As people are “tired”, masks will soon no longer be required in many indoor settings. Would we really be liberated, and from what?

MRT commuter among many with mask partially-off on the evening after the prime minister announced that face coverings would soon not be required indoors

By Ray Zhang

It was news many were waiting for. Like the rest of you, I saw PM Lee Hsien Loong make that announcement during his televised National Day Rally (NDR) speech early this evening (on MeWatch for me). Before Mr Lee concluded his address, I was receiving text messages from friends, expressing such immense joy at the “best news this year”, as one of them wrote. Mr Lee had just said that “…outdoors or indoors, masks will be optional”. It was amazing how so many people regarded (and still do) the wearing of masks with such disdain—even abhorrence—that jubilation was immediately palpable when the end of its use (in many public places, but not all) was announced to be near (the actual date isn’t made known yet). Mask on would be a thing of the past even when COVID would not. The two would very soon no longer be synonymous.

Rules pertaining to mask wearing outside our homes will be further relaxed, according to Mr Lee, to “prevent people from getting tired”. It is not certain if he meant physically fatigued or tired from wearing masks, even exasperated or weary, or just plain bored. It is amazing to me that even after more than two years of mask-wearing, we are unable to accept it as part of, say, our turn out. And that there are so many who would find all manner of excuses to not wear one, or wear them improperly, even if, as a result, unattractively. This evening, on my way home from dinner with friends, I saw and was amazed by the many commuters on the MRT train who wore their mask at half-mast, ready for total abandonment, even when the wearing of one would still be required in all public transport. A swift and affirmative reaction to the good news, I suppose.

Will this be a common sight soon?

Unlike most of my friends, Mr Lee’s much appreciated and lauded announcement brought me no instant joy. My first reaction was that I would continue to wear the mask when I am out and about, whether indoors or not. Would I then quickly be among the odd, to-be-mocked few? The thing is I do believe the mask has largely served me well. My family and I have avoided the virus since it arrived on our shores in January 2020. Even when minister of health Ong Yee Kung said last October that “sooner or later, every one of us will meet the virus”, I did not make it sooner nor a close encounter. Pre-COVID, I would not even want to meet good ’ol influenza. Why would Omicron and its variants and those before them be welcomed now? I am happy not to have any COVID stories to share, or to affirm how “mild” the symptoms were (even “disappointingly uneventful”, as a friend described her infection). I am repeatedly reminded, “you know you are in the minority”, and I am okay with that.

Last night, I attended a cousin’s wedding, a relatively small affair as it was organised and booked before large gatherings were allowed. Although there were repeated announcements throughout the unusually churchy evening that masks “must” be worn when not eating or drinking, very, very few bothered with the reminder (which by then should have been redundant). I looked across the ballroom of about 15 full tables, and counted only three guests (including I) who had a mask on when not ingesting or imbibing. A relative, seemingly uncomfortable with my steadfastness, said to me, “take off your mask, lah. Why? Scared to die, ah?” I did not think he deserved an answer and turned away to look at the just-wedded couple enjoying their fake shark’s fin soup, happy that my mask—four-ply, in a “misty blue”, picked to match my attire—was exactly where it belonged.

Photos: Zhao Xiangji

Those who were out and about without a mask were rather jubilant as whole faces got to bask in the sun. Surprisingly, there were not that many of them

By Mao Shan Wang

Today is a triumph for the “Badge Lady”. And her ilk. I can imagine her walking anywhere on Orchard Road or any open space without a mask and not be interrupted by un-badged individuals coming up to her to insist she wears one. Or social media stars hoping to score an interview to bank on her offline infamy to strengthen their online fame. Mandatory restrictions have finally met Badge Lady’s tenacity—admirable and reviled in equal measure. Although this day makes no real difference for those who persisted in taking an anti-mask stance, it is still a win for the likes of the recalcitrant Ms Show Me Your Badge. She can now be outdoors with her whole face for all to see and for breezes to kiss. Many, like her, can now walk on footpaths or void decks without the hated mask, and be free from the gaze of disapproving eyes.

Despite the relaxing of mask wearing for most outdoor spaces beginning today, not that many people have done away with covering up. This surprised me as I had thought that many had been waiting for this day to arrive. In fact, just after the news of this “significant easing” broke last Thursday, I encountered not an insignificant number of individuals bringing forward this day. Over the past weekend, pedestrians on a busy footpath near my flat were testing how far they could rid the mask ahead of time. Never mind if it was in broad daylight or under the cloak of darkness—they tried and got away with it. On Sunday morning, I overheard a wife telling her husband off when she was told to put her mask on: “Aiya, two more days. Now and Tuesday, what’s the difference?”

