DailyOh! Should you wear (or not wear) masks?
Hi there,
The numbers of coronavirus positive cases in India has crossed the 2,000 mark. The number of deaths is over 50 now. With some people not coming out on their own to get tested and not declaring their travel history, we all need to be very concerned about the spread. Concerned, not panicky. Being concerned will ensure we take all the precautions needed.
Most people are staying at home, washing their hands frequently and maintaining hygiene at home. The problem arises when we step out. You know we all have to step out to buy everyday essentials such as milk and vegetables. One of the questions that has left many confused is whether they should wear a mask. Now, we tell you to always listen to the experts. On this question, however, experts have spoken in different voices. Some say wear, some say don’t. Let’s help clear the air.
Basically, some experts said you don’t need a mask if you are healthy, so that panic-buying could be avoided. Panic-buying would lead to drying of stocks and then people like doctors and other health workers, who most need it, may not get it.
So, if you are healthy, buy a normal mask. Even a cotton cloth is okay to cover your nose and mouth. This will ensure that if you step out and encounter someone suffering from Covid-19, you are protected. In any case, a mask doesn’t harm. It will only protect – against pollutants, viruses and bacteria alike. It will also keep you from constantly touching your face, mouth and nose. There are people in India who used to wear masks even before the coronavirus pandemic. They did that to save themselves from pollution.
In Japan, however, masks are more common than in any other country in the world. And not just for health reasons. But when it comes to health, it’s not the fear that others are sick and may pass on the infection to you that gets the Japanese to wear masks. Quite the opposite, actually. The Japanese wear masks to ensure that if they have an infection, they should not pass it on to the other person.
They extend that courtesy to public toilets as well. Leaving toilets dirty is considered a mark of disrespect to others. Not doing so is considered disrespectful. You can be anything in Japan, but not disrespectful.
Masks are also worn in Japan to hide physical deformities and on days one doesn’t want to wear makeup. While Japanese can avoid wearing masks for these two reasons, wearing it to ensure others don’t get an infection has our thumbs up. We should learn that from the Japanese. And one man in particular needs to learn it. He is Maulana Saad Kandhalvi, chief of the Tablighi Jamaat.
Some videos that emerged yesterday, show Saad telling people gathered at the Nizamuddin Markaz to not care about social distancing because social distancing is 'un-Islamic'. Frankly, we do not know what Islam has to say about social distancing, but what Saad should have known is religions evolve with time. Religions that do not evolve mostly perish. Now, even if religions stay, people might perish if they do not practice social distancing.
For now, Saad has himself perished. We mean he is in hiding. The Covidiot Of The Day, however, says he isn’t hiding but is in self-isolation on the advice of doctors. If you want to know more about the man, read this.
After imperiling the lives of so many people and creating a nightmare for those trying to track the spread of the disease, Saad is not following what he preached. That’s nice. It will be nicer if others also did not practice what Saad told them.
But what is Tablighi Jamaat and why do people follow it?
The Jamaat is basically a society that aims to spread the Islamic faith, quote like Christian missionary organisations. It was set up nearly 100 years ago by Deobandi Islamic scholar Maulana Muhammad Ilyas Khandhalawi as a religious reform movement. The organisation was, however, hardly preaching any reform.
Estimated to have 150 to 250 million members primarily in South Asia, the Jamaat members only work among Muslims teaching them ways of life practiced by Prophet Mohammed.
Another incident of criminal stupidity, however, has been reported from Indore in Madhya Pradesh. When health officials reached Tatpatti Bakhat and Silawatpura area of the city, they were attacked with bricks and sticks.
People suffering from coronavirus are recovering, the same can’t be said of people suffering from stupidity. But this is beyond stupidity, this is criminal behaviour. The police forces are already over-stretched; we don’t know how this will be brought under control.
Sharing this video, however, reminds us that we need to share another important information with you. In order to take on video-content app TikTok that is a hit with youth mostly, YouTube is reportedly coming up with Shorts. With summer just round the corner, we know you are banking on your shorts too, but that is a different matter.
Much like TikTok, Shorts is expected to allow users to upload short videos inside the YouTube app. Competition is great for consumers. So, good that this is happening.
YouTube is now established as online viewers’ first choice for music videos, makeup tutorials and cooking tips. But do you know what YouTube was originally meant to be? A video-dating website!
According to co-founder Steve Chen, YouTube was designed as a way for people to upload videos of themselves talking about what kind of a partner they would want. The slogan the founders came up with was, “Tune in, Hook up”.
Never mind if YouTube turned out to be something else. There are other platforms for you to date on. Anyway there is no dating happening in the times of coronavirus, unless you count virtual dates.
In the times of coronavirus, the world is undergoing huge changes. American President Donald Trump used the Defense Production Act to order automobile manufacturer General Motors to produce ventilators. Do you know, Defense Production Act is a legislation which allows the US government to direct industries to produce what the country needs during wartime? The order to GM was later revoked because Trump thought GM can’t do the job fast enough.
But we want to tell you more about the Defense Production Act. No, it didn’t come in the wake of the World Wars. Rather, it came into effect on September 8, 1950, in response to the start of the Korean War. By that time, the Cold War had started and this law was brought in to assist the American government in the Cold War. America has used the law over 50 times since then, so its use isn’t really uncommon. The law allows the US President to demand limited production of things he considers essential when the country is in crisis.
People world over are anyway doing the best they can to help others by donating money or things that people need, to cope with the virus. In India, people are also being shamed for either not donating, or donating too little, and even over donating to Pakistan.
Cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Harbhajan Singh are drawing brickbats for donating to the Shahid Afridi Foundation. We say that’s stupid because as Yuvraj Singh said, we need to be together in this.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi wouldn’t have called a SAARC meeting if India could fight this alone. The world has to fight this together.
These men have played cricket together, can they really forget each other during what is now the world’s biggest crisis? So, let’s stop this unnecessary criticism and do our bit – in whichever way we can.
Now, let’s just reflect on the word donation because it is our Word Of The Day. Donation comes from the Latin word donum, which means gift; and then donation, which means "presenting, giving". The Oxford dictionary defines donation as “something that is given to a person or an organisation such as a charity”.
Now, this obviously means you cannot give something that is not yours as a donation. We know you know that but our politicians don’t. Some of them, also some news portals, are saying they have donated part of their MPLAD to fight coronavirus. MPLAD is basically the money that each MP gets for the betterment of her constituency. Similarly, MLAs get MLALADS.
We hope our politicians would get it.
And if you were feeling bad that fellow Indians in Kerala can get liquor, while we can't, here's some relief. The Kerala High Court has stopped the sale, calling it a recipe for disaster. That sure is bad news for Kerala tipplers.
On that note, we will say bye for today.
We will be back tomorrow.