Hong Kong’s Covid mask rules are long gone, so why are so many children and teenagers still covering up?
- Anxious parents want young children to avoid infections, while some teens feel insecure showing their faces
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On a sweltering afternoon in Hong Kong, homemaker Shirley Lee watches over her son and daughter at a playground in Causeway Bay, holding on to their backpacks, water bottles and masks.
“I make them wear a mask except in open-air places. The influenza viruses and germs are spreading everywhere these days,” said the 40-year-old, who was masked herself.
“My children have been taking turns to fall ill, far more frequently than in pre-Covid times, so our doctor recommended wearing a mask in crowded places.”
Her children, aged seven and eight, are not the only ones covering up. Lee said many of their classmates were also wearing masks to avoid falling ill.
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.