Most people appear to be wearing masks in the streets and on public transportation on March 1. - AFP
HONG KONG (Bloomberg): Hong Kong just ended of one of the world’s longest mask mandates. Yet that’s produced little visible change, with most people appearing to wear masks in the streets and on public transportation on Wednesday (March 1).
The rule, which made face coverings mandatory in all public places and violators risked a minimum HK$5,000 ($634) fine, was lifted at midnight, more than two years after it was first imposed. The move was announced by the city’s leader, John Lee, on Tuesday.
Lily was one who prefers to continue to use a mask.
"I don’t feel safe not wearing one,” said the 42-year old professional, who asked that she be identified by only her first name.
"I’ll keep wearing one to ensure that I don’t get sick. I will wear it for about six months or so to feel safe and adjust.”
While some other major Asian cities also made masks mandatory during the pandemic, such as Singapore, none kept the rule for as long as Hong Kong. chief executive Lee said the dropping of the mask mandate, the last remaining major social distancing restriction, meant Hong Kong is "completely returning to normalcy.”
Natalie, a 29-year old worker in the real estate industry who also asked to be identified by only her first name, said she was nervous about going mask-free on Wednesday morning.
"I suddenly became the minority,” she said. "But I can finally breath without a mask. I can wear make up. It made me happy!”
Another relic of the pandemic era was also consigned to history on Wednesday. Penny’s Bay quarantine camp - which came to symbolise the intensity of Hong Kong’s Covid Zero approach - was decommissioned Wednesday morning as a band played Auld Lang Syng and an official placed a giant fake padlock on the entrance gate.
Previously, travelers and infected people including babies were forced into government-run isolation centers such as Penny’s Bay, where they had to endure spartan conditions and attempts to escape could result in jail time.
