GIVEN that their wearing was discouraged by Australian health authorities during the first round of this country's battle with coronavirus, the new embrace of the face mask is something of a U-turn when it comes to public health policy.
Compulsory outdoors in Victoria, and "strongly recommended" in NSW, the face mask has become more than an item of personal protective equipment.
In various countries, protesters have complained of democratic governments using "states of emergency" legislation to coerce their citizens.
They talk of "muzzles" and of deprivation of liberty by "the mask that enslaves".
There is no evidence that wearing of masks by the general public has a positive impact. In fact there is some evidence that suggests the opposite
Mike Ryan, WHO, late March
Victoria, too, has had a small number of protesters, but the "anti-maskers" are likely outnumbered by the corona-careless.
Day by day, a steady stream of incidents is highlighted by the authorities, trying to convince the (mostly) young and reckless to pay this invisible adversary more attention.
In the Hunter, the obvious surge in the numbers of people wearing masks as they go about their everyday business shows that conflicting advice or not, a crowd consensus is starting to prevail.
The mask works two ways.
It helps protect the wearer from airborne risk, but also reduces the chances of the wearer passing on an infection.
Nobody pretends the protection is complete.
This is acknowledged by the Victorian situation where even a bandanna tied around the face is a compliant covering.
The mask, then, is at least partly about keeping self-protection, and care for others, at the front of people's minds.
At the same time, the mask cannot become a symbol of invincibility to the wearer, because it is not.
One of the reasons why infection control specialists warned against masks first time around was because the masks themselves can become virus carriers.
We are advising governments to encourage that the general public wear a mask. And we specify a fabric mask - that is, a non-medical mask
Maria Van Kerkhove, WHO, early June
These sorts of concerns remain, but enough studies have been done on the pandemic so far to indicate that the mass wearing of masks does correlate to a meaningful reduction in COVID-19 transmission.
Fortunately, the situation in NSW remains relatively sanguine, compared with Victoria.
The best advice, especially for the ill and the elderly, is still to stay home where possible, and to remain out of crowds.
And to wear a mask, voluntarily.
If numbers do spike, masks will soon become compulsory.
ISSUE: 39,378.
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