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Panicked shoppers queue up for face masks

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People queue up for face masks at Hanaro Mart in Jongno District, Seoul on Saturday. Hanaro Mart headquarters distributed 550,000 masks to its 319 stores in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province over the weekend. Consumers were allowed to purchase up to five masks each. / Yonhap
People queue up for face masks at Hanaro Mart in Jongno District, Seoul on Saturday. Hanaro Mart headquarters distributed 550,000 masks to its 319 stores in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province over the weekend. Consumers were allowed to purchase up to five masks each. / Yonhap

Information gap between Korea, abroad about face mask benefits

By Kang Hyun-kyung

On Saturday, when I entered the fenced site that houses two grocery stores ― Hanaro Mart, one of the biggest grocery stores in my city, Gimpo, and the aptly named Local Food store, I was struck by a surprising scene.

People had formed a long line near the front gate of Hanaro Mart. It was 8:55 a.m., five minutes before the store's opening time. Wondering what it was all about, I asked a young man wearing a Hanaro Mart uniform why there was such a long queue. "Masks," he said. "People began to wait here from early in the morning for masks."

I had seen people in long lines waiting to buy face masks in photos and TV footage of the southeastern city of Daegu, which was hit hard by the coronavirus outbreak. However, it was surprising to see a long line of people anxious to buy face masks right in front of my eyes in my neighborhood. The long queue for face masks illustrates how truly nervous people are.

The coronavirus has triggered a paradigm shift in the lifestyle of Koreans.

Once bustling shopping streets and theaters are suddenly empty. But when you do see people out they are almost all wearing face masks. People have been staying at home and shunning public gatherings. Many choose to order online when purchasing groceries and other necessities rather than going out to the shops. Some are hoarding commodities, in preparation for the worst.

On a personal level, the most striking characteristic that distinguishes my life before and after the coronavirus outbreak is the disappearance of "weekend tranquility."

Hanaro Mart and Local Food, which sells locally-grown vegetables, fruit and other products, are two of my favorite places that I always visit on the weekend.

I like the idea of locally-grown products as it brought back fond memories of an organic personal care shop I dropped by in Carmel-by-the-sea, California, years back. The owner proudly told me that all the products in his shop were made with ingredients extracted from certified organic plants grown in California.

Whenever I go to Local Food, I think of that shop and its proud owner who was eager to expand his business in Korea. As an early morning person, I would usually go to Local Food to get supplies for the week ahead. Before the coronavirus, few people were around in the morning. I liked the wide selection of products Hanaro Mart offered to its customers. Once done there, I would move to the next store, Local Food, for locally grown vegetables.

But the luxury of my weekend grocery shopping disappeared with the arrival of the coronavirus outbreak.

The two grocery stores are now crowded with panicked shoppers at all hours. People have started hoarding instant food, ingredients and other products, particularly those for sanitization. A week ago when I was there, I saw a shelf in which several 1-liter plastic bottles of disinfectant were stacked. All of them were gone and had been replaced by more expensive spray-type sanitization products. I heaved a sigh of relief, because I bought five of them a week ago.

I found overall prices of vegetables went up ― potatoes, onions and tomatoes were more expensive than they had been the previous week.

As expected, the shelf for face masks was empty with a note telling customers what happened. It reads, "There are currently no masks today. We are sorry for the inconvenience. We don't know when we will have them back in stock. We'll do our best to have them as soon as possible."

Outside Hanaro Mart, there was a makeshift face mask sales area from Saturday as the headquarters has managed to procure 550,000 face masks per day and distribute them to its 319 stores in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province.

Each person can purchase up to five masks. Of course, they were sold out in minutes.

A sheet of paper on a shelf at Hanaro Mart in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, informs customers that all masks are sold out and it is not known when they will be restocked. / Korea Times photo by Kang Hyun-kyung
A sheet of paper on a shelf at Hanaro Mart in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province, informs customers that all masks are sold out and it is not known when they will be restocked. / Korea Times photo by Kang Hyun-kyung

Psychology behind face masks

The panicked shoppers make me think of the difference in thinking regarding face mask use between Korea and abroad.

Wearing face masks became a must for Koreans after the coronavirus outbreak. On the bus daily commuters have been hearing a recorded announcement about how to prevent contracting the coronavirus. It encourages people to wear face masks and wash their hands frequently.

While face masks have become a norm in Korea under the guise of "staying healthy," doctors and health experts outside Korea advise differently.

Experts say wearing masks doesn't help prevent people from getting infected with the coronavirus because surgical masks or KF 94 masks that many Koreans are now wearing don't filter the virus.

In a video, Christine Francis, a consultant at infection prevention and control at the World Health Organization headquarters, said such masks "cannot protect against the new coronavirus when used alone."

Francis pointed out that hand hygiene and other preventive measures must also be taken. In fact, the WHO only recommends the use of masks in specific cases; for those experiencing fever, coughing or difficulty breathing. The WHO does not recommend wearing a mask if you have no symptoms.

Korean American doctor Charles Cho in Los Angeles reiterated the view, saying healthy people don't need to wear masks.

In the worst-case scenario, he said virus infection would be inevitable. "If masks get wet due to breath or cough droplets, or both, they could become a virus breeding ground," he said in a video uploaded on his YouTube channel.

Roger Seneult, co-founder of the medical lecture site MedCram, said a surgical mask can help prevent a patient with symptoms from spreading viruses by containing their cough and sneezing droplets. Those masks help people prevent touching their noses and mouths with their hands, he said. But he also said those masks cannot filter virus.

Some Koreans are aware of this fact. But such information hardly discourages them from taking off their face masks.

Panicked mask shopping appears to be a psychology-driven phenomenon.

As of Monday afternoon, five people in my city were confirmed to have been infected with the coronavirus and dozens of others who were in close contact with them are under quarantine. The youngest of the infected is a 16-month-old baby girl of a couple who went to Daegu in mid-February for a relative's wedding ceremony. Her parents were also diagnosed with the virus and are being treated in hospital.

I checked Gimpo City's Facebook post about the family's itinerary before they were taken to hospitals. Many details of their lives were disclosed, including when they went to Daegu, how many days they were there, and the workplace of the man. His workplace, E-Mart in the neighboring Goyang City, was shut down for a couple of days for disinfection shortly after he tested positive for the coronavirus.

After having symptoms of a respiratory disease, the 30-something wife called the clinic and explained her symptoms to check if she had been infected with the virus. She was recommended to go to a nearby hospital. That very hospital was shut down for a few days for disinfection after she was confirmed to be infected with the virus.


Kang Hyun-kyung hkang@koreatimes.co.kr


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