Despite End of Mask Mandate, Most Koreans Continue to Wear Masks

The Korean government is really going to have to promote and set the example to get people to stop wearing masks when they have been socially conditioned for so long to wear them:

People wearing masks get off at Gwanghwamun Station in central Seoul on Jan. 30, 2023. (Yonhap)

“I am sure that the government decided to revise the rule as it is certain about managing the virus situation. But I still want to wear the mask for the sake of myself,” Kim said as she was waiting in line for her latte at a Starbucks store in Seoul’s Seocho district.

Just like previous days, most of the people in the store masked up while waiting, except for when they were drinking or eating.

Most commuters also kept their face masks on in indoor areas of public transportation and even outside transportation hubs as they viewed masking as something between a habit and a security.

“It feels a little awkward to take off my mask,” Chang Joon-won said as he was coming out of a subway entrance in Seoul’s Seocho district to head for work. “It has become like a part of me.”

All of the around 30 people waiting for a subway train at Seoul’s Dongdaemun Station wore masks. 

“It is uncomfortable, but I will continue to wear a mask as the COVID-19 pandemic has not yet ended,” Kim Soo-ah said. 

Teachers, students and school staff showed mixed emotions about the end of the school mask mandate, as most students opted to wear face coverings while going to school.

“Nothing will immediately change, as kids are used to (wearing masks),” Park Soon-ae, a mother of two daughters, said as she escorted her kids to Daerim Elementary School in Seoul’s Dongjak district.

Over a 30-minute period, only one student showed up at school without a mask.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

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setnaffa
setnaffa
1 year ago

Training elephants story comes to mind. Some people WANT to be slaves.

Historically, many elephant trainers have engaged in a practice known as elephant chaining. The concept is simple. When an elephant is a baby, you tie them to chains or ropes that are too strong for a baby elephant to break through. As they struggle against the rope, it burns and tears into their skin, causing pain as they try to free themselves. To avoid that bad feeling, they stop trying to escape. As they grow to a full size, the trainers will continue using the same flimsy ropes that an adult elephant could easily break through. The elephant, remembering the pain of struggling against the rope, will never again test it to see if it can escape. The rope, no matter how weak it may be, will hold the elephant forever.

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
1 year ago

“I have spent 3 years having government force unnecessary mandates on me,” stated Mr. Kim with a hurt look. “I certainly am not going to simply give that up just because the government made yet another arbitrary decision.”

In other news, the Korean Office of Statistics placed an additional offset of the national bell curve to better reflect the percentage of people who need to be put to sleep.

Flyingsword
Flyingsword
1 year ago

Fools

TOK
TOK
1 year ago

It’s difficult to have 100% mask off when the Korean government stipulates that mask should be worn on public transport.

When one goes to work, he/she has to put on a mask to get on the subway, and then take it off when he/she gets off.

It becomes bothersome to the point, that some people may decide to keep it on.

IMO, stipulating masks on public transport while not stipulating them in other indoor locations with the exception of pharmacies and hospitals doesn’t make sense.

I say get rid of the mask mandate for public transport. The sooner the better.

setnaffa
setnaffa
1 year ago
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