were before COVID-19.

Even with all the practical reasons why Correia plans to keep masking-up, the pandemic has permanently altered her perspective.

鈥淛ust being on the front line, and seeing the absolute devastation of what this did to every generation, families, and to businesses, and to the economy, and to our faith in public institutions, and just the way we live our lives -- I鈥檓 not going to forget that.鈥