Unable to wear mask – and bullied for it
Most passengers are reaching for a face mask to travel on public transport, but for those with mask exemptions, their fellow passengers can be unkind when it comes to not donning a face covering, one health organisation says.
Wearing a face covering during alert level 1 is mandatory in New Zealand during journeys on public transport and domestic flights, but the Ministry of Health has a small number of exemptions.
These include children under 12, people with asthma or a disability, and conditions that make wearing a face covering unsuitable.
Asthma New Zealand chief executive Katheren Leitner said some patients who were unable to wear a mask were being condemned by other public transport users.
‘‘We’ve had several approached by other passengers that are wearing masks, quite angry that they are not. Our patients say they get more flack from other people on public transport than [from] the drivers themselves.
‘‘It’s other Kiwis that can be quite ruthless.’’
She said Asthma NZ dealt with a variety of people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), at all different levels from moderate to severe.
Some wouldn’t leave home without a mask on, while others would not leave home at all because they couldn’t wear a mask.
‘‘They find the mask is suffocating for them because they already have a big enough challenge breathing,’’ Leitner said.
COPD is a group of diseases including emphysema, chronic bronchitis and certain types of bronchiectasis that affect the lungs and airways, causing breathing difficulties.
Fifteen per cent of New Zealanders over the age of 45 have COPD, while one in eight adults are on medication for asthma.
Respiratory disease is the third leading cause of death in Aotearoa.
Leitner said people with these conditions understood the requirements on public transport and knew the rules protected them.
‘‘However, the mask does impact their ability to breathe comfortably,’’ she said.
‘‘Don’t underestimate the potential embarrassment and/or guilt those people feel. Because they want to be part of society and they know what’s right.’’
Nanotechnologist and science educator Dr Michelle Dickinson, also known as Nanogirl, said research showed masks were highly effective if worn properly, explaining that particles could only travel up to 6 centimetres rather than 2.5 metres if no mask was worn.
Nelson Marlborough Health’s clinical director of public health, Dr Stephen Bridgman, said that given the wide range of health conditions involved in mask exemptions, ‘‘you can’t necessarily tell if somebody has one of those conditions just by looking [at them]’’.
It was ‘‘important for people to stay kind, and don’t judge’’, he said.
The Nelson City Council’s general manager of infrastructure, Alec Louverdis, said it had ‘‘initially supplied some face masks for NBus passengers while people were adjusting to the new requirement’’.
‘‘Drivers report that there were some conversations between passengers about mask wearing when the rule first came into place, but since people have come to understand the rules around exceptions these conversations are now the exception, not the norm,’’ he said.
‘‘We are pleased that the vast majority of people on buses in Nelson who are required to wear a mask are doing so.’’
An Air New Zealand spokesperson said there had been ‘‘a handful of instances’’ where its employees had been presented with exemption documents.
‘‘Air New Zealand continues to support and implement government requirements and its own conditions of carriage that require passengers to wear face coverings. The airline will honour exemptions as per government requirements, and Air New Zealand employees have standard procedures in place to deal with customers who fail to comply with crew instructions.’’
Nelson resident Judy Crowe recently travelled between Paraparaumu and Nelson on a Sounds Air flight without a mask.
She said personal reasons for not wearing a face covering included almost drowning as a child and being prone to panic attacks if something was over her mouth.
Crowe said she didn’t have formal documents to board the plane, but she was told by airline staff that in future she would need to carry a medical certificate.