*Please feel free to repost the followings to any social media platform
COVID-19: why do asian wear masks?
It is very disheartening to see that history time and time again just repeats itself.
Two months ago when the COVID-19 outbreak in wuhan and other province of China became out of control, asian countries who have had experience of SARS, decided not to follow WHO’s advice (because they have repeatedly failed us during the SARS period and obviously during the COVID-19 outbreak).
Hong Kong and Taiwan, having extensive connection and interaction with China, managed to contain the virus simply because we have learned our lesson in 2003, lesson learned from the loss of hundreds of people and healthcare professionals.
We decided to wear mask despite being condescendingly laughed at, aggressively assaulted in western countries, labeled as uneducated hysterical panicky individuals. We decided to shut down schools, non essential government and medical services as well as unnecessary social interaction and gathering when it was only the beginning of the spread.
Yes, we did all these because we value the lives of our citizens and healthcare professionals. Because we don’t want to let what happened in 2003 happen again in 2020, only that this time we actually have the upper hand to prevent this with our experience from SARS.
But guess what, we were THE ONLY ONE applying what we learned from history. It’s not uncommon to see the following arguments from western countries
1. You do not need to wear a mask if you are not sick
-> I do not know how many times I must reiterate this until someone apply some logical reasoning.
A. ASYMPTOMATIC carriers exist.
B. Definition of sick varies among individuals. People go to work and school all the time even when they are down with influenza. When have you ever seen someone (excluding Asians) wearing a mask to see GP when they exhibit URTI symptoms in Australia?
C. Risk appraisal varies among individuals. Some people are very risk averse and prefer to wear a mask if they believe they MAY BE sick, there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s a responsible and informed decision for one to make, not for random stranger to judge.
2. You only need to wash hands and do good personal hygiene, mask is unnecessary
-> of course one can only do ONE THING at a time huh?
A. Proper surgical mask has been SHOWN to be EFFECTIVE against DROPLET transmission pathogens, which COVID-19 is primarily transmitted through. There are multiple studies published during and after the SARS period by Hong Kong and Taiwan scholars.
B. It’s the same as saying if you diet, you don’t need exercise to lose weight. No one says good hand hygiene is unimportant, but why can’t you wash your hands and wear a mask? Why must these two things be mutually exclusive.
C. A mask is not expensive nor is it a nuclear weapon. Stop discriminating people wearing mask.
3. Improper use of mask does not provide protection but increased risk of infection
-> I AGREE completely. So please EDUCATE the public how to wear a mask, not tell the public not to wear a mask
A. Improper use of condom pose infection risk, should we just tell the public not to wear one? For heaven’s sake, teach them how to put it on!
B. There are many videos on YouTube with detailed explanation on how to wear and dispose a mask.
There are many more arguments like this, but if you apply logic and do your very own literature review, plus obviously empirical evidence now that almost all asian countries successfully contained the virus, may be you can finally appreciate why we wear mask.
It is a responsible act to protect yourself and your family and friends. Get educated and stop discriminating masks or Asians.