So I was really surprised by the humanity that embraced the outdoor today. Rather than the many full faces I had expected to beam at me, I witnessed mostly masked-up glum. At Raffles Place, the lunch crowd kept their masks on in unexpectedly large numbers. Perhaps it was because they were lunching in groups (in sixes, I kept seeing). Those who bared their faces were taking a cigarette break, expectedly next to dustbins. And those who truly delighted in taking on the world with no facial cover in sight—and talking audibly so I’d know of their glee—seemed to be mostly expatriate Caucasians. They were truly visible, enjoying the sun, coffee, and each other. Perhaps they were fast to act because this was the closest to getting back their civil liberties and personal freedom, without which life is hell even when a deadly virus is bent on spreading, and infecting.

I decided to take a train to Orchard Road. It was busier there than I expected. Then the sky darkened very suddenly—like Will Smith’s face yesterday—and, in an instant, it started to be very wet—like Will Smith’s face yesterday too, and the pedestrians disappeared. Someone up there clearly wanted to put the damper on the anti-maskers’ celebration outside. In case the excited people wanted to burn masks? I walked to the Orchard Road-facing entrance of Wisma Atria. It was quiet here. Instinctively, I moved to Ngee Ann City. The few people who chose to stay out of the rain, but were still outdoor, did not take advantage of the “relaxed restrictions”, as the easing has been called, oxymoronic as it sounds. I crossed over to Tangs. Outside was like inside—all wore a mask. In the thirty minutes that I stood where Tiong Bahru Bakery is, I saw just a middle-aged woman with mask off. That was one in, like, one hundred pedestrians! If you missed seeing joyful faces, you would still miss them.

Away from the four walls of home, I did not feel “a different vibe”, to borrow the phrase from one of this year’s hosts of the Oscars, Amy Schumer. It did not seem like the mask-off permission had kicked in. It was not that there were few takers; it was just not different from yesterday, the day before, or last week, even last month. While waiting for the rain to stop (and hoping to see more unobscured faces), I struck up a conversation with a mask-less chap who, too was waiting for the sky to clear. He was playing a game on his phone. When he caught sight of me looking, I asked, “is it nice to be with no mask?” He was annoyed with my question. “Don’t wear oso kena, what for wear?” I was not sure I was ready to countenance the displeasure. Or, his respiratory droplets landing on me as he huffed. Or someone else’s when they vociferate or when they cough. As my friends always say, I am prone to attracting those who love to express or expel.

That’s why I have chosen to keep my mask on. I didn’t come this far—more than two years—of carefully avoiding potentially dangerous situations so that I can stay healthy and safe to welcome the coronavirus into my body, even if it is supposed to cause only “mild” symptoms. Mild may not necessarily be pleasant for me. And I do not wish to find out if that would be true. Pre-COVID, I don’t even want to get the flu, so why would I hail the virus du jour. It does bother me, therefore, that social distancing in some settings are no longer necessary. Not going too close to anyone you do not need to be physical with is not only respecting the personal space of others, but also minimising the possibility of exposing yourself to forgotten contagion still present, such as tuberculosis. I am not being dramatic; I am being careful.

What turned out to be rather antithetical was that I saw more people without mask indoor than out. At one mall, a girl and a guy were allowed in even when their masks were chin cups. I politely asked the girl seated at a desk, manning the entrance: “Oh, they can go in?” She looked at me sleepily. “Their masks were not worn properly,” I explained. She turned to look at the couple’s fast disappearing backs and then mumbled to me, “Is it?” Inside, I quickly met bubble tea drinkers happily imbibing as they walked, even when the cups in their hands were empty. Curry puff addicts devoured there favourite snacks and talked excitedly at the same time, from point to point to point. As I went down an escalator, a man riding up opposite opened his mouth wide and inserted thumb and index finger to free whatever was trapped inside. Bad weather, you think?

It did not look like I was able to meet the crowd of open faces that I thought I would. Masks, it seemed, stayed committed to noses and mouths. Did the Prime Minister’s wish come true when he said during his address to the nation last week, “Let us all continue to exercise personal and social responsibility”? Or, did that many really heed his call? I was beginning to feel good about the future when I entered the Orchard Road MRT station to take the train home, a sense of certainty washed over me. The wearing of masks could be part of the return to normalcy! While waiting on the packed platform, flanked by commuters laden with shopping bags, an announcement came clearly through the PA: “Attention, passengers on the platform. Please put on your mask properly. Thank you.”

