Letters | As coronavirus fears spark scramble for face masks: are they any use beyond giving a sense of control?
- While people rush to buy masks, including N-95 face coverings that provide higher protection, medical workers who urgently need them are facing a shortage
A day before my flight to Hong Kong from Boston, my dad called to remind me to wear a mask for the duration of the flight. But when I went to my school’s health centre to ask for masks, they were hesitant to give them to me. The health centre said most masks were not effective in preventing infection. I took a couple anyway.
When I boarded my flight, I realised every single person had a mask on. Wearing a mask has become required social etiquette during the Covid-19 epidemic. So if masks are “not effective”, in that they don’t offer substantial protection against Covid-19, why do we still insist on wearing them?
The nonsensical purchasing and use of masks seems to be motivated by fear, more than anything else. People like to have control over their lives and, they believe that, amid the Covid-19 epidemic, wearing a mask is one way they can obtain that sense of control.