Covid-19 crisis Enforcing the wearing of mask
I saw a few videos, shared through social media, about the difficulties faced by the enforcement officers in getting people to wear the mask. The officers were pleading with the public, often in a loud voice, to observe the regulations. 

Who is to blame for these incidents? 

a) The public who does not comply with the new regulations?
b) The enforcement officers who are adopting the enforcement in a rigid manner?

Here are my views.

I blame the ministerial task force for issuing regulations in a hasty manner and without thinking through the practical issues.

Many people still do not have the face mask. Or they may have a mask, but it has to be washed before it can be reused.

While it is advisable to wear a face mask in a crowded place, there is no need to be rigid in forcing people to wear the mask when they are walking alone or with a family member, and there are nobody else around. 

The enforcement officers should be more flexible, especially during the first week of implementation of the new regulations.

It is uncomfortable to wear a mask when walking in the open and under the hot sun. It is difficult to breath. 

There are four stages.

a) No need to wear (if you are well)
b) We will not discourage wearing the mask
c) We now encourage you to wear the mask.
d) Everybody must wear.

We move from (a) to (b) and immediately jumped to (d). Why did we skip stage (c), i.e. we now encourage wearing the face mask? There is no need to hurry to step d so quickly

Although the ministers have adopted stage (d) now, they should advise the enforcement officer to apply stage (c) for the time being, before moving to the strict measures under (d).

Tan Kin Lian
 

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