[OnlyLiveOnce]

Looking back, we can now better understand the recommendations made by some countries and authorities during the early days of Covid19 advising the general public not to wear face masks if well but only do so if sick.

There were good reasons for these advices as most face mask factories in China were closed for CNY and the pandemic appeared with little no warning catching most countries with pants down. There was also a general worldwide shortage of face masks and personal protection equipment (PPE) during the festive period at that time. The low stock of face masks and PPE stocks were also urgently needed by the personnel in the medical and front-line agencies. Also, the understanding of Covid19 at that time was flimsy with quite a proportion of the patients appearing not severely affected. Few experts knew anything about the disease and there existed asymptomatic patients displaying little or no symptoms. The situation was made worse when Taiwan, an important exporter, stopped the export of face masks and the subsequent mad rushes by people in China and elsewhere to grab and buy all stocks of face masks and PPE in medical stores worldwide.

Of course with the hindsight now, it is obvious that everybody should be using a face mask from day one. It is so easy to make this comment now!