Hi everyone! Today marks about two months into flu season at my school, and we’ve suddenly come upon a problem: mask shortages!
In Japan, masks are a much more common sight than in America, and people wear them for a number of reasons. The most common ones are either you’re sick and are protecting others by wearing a mask or you don’t want to get sick so you wear one to keep safe. I usually wear masks for the latter. While they are by no means 100% effective at staving off everything, they do provide a nice barrier when a small child happens to violently cough in your face during class. They also help keep you from touching your face, something some studies say we do more than twenty times in one hour!
Masks also become mandatory at school during flu season. It’s been bad this year; at one point we had over 30 students and 3 teachers out sick! It got better, but now another strain is burning through. The masks are still mandatory, and I knew I was running low on them; so I took a trip to my local grocery store. However, they were completely sold out. I went to the local convenience store and a pharmacy, and they, too, had no masks. They even had signs up telling people that shipments were going to be delayed and that customers were restricted to buying one pack each.
That’s right, even in middle-of-nowhere Japan we are feeling the effects of the new coronavirus. Not only is demand far outstripping supply everywhere on this side of the world, but most masks are also made in China which is adding to the problem. People are even going so far as to steal masks from hospitals, most likely to resell them for a profit.
With this in mind, I actually thought about making a reusable mask; it makes more sense since I have to wear one everyday, and I’m tired of throwing them out. Such a waste! The only problem is that I don’t have a sewing machine, nor do I really know how to sew. I might cave eventually and try to make one; this pattern looked promising.
Until then, it looks like more excessive hand washing and vitamin drink chugging for me! I’ll keep you posted!
How’s the mask situation where you live? What do you do to keep the flu away? Let me know in the comments!
