Masks
by Kenneth Lyen
The Covid-19 pandemic has put a spotlight on masks. Advocates promote their use to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, whereas heretics, including some famous leaders, pooh pooh their usage. Fortunately scientific evidence is heavily in favour of the wearing of masks to curb the diffusion of this virus. Most of us are wearing masks. We are literally changing the face of the world.
If you are bored with wearing the traditional surgical masks or the N95 mask, you can choose from a wide range of masks, or make them yourself.
Even children, who have difficulty keeping masks on, are slowly being persuaded to don smaller masks. It takes a bit getting used to wearing them because it gets quite hot under the mask, and breathing is not so easy. If you have an effusive runny nose, your mask is quickly soaked with your nasal discharge.
You would have thought that wearing a mask prevents you being recognized by others. Have a look at these famous people. Do you think their mask disguises them? How many of these leaders can you recognize?
They say that misfortune often gives birth to creativity. Masks represent that creativity. Here they are making a fashion statement.
My friend, Winnie Woon, has allowed her creativity to blossom during this pandemic. She has been hand-making beautiful personalized masks for individuals, revealing a hitherto undiscovered talent. Below are examples of her art that is now being unmasked!
The hearing impaired have requested special face masks that have transparency around the wearer’s mouth so that they can lip-read their friends and teachers.
Humour has sprouted everywhere, sometimes a little bit bizarre. The picture from the left is a copy of the “beaked doctor”. It was a costume worn by doctors during the plague of 1656 which killed 145,000 people in Rome and 300,000 in Naples.
Below are some famous works depicting the art of wearing masks!
Even statues are given masks to wear in case they catch the SARS-CoV-2 virus!
It is sad that some world leaders, who are supposed to set an example, are stubbornly adhering to their erroneous beliefs that masks are totally useless. It has been shown repeatedly that masks prevents you spreading your coronavirus to others, and also protects you from catching the virus from others.
It has been noted that Asian countries that have a much higher percentage of people wearing masks are correlated with a much lower rate of spreading of the coronavirus. There could be other factors involved, but at this stage it would be sensible to continue wearing masks until the pandemic is gone. So please wear your mask, and stay safe.
Written by Kenneth Lyen
7 June 2020
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REFERENCES
Sui Huang: COVID-19: We should all wear mask - new scientific rationale
van der Sande: Professional and Home-Made Face Masks Reduce Exposure to Respiratory Infections among the General Population
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2440799/
World Health Orgnisation changes mind and now recommends wearing face masks: https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/who-changes-covid-19-mask-guidance-wear-one-if-you-n1226116
POSTSCRIPT
Oops I nearly forgot. We are now living in an inclusive world, so we must not discriminate and leave out other animals, including our pets!
