Be a hero by wearing a mask

INDEPENDENT Media has today launched a timely and important awareness campaign to bo;ster continued efforts to help flatten the spread of Covid-19.

A critical element of curtailing the disease is the use of face masks.

However, there is a dire shortage of medical-grade face masks in the country – and the world.

Health-care workers on the front line of combating this disease and caring for those infected are our everyday heroes – holding the key to life or death on a daily basis.

They need these face masks. To combat the shortage and to interrupt the spread of the virus, Independent Media has conceptualised an awareness campaign that has several important potentially life-saving aims.

Among these: alleviating the shortage of medical masks required for health-care workers by encouraging everyone to wear masks when leaving the house for any reason – masks that they have made themselves, at home.

There is also the added benefit of satisfying the human need to do something worthwhile while on lockdown, and this could be a great family project, as well a wellspring of practical education for younger children.

A series of advertisements will run across all the Independent Media titles around the country. The publications will contain a cut-out pattern for a face mask, with easy, step-by-step instructions on how to make it.

Independent Media acknowledges that cloth masks are not of the same standard as medical masks. However, in accordance with now international best practices and guidelines, the wearing of cloth masks has been shown to have a positive effect in stopping the transmission of the coronavirus.

The need for mask-wearing will increase as South Africa heads into winter and traditional flu season.

It is therefore critical to do as much as possible to interrupt the transmission of Covid-19 as soon as possible. Independent Media therefore urges the public to be heroes and wear a mask.

The “Heroes Don’t Wear Capes, They Wear Masks” campaign forms part of Independent Media’s ongoing social awareness programmes.

Other notable campaigns have included “Racism Stops with Me” and #MyPromise, a campaign to highlight and help prevent gender-based violence.

To share the story and encourage more people to participate, IOL has launched a Facebook gallery and competition, with R500 Loot vouchers up for grabs, on @IOLNews (on Facebook).

Be a hero, too – make your mask and wear it.