On Feb. 26th, 2020, when an Italian went to work with a mask to prevent COVID-19, his workmates thought he was "causing panic(恐慌)". You might wonder why the East and the West have different ideas about wearing masks.
In the West, people wear masks only when they get sick. People see masks as a tool(工具) to protect sick people and prevent the disease from spreading, so healthy people don't need to wear masks. Wearing masks in public easily makes them feel "worried" and "shy". They are "afraid of being looked at differently."
However, it's common in Asia. During the 2003 SARS epidemic, masks were widely used in China and East Asia. Many Chinese also like to wear masks to stay warm in winter or protect against air pollution.
In Japan, wearing masks shows your politeness when you get a cold or the flu. Some masks even have different colors and drawings. Young women may wear masks when they don't have their makeup on. Many pop stars in Asia also use masks to protect their privacy(隐私). This makes people in the East wear masks more often when epidemics break out(爆发).
But as the number of COVID-19 cases keeps on growing around the world, people in the West are changing. Many healthy people are starting to wear masks now to protect themselves.
