Items

• 
  2020-07-22

  Not Wanting to Wear a Mask During a Pandemic

  HIST30060: Making History From 22nd July 2020, it became compulsory in Victoria for everyone to wear a properly-fitted face mask when out in public. This was indeed commonsense for a lot of people, many in the streets already starting to wear face coverings before the official ruling came into place. But just because it’s commonsense does not mean it is at all easy or comfortable or that it will not be the cause of what is now known as ‘mascne’. At first, the adrenaline rush of it all meant that wearing a mask felt kind of cool, and made everyone look like a spy, or at least made you feel like one. And it was quite entertaining to see people taking it all the way with their creative face coverings. But after a while, it was kind of annoying to put on a mask to take out your rubbish, made afternoon walks a bit more sweaty on the face (and noisy with the sound of your own muffled breath from being puffed, also caused by the reduction in exercise during quarantine). But with all the minor inconveniences of wearing a mask during a pandemic, you are mostly thankful it’s compulsory in your city, especially when someone on the bus coughs.