Mumbai: Unless you're hiding under a rock, you would have come across posters with the guidelines you need to follow to protect yourself from COVID-19 put up at various parts of the city. Instead of helping citizens, they have caused a panicky situation, wherein people are on a spree of purchasing masks to protect themselves. This has led to a shortage of masks in the city. But despite this 'haste' in purchasing masks, what citizens lack is how to use the masks or in other words, the mask etiquette.
“Because of coronavirus, even people who do not know what a sanitiser is are now coming and asking for it,” said Kamal Jain, the manager of Kamal Chemists in Lalabugh. Jain claims the store has been out of stock for sanitisers for the past five days, and has received no assurances from his suppliers about when a fresh stock will be available.
Although the government issued an order stating that masks should be given to those who have a doctor's prescription, but it was learned that everyone want it and forcefully demand for them. “Local masks can be given without prescription, but N-95 mask should be given only when there is a doctor's prescription,” he said.
Panic about the spread of coronavirus has triggered a sharp spike in the demand for protective gear like face masks and sanitisers, but citizens lack a basic technique of using the mask.
Technique of using Mask
1) One should not touch the mask once they have worn it
2) Before touching the mask, one should disinfectant their hands so that the microbes should not be transferred
3) One should remove the mask using both the hands
4) Avoid touching the face after wearing the mask.
