MASKING THE ISSUE

Even when the pandemic is over, you shouldn’t shove your face coverings to the back of the drawer

- MICHAEL MOSLEY

A couple of years ago, if you had seen people in the streets or the shops wearing a mask, you might have thought they were a bit eccentric. Nowadays, the opposite is true. We have become entirely used to this. But will we go on wearing masks when the immediate threat of the coronavirus has receded? I suspect not. Unless COVID-19 rears its ugly head again, I can’t see those masks going anywhere other than the back of a drawer. This is a shame, because I suspect we will see a lot more flu around in six months’ time (last winter saw remarkably few cases) and wearing a mask could make a difference.