nevanji madanhire THE mask mandate, which the government through the Ministry of Health and Child Care continues to renew does not make much sense. One needs to just go into the suburbs, all of them, low-, middle- and high-income, to see the situation on the ground.
Only in the city centres, where idle police details roam, does one see people masked up fearing to have to pay bribes to the police officers. Even then the masks are not worn properly; in most cases they are worn like some grotesque neckgear; nowhere near the mouth and the nose.
The reasons the public have quietly resisted masking up are several but the most important is that the wearing of masks seems to have nothing to do Covid-19 but is now a weapon of control.
And when authority arbitrarily moves to control, people resist. Statistics provided by the Health ministry itself show that new Covid-19 cases are on the wane in spite of the fact that people do not generally put on masks. So, the efficacy of the mask as a preventive measure is next to zero, at least this is the general perception.
Zimbabwe has generally been spared the worst of Covid-19; for a population of 15 million to have only 6 000 deaths; that is miniscule. Moreover, only a third of the population have had the required two vaccine doses. Even fewer have chosen to have the booster jab. This adds to the apathy people have shown towards wearing masks.
For the mask mandate not to be seen as a weapon of control, the ministry should roll out an education campaign on why people should continue to put on masks and how. Experts and researchers have said wearing masks on its own does not prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus especially the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 sub-variants ravaging some parts of the world right now.
The Ministry has not continued to educate the populace on how to wear the masks properly. How many Zimbabweans know, for instance, that for masks to be of any help the following regimen has to be followed?
Wash or sanitise your hands before and after taking it off;
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Make sure it covers your mouth and nose and fits snugly under your chin, and keep it in place;
Not to touch the front of your mask while wearing it or while taking it off;
Use a new mask every time (if wearing a single use mask); and
Wash and dry after each use, and store in a clean dry place (if using a reusable mask)
Most Zimbabweans use and reuse the-often-blue surgical mask; you can tell the masks have been reused by the changing colour. Reusing them makes the user susceptible to infection not only by Covid-19 by other pathogens that may have stuck unto them. Renewing mask mandates without rolling out a concomitant education regime is an exercise in futility.
