The Hongcouver | Those Asian people wearing face masks amid coronavirus fears? They aren’t crazy, stupid or ridiculous, Vancouver
- There’s nothing particularly funny about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak – but some Canadians find Asians in face masks to be the height of ludicrousness
- Masks may not be necessary, but ridiculing them ignores the trauma Sars had on a generation of Hongkongers, and a responsible habit to prevent spreading germs
In early 2003, my soon-to-be wife and I developed a routine when we came home.
We would take off our N95 face masks and drop them in a bin by the door.
We would strip off in the entranceway in a thoroughly unromantic fashion and throw our clothes in the washing machine with a hearty slosh of Dettol. We then showered immediately, and retired to consider the unusual and frightening existence that was Hong Kong at the height of the Sars epidemic.
Which is why current and former Hongkongers like ourselves find nothing particularly funny about the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak.
Yet some Canadians make sport of the face masks being worn with increasing regularity in places with big east Asian populations like Richmond, just outside Vancouver.
When I tweeted about this phenomenon, some respondents assessed Asian mask wearers to look ridiculous, or like idiots.
