Sunday 12 June 2022 12:07 AM Why face masks are here to stay and Australians should just accept it trends now
Wearing a face mask was the most obvious, and for some the most infuriating, sign of Covid but even with pandemic rules all but gone, they are here to stay.
There's every chance masks will become a positive legacy from a divisive period brought about by public weariness over the way governments managed Covid.
The reasons mask use will endure is, believe it or not, they remain popular and Australians are now wearing them out of an acceptance that we should keep our germs to ourselves to protect others.
Don't believe me? Look around next time you visit the supermarket or local shopping centre.
Wearing a face mask was the most obvious, and for some the most infuriating, sign of Covid-19 but even with pandemic rules all but gone, masks are here to stay
Masks are no longer required and yet people are still wearing them.
They are mostly worn by older Australians or by those who have a reason to protect themselves such as people with weakened immune systems.
But masks have made the public considerate of others too. Most of us would surely agree we are far more likely to wear one if we feel sick than before the pandemic.
While it was at one point unpopular with Covid rebels, mask-wearing appears to have morphed into a neat mix of commonsense and personal responsibility.
It's ironic that, given most of the opposition to mask-wearing has come from the right of the political spectrum, that widespread voluntary wearing of masks is a classic small-l liberal idea.
Yes, Covid is still with us but it's now a different public health issue. It is being properly dealt with as a major health concern for vulnerable Australians - not the general public.
Nobody wants to go back to policing public health mandates, least of all Dan Andrews. His fate will be determined by voters in Victoria's state election in November, and then it's NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet's turn in March 2023.
Wearing a face mask was required for much of the pandemic but the requirement to wear one outdoors ended months ago in most parts of Australia
There is little appetite from anyone to go back to policing public health rules. Pictured: NSW police take to the sands at Bondi to enforce the 5km exercise rule and to insist those who are not swimming or exercising are wearing a mask in September 2021
So how did we get so comfortable with masks?
Before 2020, face masks were mainly worn by surgeons and people going to fancy dress parties.
When Covid-19 was declared a pandemic in March 2020, wearing a mask quickly topped the list of recommended health warnings.
They were a commonsense and highly popular response to the virus. Nearly two and a half years later they still are.
Whether masks always work as well at containing the virus as they should doesn't seem to matter, people like wearing masks.
Don't believe me?
The facts don't lie. We didn't grudgingly accept mask-wearing, we couldn't get them on quickly enough and often enough.
Although the public is no longer required to wear masks shopping many people still do (people shopping at Woolworths in Brisbane in February 2022)
But at every so-called freedom rally, you could still spot people wearing face masks amidst the anti-lockdown protesters
According to one estimate, in just one month of 2021 people wore more masks than there are galaxies in the observable universe.
Sounds incredible but it's true.
Last March the University of Southern Denmark estimated 129 billion masks were worn every month worldwide, roughly three million a minute.
To use a metaphor a little more down to earth, masks were more popular than coffee.
For every cup of coffee consumed every day somewhere on earth, two people were pulling on masks.
At the 2021 rate of mask usage, globally we used more than three trillion masks throughout the pandemic, a demand creating its own problems.
Yes, of course masks were mandated. But we happily complied. The protests in Australia were mostly about mandatory vaccines, not mandatory masks.
Most NRL fans are seen wearing masks at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane in July
