The Central Epidemic Command Center on Thursday last week lifted the outdoor mask mandate, a move that could be seen as an important symbol of returning to pre-pandemic life as the world enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, about 80 to 90 percent of people in Taiwan still wear masks outdoors. This has led some people, probably those who are desperate for life to return to pre-pandemic times, to reproach those who wear masks as showing signs of servility, saying that they would have otherwise discarded their masks.
Masks have been the simplest, most individual and most effective measure for slowing the spread of COVID-19, but they have also been a symbol of the controversies surrounding preventive measures.
When the pandemic broke out three years ago, rallies against mask mandates popped up across the US and Europe, while misinformation “debunking” masks’ effectiveness at reducing COVID-19 transmission circulated online.
There have also been incidents in which people who refused to wear masks attacked people who complied with mask mandates.
In the initial stages of the pandemic, when COVID-19 drugs and vaccines were not available in the nation, Taiwanese complied with the mandate by putting on masks to protect themselves and their families, and even found mask refusal movements in Western countries ludicrous. Now that the mask mandate has been lifted, it is inappropriate and unfair to brusquely equate masks to a symbol of servility.
A symbol’s connotation and meaning are often given and determined by a nation’s culture, history and ideology. From this perspective, even masks cannot escape becoming a symbol in Taiwan.
Masks have undergone a dramatic shift in imagery: Once a symbol of Taiwanese’s high compliance with COVID-19 preventive measures, it is now an ugly symbol that stands for a servile society reluctant to return to a free, pre-pandemic life.
Turning the mask into a deeply embedded symbol is a reprise of what had happened early during the pandemic, when preventive measures were “unscientized” into becoming ideological contests.
For Taiwanese, who generally have an economic mindset, masks are cheap and accessible, and they are the most effective tool to block droplets and reduce contagion risk.
The mask mandate has saved people the trouble of remembering to put their masks on and removing them when getting on and off public transportation, or upon leaving a public space. Masks also do not cause inconvenience or pose a danger to other people.
Therefore, even though the outdoor mask mandate has been lifted, the majority of Taiwanese are still wearing them. This is nothing but a result of rational thinking and should not be interpreted as servility, cowardice or shunning of freedom.
People should not criticize or make fun of mask wearers on social media. Besides reducing the risk of COVID-19 infection, people might have many reasons for wearing a mask. Wearing masks is none of other people’s business.
There is no need to encourage others to take their masks off, as if it is a social or political movement. People who want to transform the end of the mask mandate into an ideology that transcends personal rationality are no different than the critics who were finding fault with every preventive measure early in the pandemic.
Chang Yueh-han is an adjunct assistant professor in Shih Hsin University’s Department of Journalism.
Translated by Rita Wang
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