Why so many young Hongkongers continue to mask up long after Covid restrictions have eased

A year after the city lifted its Covid-19 pandemic mask rules, some Hongkongers have continued wearing the face coverings, especially on public transport and even on the street.

Experts said the heightened health awareness helped to shield the city from the recent flu surge.

But some children and teenagers have been found to be keeping their masks on to maintain a barrier with other people or to conceal what they consider physical imperfections.

Warning of potential implications for the youngsters’ mental health and development, youth workers and doctors said more resources were needed to help them.

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The plus side of wearing masks is that they encourage responsible personal behaviour and help keep illnesses at bay.

“This is a good thing, as children are taught to wear a mask whenever they feel sick,” kindergarten principal Nancy Lam Chui-ling said. “They are not driven by rules, but their own hygiene awareness.”

Lam, who is also vice-chairwoman of the Hong Kong Federation of Education Workers, said about half of her pupils had been told by their parents to keep a mask on, especially during the flu season.

“They have classes as usual, take off their masks during tea time and put them back on afterwards, and they all have a mask keeper in their school bag,” she said.

Lin Chun-pong, chairman of the Hong Kong Association of the Heads of Secondary Schools, said some pupils were also wearing masks, which he thought was “a wise and responsible choice to protect themselves and others”.

“They cherish their school life more than ever after three years of the pandemic, so they would prefer keeping a mask on to avoid falling ill, which would keep them from school again,” he said.

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Dennis Ho Kai-yin, founder of local mask manufacturer Acc Biotech, said sales were down sharply compared with during the pandemic, but the market still existed as many people made a habit of wearing masks for health reasons.

“Some businesses such as restaurants, supermarkets and luxury stores, have continued to order masks for their employees regularly, and some companies also buy them as a backup.”

Professor David Hui Shu-cheong, a respiratory medicine expert at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, said mask-wearing – and the higher vaccination rate – helped to keep a lid on the number of people who fell ill during the recent winter influenza surge.

For some teenagers, however, masks are about more than preventing illness.

“I feel more confident with a mask on, it makes me look better,” Form Four pupil Sharon Yiu, 15, said.

She was in Primary Six when classes were disrupted by the pandemic and wearing masks became compulsory for the next three years.

Yiu said she stopped covering her face for a few days after pandemic restrictions were lifted last year, but then decided she preferred to keep her mask on because it gave her “a confidence boost”.

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“Masks have become a part of my life, I can hardly imagine going out without one like in pre-Covid times,” she said, adding that about half the pupils at her school still wore them.

A 17-year-old boy, who asked to be identified only as Chun-hin, said he also continued to wear a mask because he was anxious about his appearance.

But when he started his final year of school last September, he decided it was time to go maskless.

“It felt good, but I found it awkward to laugh heartily or make facial expressions, so I would cover my mouth whenever I laughed too hard,” he said.

Now he only wears a mask when meeting strangers or at his part-time job as he is wary of people he does not know and wants to avoid falling ill.

Chun-hin said being around his friends made him feel less insecure about his looks, and he needed to feel confident enough on his own to stop wearing a mask.

In a survey of 2,500 pupils from Primary Three to Form Five last May, the Evangelical Lutheran Church Social Service found that more than four-fifths continued wearing masks because of health concerns, low confidence in their looks and instructions from their parents.

Last September, the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups surveyed 5,000 secondary students and found that half still wore masks, with many saying they needed “a sense of security”.

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“Masks became a tool to cope with the psychological stress they felt during puberty and made them feel safe,” said Stella Hou Sze-nga, service director of the church organisation.

She felt they just wanted to prevent drawing attention to themselves, the way some pubescent girls would wear a jumper even in hot weather to hide their physical changes.

If mask-wearing had become the norm for some teens, she saw no reason to tell them to stop.

“But this is an opportunity to check in on them, understand their concerns and give them more encouragement,” Hou said.

She said schools could also organise more activities where participants would have a chance to remove their masks, such as sports events and barbecue parties.

Hou said she believed wearing masks for security was a transitional phenomenon in the post-pandemic phase.