The other day, I was walking to work and I passed a group of local seniors who were having a great time by the side of a road, talking and drinking. Although a usual occurrence under normal circumstances, the state of immediate prevention measures had recently been announced by the government and none of them had a mask on as they sat out in the open, in an area where a number of people would be passing by.
Later, on my walk home from work, I spotted some people, of varying ages, with either their masks fully or halfway down, just below their nose, or they were simply going around without a mask. Amid the ongoing battle against the COVID-19 pandemic and new cases, as well as more red zones popping up, there are still people who don’t seem to take into account just how important it is to wear a mask or at least wear one properly.
“The government will take care of us!” Some might say, and continue to add that “we trust that Macau will be fine!”, and I agree. I cannot emphasise enough how well the government has been handling the situation and how active it has been in its attempts to contain the nasty virus. Some of those who share the same sentiment, however, could also be the same ones who keep their masks down and decide not to go along with other preventive measures. With this in mind, instead of supporting efforts, they might be contradicting them. How can the government effectively continue to carry on with preventive work if there are some who could be putting themselves and others at risk?
Some might pass this off as someone simply overreacting or overstating the importance of a mask, but considering that new cases have not stopped popping up, with some of those recently confirmed even coming from the self-tests, there are prevention measures for a reason. It is not simply overreacting and if one chooses to state that they can pull their mask down while out and about because they are not infected, can you say that you are absolutely sure that you and those around you are not?
“COVID is old news and only Macau is treating it this way” said a few commenters on social media once the news about the current outbreak started spreading. To that, I think we can say that the way that the city has been treating it has been effective. Why have we been as safe as we were for such a long time? Maybe we can say that it is a mixture of both compliance and the government being as active as it is to ensure everybody’s well-being. We need to maintain the compliant attitude and remember why it is important to follow measures, old and new, as COVID-19 has been popping up for nearly three years. It might be limiting to others and some might argue against the measures for a multitude of reasons, but with fear and the rise of cases, it is of the absolute importance to remember that we need to do things to reduce risks and support the efforts of those who are working tirelessly and putting themselves at risk to ensure that the situation does not get out of hand.
