After a few visits to the United States around the 2000s, I’ve always noticed that the Asian population of New York wears masks in every public venue and setting they’re in. My mother and I always found this strange. We would see doctors wearing masks only in hospitals back home in Guyana (back then). I also never bothered to ask or research why the Asians would wear masks, even if there isn’t a pandemic. After the COVID-19 pandemic, my understanding of the importance of wearing a mask became clearer. It turns out, many of them wear masks for different reasons based on their unique culture and country. In fact, the Japanese have been wearing masks since the 1950s. They wore them to protect themselves from air pollutants during the rise of industrialisation in Japan. The Japanese also would wear masks if they are sick with influenza to avoid sneezing onto others. The acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2002 forced Chinese, Taiwanese and other Asian populations to wear masks due to the deadly SARS outbreak. All in all, the Asians wore masks long before the COVID-19 pandemic. I’m hoping that this helps you to understand why it’s important to imbed it into our daily routine and even our overall culture as well.

The world we know today is a completely different world from what we knew it as in 2019-2020. From then to now, a whole lot has changed. I’ve written dozens of column pieces on the changes, impact and challenges faced by many during the global pandemic. Most people will tell you that the pandemic is over. We’re “free” to live our lives as they were in 2019, prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. However, the Centre for Disease Control and other related institutions disagrees with that position. Earlier this year, Guyana saw an incredible decrease in the amount of COVID-19 cases accounted for. However, as of May 10, 45+ new cases were recorded. Many will call me a pessimist after reading this but I tend to work with the facts presented in-front of me and if that means that I am not as optimistic as I should be about the proclaimed new “normalcy” we have—then so be it.

With the relaxation of certain restrictions and guidelines, many of us, including myself, would not feel the need to wear a face mask. A part of me simply wants to be “free” and a part of me wants to be responsible. After seeing the new cases, I realised that even with freedom, there must be responsibility. We should always hold ourselves accountable, even when we know there won’t be any repercussions to our actions. In this case, even though the guidelines are relaxed, it should be a moral responsibility to ensure that you do what is necessary to protect yourself and also to protect those around you. I couldn’t see it back then, but I can understand it now. Even after the SARS outbreak was over, the Asians still wore face masks to protect themselves and those around them. While I used this example of face masks, I hope you can apply it to almost every other decision you choose to make “post-pandemic”. It is also my hope that we take heed and learn from our mistakes. Over 40 cases have been recorded and within the blink of an eye, that can multiply if we are not cautious and careful with the decisions we make. The decisions we make as individuals usually add up to a collective failed effort or success story to the issues we face as a nation. If every single citizen of our country decides that they should do what’s necessary (relaxed guidelines or not) in order to remain safe and sound from the deadly COVID-19 virus—then that makes our collective chances as a nation better to combat the rise of new cases.