A Chinese friend told me that he was stared at weirdly in the Paris metro wearing his mask. Yesterday I heard that an Asian woman wearing a mask was insulted and expelled from a train by the other passengers. Incidence like this has triggered lots of debate and anger on the internet recently. But before jumping into the battle of anti-discrimination, what draws my attention first is the different usage of masks in China and in France during this coronavirus crisis:
According to the French Ministry of Health, one is encouraged to wear a mask only when showing coronavirus symptoms. Wearing a mask by the non-sick population to avoid catching the disease is NOT recommended. People are encouraged to wash hands often and to cover their mouths when they sneeze or cough.
In China, people have been educated that wearing a mask is a way to PREVENT or decrease the chance of getting infected by the coronavirus, as well as avoid passing the virus to others. That’s why so many Chinese people race to buy masks for themselves and their families. What’s more, after living through SARS and the pollution PM2.5, protecting one’s health with a mask has become a habit.
As a result, to a French, wearing a mask indicates that someone is already sick, while for a Chinese, wearing a mask is also a self-protection measure. This different interpretation of wearing a mask may have caused misunderstanding and public panic.
Anyway, wearing a mask does no harm to others, on the contrary, it protects us especially that the coronavirus has an incubation period of 1-14 days, so even a person without any symptoms can also be a virus carrier. So next time you see a Chinese tourist in a metro wearing a mask, there’s no need to be scared.
偏僻地方既 drugstore -- tried one today -- the staff took an old empty box (looked like a 20 year old paper box) to show what type of masks they had, CAD 50 for box of 50, or CAD 1 each. (The old box said 12.49.) Asking for 20 masks (supply was low so save some for others), she started counting ONE BY ONE with her dirty fingers on the masks themselves (instead of just staring at the side). Without the box, not sure what are these masks ...
加撚好撚橙
decorus2020-01-29 11:35:14
熱L死
東北狗2020-01-29 11:37:59
True patriot love, in all of China command
decorus2020-01-29 11:42:16
Because 星期三 (Waterloo time) news of Wuhan shut down came out ...
黑洞裏2020-01-29 11:43:15
有冇人知美國amazon買寄加拿大得唔得
~AllahuAkbar~2020-01-29 11:43:55
有堆人係咁
和平得耐..世間險惡完全唔知
香港都係近排先覺醒
呢D國家要經歷大事先醒
寧作飛灰2020-01-29 11:44:09
Chinada死幾十萬人
decorus2020-01-29 11:44:36
Saw a recipe:
55ml 95% ethyl alcohol
5m glycerine
10ml boiled water
Source: Dr Kwong (講 TG o個 個)
多崎作2020-01-29 11:46:20
我今晚唔想loop住呢首歌瞓覺啊
多崎作2020-01-29 11:47:20
你講佢係補習天王咪得囉
綠帽鹿角2020-01-29 11:48:12
U of Waterloo出名工程
不知幾多支那學生
美利堅合眾國2020-01-29 11:48:34
蠢貨
decorus2020-01-29 11:48:45
Once you're out of the main cities, the population is pure white ...