RebE, thanks for helping with the sources.
An interesting note: I was not hired. If there was a chiyuv, I should have asked him. A good point.
Those who say tircha is not a big deal, maybe forgot the beginning of the thread: this is an outdoor minyan on a cold windy day. Piskei d’Zimra and kadishem before were already skipped. Nobody is sitting, kal vehomer talking. (Those who feel that masks are a threat should feel even stronger).
But I think the main contention here is not a specific halakha as nobody brought a source for opposite, or called up their Rav and asked them. The issue raised is whether we are allowed to deal with issues ourselves or need to ask any time there is a change from daily routine. This is, in truth, a good question highlighting our lives today – pretty routine and predictable (pre-Covid) and ability to constantly communicate. So, as there is helicopter parenting, there is helicopter paskening. If you are in the presence of someone who knows Torah better, you should not pasken. But what if the Rav is just a text away? in truth, phones already made Rav Feinstein available after he was able to get out of USSR, but it may be more a cultural phenomenon now as everyone texts.
You do realize that Jews were able to live kosher lives before texting, though? And life was also not always as routine. And people were used to change their own oil and make their own wool. Your question is then – are we allowed to continue act on our own when we can text the Rav or the parent? This related to Tzimtsum that Hashem, and wise parents practice.