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face mask: a burden or a boon for public

By: Dr. Ajay R. Jayswal, Quest Pharmaceuticals P Ltd

COVID-19 has been a significant threat to people's health and countries'healthcare systems and changed their social, economic, and psychological well-being. Following guidelines and instructions suggested by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D•C) and state orders during the pandemic, individuals have been informed of using protective measures to prevent virus spread.The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is currently perceived as one of the greatest global threats, not only to public health and well-being, but also to global economic and social stability.

While the first two decades of the third millennium were characterized by crisis—most notably the economic downturn of 2008 and the looming climate change—the spread of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus originating from China has given rise to most drastic societal and political responses. These included measures as severe as states forbidding citizens from leaving their homes and effectively shutting down all social and economic activities.Another array of research uncovers the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on energy consumption.During the pandemic, the residential sector consumed higher energy with the growing demand for renewable energy since people mostly stayed at home or used work-from-home scheme

Wearing a face mask and practicing social distancing in public, have added new behaviors and habits to the lifestyle of people around the world.Although wearing masks in public has been mandatory in various states in some stages of the pandemic, studies highlight that achieving a goal of widespread mask-wearing adoption in the USA has faced significant challenges even in the presence of federal and state policies.Individuals against wearing masks may have varying reasons and justifications to oppose it.A study mentioned that previous reports mainly focus on a particular factor (such as personal reasons or public mistrust) to describe why some people refuse to wear face masks during the pandemic

For example, a study attempts to identify the main topics posted by Twitter users containingpersonal opinions about wearing masks to discover the rationale of those against mask-wearing.Covering faces with masks can affect social interactions and people'sability to recognize and identify others. There are several barriers and obstacles explained by many users and researchers. However based on the effect, it is uncommon to categorize them into several sections. The main logic of categorization is the similarityof themes. The barriers are classified around three main themes

1.Opinions on physical and interactional side effects

2. Perceptions on socio-cultural determinants, and

3. Perceptions on usefulness and effectiveness of masks.

For instance, wearing a mask can cause skin issues such as rash and acne. Rashes and redness around the mouth may develop due to sweat and moist vapor between the mask and the skin.

Also, face masks may cause people to overheat and disrupt normal breathing, leading to respiratory diseases. Wearing a face mask makes the exhaled air, flow into the eyes and creates an uncomfortable feeling. Wearing face masks may also weaken face recognition and face cues identification. Moreover, wearing a mask would cause problems with understanding speech during interactions. Misunderstanding language, auditory signals, and gestures in social interactions can obstruct the interpretation of visual signals and facial features

Thus, people may move closer together to understand conversations properly, exacerbating infection risk.

Generally, during the COVID-19 outbreak, some individuals think corona virus is not as severe as the media suggests.Thus, people engaged in denial may not look for the facts and not follow personal safety measures such as wearing masks in public .Thus, they believe that widespread mask-wearing is an overreaction influenced by the wide publicity in the press, and coronavirus is not as threatening as what news tries to spread.

Conflicting messaging from health officials and state governors could prevent people from realizing educational messages on mask-wearing

The absence of mask-wearing culture refers to accepted social norms about wearing masks in public. Since wearing a mask in public has added to people's habits after the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no solid culture to adopt this new behavior. For instance, people may feel that others will think they are infected with coronavirus by wearing masks since cultural norms dictate that only sick people should wear masks. Some people who refuse to wear masks believe that mask-wearing has negative connotations, such as being odd-looking and wired

People may also deem that other protective practices are better and more effective alternatives than masks against the spread of coronavirus (such as washing hands or social distancing).

The mask-wearing measure, along with other personal protective practices, could significantly contribute to controlling the COVID-19 pandemic

Following initial confusion around the utility of face masks for slowing down the spread of COVID-19 pandemic, there is increasing scientific evidence to support citizens' wearing of face coverings, albeit the public health advice and legislation vary from country to country

In South Korea, it is common to wear a mask to keep the cold from getting worse in the winter and to prevent the spread of cold to others. Also, as the yellow dust from China and fine dust became much severe, it was common for many people, especially children, to wear masks even before the corona crisis. For this reason, many families even had a lot of masks in their homes before the corona crisis

The public statement made by wearing (or not wearing) the face mask did not only address the political standpoints but have also been used to communicate various societally relevant statements, i.e., stating ethnical, religious, or cultural affiliations .What was exemplified in many narratives is that individual usage is not meant predominantly for an individual's self-protection, but the decision was based on people's relationship to others

The citizens' question “should I protect myself” evolved into “can I protect the others?

The concerns and misinterpretation about face mask usage have been intensified following the inconsistent recommendations made by various health authorities at different stages of the pandemic.However, the refusal by some people to wear face masks may be considered a careless measure to protect the community from COVID-19 and also reflect the willful disregard of the regional or state-based mask instructions. By addressing concerns and barriers associated with mask-wearing,the general public can obtain adequate knowledge on deciding when the appropriate situation is for using masks and how to properly use them during the pandemic

This can be done by providing effective education campaigns to the general community on the importance of widespread mask-wearing and appropriate ways to obtain transparent information about mask-wearing guidelines. The findings are applicable by proposing that continuous and systematic communications to citizens can create social norms, nurture mask-wearing culture, establish effective behavioral changes, and minimize confusion about the effects of mask-wearing on preventing coronavirus spread during the pandemic

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