Photos: Chin Boh Kay and AB Tan

Even with the vaccine roll-out, it would still be a while before we could go mask-free. Yet, many people out and about are starting to go mask-less or half-masked. Is it really so awful and unbearable, one year on, to wear a mask? Even when new clusters of infection have emerged?

By Ray Zhang

It’s now more than a year since the Circuit Breaker was announced two Aprils ago. The mask has since become a must. But concealing more than half of one’s face can’t seem to be as habit-forming as burying oneself in whatever that’s coming out of one’s smartphone. Protection against a pandemic is not good enough a reason to put on a mask, but “inconvenience” alone is convenient an excuse to let the face go naked. In an unscientific poll I conducted to have a sense of why—even when I have already guessed—people are so resistant to masking up, “inconvenient” ranks at the top, followed by “heat” and “sweat”. Interestingly, three people even cited “ugly” as valid reason not to wear a mask. Which is kind of confusing when it appears to me that ugly fashion is still the rage. A neat little mask is ugly, but tattered-to-bits denim cut-offs not?

This morning, on my way to the supermarket, out of the first eight people I met on the void deck and footpath, two were totally mask-less, three had their mask pulled down to below their chin as they talked on the phone, one wore his below his upper lip, and one with the mask dangling from the ear, as naturally as a drop earring. Only one lady was kind of masked—she was wearing what in the middle east would be known as a burka. Until I finally saw a properly masked pedestrian, I wondered, was this a lull day for masks? Did I miss a public announcement? Was I the odd one out? Did I look ugly?

Despite the many ‘fashion’ masks now available, the mandated face covering can’t seem to catch on. It isn’t as though we have been forced to wear a balaclava. Or, a bra repurposed as a mask! Yet, the mask requirement is dreaded and frowned upon, as if it is a parental order. People find every excuse, every opportunity, every time to be bare-faced. “I’m eating,” they’ll say, and not an eatery or vendor in sight. “I’m drinking,” they’ll say, and the nearest bubble tea shop is at least two kilometres away. “I’m smoking,” they’ll say, and the puffing is conducted right in the middle of a bus stop. “I’m cycling,” they’ll say, and none appears to be training for the Tour de France. “I’m catching Pokémon,” they’ll say, and you’ll want to throw a Poké Ball at them. “I’m coughing,” they’ll say, and you’ll want to run far, far away.

Fashion will remember this past year for not only loungewear but also face wear. We aren’t referring to the pre-pandemic issuers such as Marine Serre (Financial Times calls her “the designer who saw it all coming”) and Off-White, but also other designer brands, from Burberry to Missoni, to the couture ones for auction and those given free at the Louis Vuitton show here last March. Masks ascended from the lowly surgical ones to those that deserve a spot on the red carpet, from those that are made at home to those custom-made in an atelier to go with a hat or a dress. In fact, I often see many who prefer masks that wouldn’t give the impression that the wearer works in a hospital or had just picked one from a box bought at 7-Eleven. There are now special occasion masks as seen by the many ang-pow red ones (and printed with Oriental motifs and zhuheyu [祝贺语 or auspicious sayings]), sold in Chinatown during the Lunar New Year three months ago.

Magazine editorials have been sharing stories with headlines such as “Where to buy fashionable face masks”. We didn’t really have to look far. As soon as the Circuit Breaker ended on the 1st of last June and we could resume shopping beyond essentials, masks of the fancy variety started appearing, from stalls in the wet market to those in malls. The first fancy mask I bought was from a friend’s cousin, who first made them at home towards the end of the Circuit Breaker to sell, in anticipation that people would want those not in that ubiquitous green/blue. She even allowed me to choose different fabrics for each side of the mask. And to add a pocket in the interior to allow a filter to sit in, as well as decide on the length of the ear loops. The transactions were done through WhatsApp! A fabric mask, I soon found, could be comfortable and breathable. The best part: they could be selected (assuming there are enough to choose from) as one chooses socks. That, for me, was the first step to incorporating masks for my OOTD.

Despite the mask’s fashion potential, it was not destined to be part of our outdoor life or sartorial choices. Many would find excuses to reject it. Or just appear to be wearing it—achieving various degrees of coverage, but never total or adequate to be considered safe. It is puzzling to me that after a year, and despite constant reminders, there are those who would not wear a mask properly, to minimise infection. You must have seen masks worn like some frivolous, any-how face apron, with nose exposed, or the spaces between the nose unsealed. Or, with those pleated masks, not stretched out vertically, but just plonked on, like a piece of Koolfever for the mouth. Those are on individuals at least situating the mask where it is meant to be. Others wear it anywhere but on the face. I have seen masks hug biceps, cup elbows, serve as bracelet on wrists, worn as an anklet, employed as hairband, chin brace, and neck wear. And just as I thought I was exposed to every possible not-intended use of a mask, I saw, on the upper deck of a bus last week, a snoozing man wearing one as eye mask!

