In this epidemic, should ordinary people wear masks? In China, you may not be able to leave the community without wearing a mask, and the lessons since the outbreak of COVID-19 made the small surgical mask super important (Wong, 2020). However, the situation is completely different in the Western world. Mask culture is a little different in European and American societies, they generally believe that only sick people need to wear masks. As the epidemic spreads, this difference becomes more and more prominent. Although many Westerners have begun to wear masks, their health agencies and medical experts have repeatedly insisted that healthy people do not need to wear masks. Some people describe the world as 'two camps' composed of masks (Wong, 2020). That separation is due to different historical backgrounds and cultural resistance to the mask.
In Europe, the entire society repeatedly advocates the concept of ordinary people do not wear masks, healthy people do not need to buy masks, and rest at home when they are sick. In the European concept of health, wearing a mask is equivalent to being sick. On the other hand, for countries in Asia, including China, wearing a mask is a daily protective measure, which is basically common sense in social life and is easy for everyone to accept. Besides, protecting others, masks can also protect you from infection. In addition to the insufficient supply of masks, the European government also hopes to give priority to medical staff when resources are limited (Lauerman, 2020). And the Europeans do show cultural resistance to the mask itself. Therefore, when many people wearing masks appear in public places, it will cause panic and worry to society (Ansari, 2020). From the Europeans' point of view, masks are not to protect themselves, but to avoid spreading the disease to others (Borunda, 2020).
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Europeans do not consider masks to be a conventional protection measure. Society’s fear of wearing masks does have its historical origins. In medieval, the Black Death was rampant in Europe. Some European doctors invented the beak mask. The beak-like structure at the front is filled with aromatic substances such as cloves, used to cover the environmental odor and protect themselves by its sterilization function (Ansari, 2020). Therefore, at the beginning of the mask design, the main purpose was to prevent medical personnel and reduce the possibility of secondary infection. That is also a concept generally accepted by Europeans, so they believe that if they are healthy, they do not need to wear masks, only doctors and patients need to wear masks. Due to various historical reasons, European society has no tradition of wearing masks. Even today, some Europeans still think that wearing masks is a unique culture for Asians.
Under the influence of this epidemic, European and American society's attitude towards wearing masks has changed. The number of people wearing masks is gradually increasing. There are no precautions that can be overstated for this century's disaster. Wearing a mask is of course one of the most precautions that should be taken. Compared with the fact that few people wore masks or even discriminated against wearers at the beginning of the epidemic, the Western view of whether masks can prevent infection seems to face a turning point. The United States is a diverse country with the most advanced economic and technological level, attracting the top scientific research talents, but many conservative people are anti-intellectual, ignorant, and unbelieving in science. When people face a crisis, we should consider the scientific concept, not let the historical and cultural aspects shape the way we think, and have an open mind to accept new ideas.
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