Hyderabad: Even amid the continuous advice of health care experts to continue using face masks and hand sanitizers after the arrival of the vaccine too, people seem to be turning deaf ear to the warnings. Saying that those are not effective anymore based on personal experiences of contraction, they are refusing to buy safety gear against the virus.
In Hyderabad, the sales of the masks and sanitizers reduced to as much as 80 per cent, especially from October, said the vendors.
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, almost every individual bought masks and sanitizers in excess, so much that they became scarce and costly in the early weeks of April. Ten months down the lane, things changed. Even the hospitals that had bottles of sanitizers at the entrance, do not have them anymore. The stores too stopped stocking masks and sanitizers as they previously did.
Bhuvaneshwar, a 49-year-old, who earlier worked as an employee at D-Mart and was removed due to the COVID-induced economic crisis, runs a mask stall. “The sales have drastically gone down compared to the beginning of the pandemic,” he said, speaking to siasat.com, adding that there are hardly fifteen people who buy masks now.
“We initially had sales of Rs. 1000 every day, each mask would cost Rs 30 but now, even after reducing the prices to Rs. 18, we are earning between Rs.150 – Rs.200,” he said. Sundays for them are very dry and these mask sellers are now looking for alternatives.
Md. Mukkaram, who recently recovered from COVID-19, said, “I wore a mask very sincerely and used sanitizers whenever I went out. But nothing helped, I tested positive and was on treatment for almost a month. Mask and sanitizer made no difference to me and that is the reason I am not wearing one now.”
However, Dr. M. A Wahab at Virinchi Hospital urged people to wear a mask and use sanitizer. “People should know that it is only the lockdown that was lifted, but not COVID-19. It is still a serious thing and we all should know that we have a family and take the basic precautions at least.”
Until November, the city police charged Rs. 1000 for not wearing a mask, but now they stopped doing it. A police official, on condition of anonymity, said: “We can only explain its importance to the people; to wear or not to wear a mask is in their hands.”
