From Singapore to Japan masks have stayed firmly on, likely making the latest COVID-19 outbreaks much more manageable.
| On March 25, a week before wearing masks outside became optional in Singapore, the national mastheadIn cartoon style, it described what to do if walking from home to a coffee shop, or taking a bus to the park, or a train to the shopping mall. Defining outdoor from indoor had never seemed so complicated.
It’s a similar story across much of Asia. In Japan, where mask wearing is voluntary, more than eight in 10 are happy to cover their face when in public, according to data compiled by the University of Washington. That compares to about 11 per cent in Australia.as yet another wave of COVID-19 infections swamps hospitals and causes suffering and loss. For those looking on from afar, it seems odd that this simple - and cheap - pandemic precaution is not already in place.
While experts differ on the degree to which masks will reduce infection, there is virtually unanimous agreement that a surgical or multi-layered cloth mask when worn properly is a good thing given that, as much as we would all like to be over, the pandemic persists. “Mask use has reduced and that’s logical - once people got vaccinated, they felt protected, they felt they would probably not get sick. The problem is, they can still spread the infection to vulnerable people. This is why masks are important,” Chughtai says.
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