When I spoke to people around me, I sensed that no one saw a deep divide in this country over the requirements to wear masks, unlike, say, in the US (and many other places too). There are those who just wouldn’t mask up, but are not against the mandate or opposed to it forcefully enough to need to prove it at the polls last year. And I don’t think scientific evidence for the usefulness of mask wearing is seen through partisan lens—they are just totally ignored. I sometimes wonder if, despite the MOH’s best efforts in educating the public, people just have no understanding of how the virus is spread, even now when dangerous and more infectious variants are evident. I continually see those who remove their mask to cough, to sneeze, to spit; to talk at the top of their voices and to laugh as if to let out something that can’t be contained inside. Audible and exuberant conversations rule! Just this afternoon, at Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf, a group of five garrulous women were cackling and howling behind me, unaware of the respiratory droplets they were jointly projecting. All of them were without masks even when it was clear to see that they had finished their beverages. They were having a rollicking good time. When I turned to look at them, they laughed even louder and harder, in blatant, eff-you defiance.

The pandemic has shown how in-your-face selfish people can be and how unwilling (or unable) they are to see how their actions and unthinking may affect others. Once, I asked a woman shopping at a supermarket to wear her half-mast mask properly. She replied, “why, you scared to die, ah?” How do I even begin to understand those like her, let alone react to such impudence? I wonder if the inability to wear a mask properly stemmed from the first reusable masks issued free to us by the government in April last year. They were uncomfortable and fitted poorly, but people still think that’s how masks are supposed to fit and sit. Those who wear their mask below their noses will claim that their snoot is “too flat” to hold the mask up. Those with a prominent proboscis will say it’s “too high” to be contained. Even when masks come with a firm flexible bridge that can be pinched to secure the top to the nose and to reduce the gap around it, when cloth masks and similar are designed for a more secure fit, when there are even 3-D versions, errant noses still must willfully stay outside the confines of a mask, like a sprout top.

Unusual as this might seem, I rather like wearing a mask. I am agreeable to the practice, I also discovered, because of the joy I derive from anonymity—to be unknown and be left unidentified, as if an apple in a crate of other apples. This, to be sure, isn’t the same as being incognito, which suggests deliberately having one’s identity concealed or being mysterious. Enigma is not my thing. Batman is not an inspiration. Rather, I have always liked to be lost in a crowd, even an individualist such as I. But as people flout mask wearing and social distancing, contrary to what our upbeat authorities would have us believe, I find that obscuring my face means I have more courage to gently remind the recalcitrant to play their part and, if the need arises—which, regrettably, is often, cast gentleness aside. There are those, I have witnessed, who would only act when scolded. Or, when they see seething anger.

But there are also those who are impervious to outrage. Or even the admonition of a public prosecutor. As I write this, news broke that the woman known as “Ms Sovereign” was defiant when charged in court for not wearing a mask and for being a public nuisance. CNA reported that she “had her mask below her nose throughout her time in court”. In fact, other reports noted that she arrived similarly half-masked. Unsurprisingly, as with many who must have no mask on (or can only wear them improperly), there is a reason: hers apparently medical, but it did not convince the court. She claimed to be suffering from asthma, but according to CNA, at the Shunfu Road wet market during the Circuit Breaker, when she was confronted for going mask-free, she “retorted that she did not need to wear a mask as she was not sick.” She was, more importantly, a “Sovereign”.

I suspect she was, and probably still is, the only Sovereign on our soil. But, she is, of course, not the only person who would expressly not wear a mask, Sovereign or just regular citizen. In my estate, I repeatedly see a man and a woman (unrelated) who are always bare-faced when out, since day one of the Circuit Breaker. Despite my disapproving eyes, they never seem to get the message. I wonder what excuse they might have if I were to confront them. Could it also be medical? Or simply mental? Once, out on an errand, I saw a middle-aged man going without a mask as he was jogging—shuffling, really—but, at the same time, carrying two bulging Fairprice plastic bags, one on each hand, and on the left, a long umbrella! Two school girls walking past, giggled at the sight. I think I was the one going bonkers not seeing the joke.

Update (9 May 2021, 6pm): It really happens! I have not exaggerated.

Illustrations: Ci Ke