Wearing a mask has become an everyday norm

One day, I left my apartment at the back of the compound to take a bus in front of China Daily. I had crossed the street and was waiting for the bus. When I tried to get in, the driver barred me from boarding and pointed to my face.

I had forgotten my mask. Cripes! I crossed the street, entered the compound and went back to my apartment.

Having retrieved my mask, I went back to the same bus stop, got on a bus, only to get off one stop later to visit the supermarket.

Welcome to the world of the mask, which is definitely not The Matrix, original or Resurrections.

It is not even the movie featuring Jim Carrey, where he transforms into a bald, green, machine-gun-mouthed character, spewing one-liners while saving the day with Cameron Diaz.

When I first arrived in 2019, I could zip around Beijing, maskless. Like everyone else.

No more.

Like my mobile, the indispensable accessory when living in a plague-ridden era is a face mask. The mobile health kit app, too, but that story is for another day.

I still remember the days when one could literally smell the air: spring, summer, fall and winter. You could take in the pungent odor of a storm drain. The musk of dog poo. The fragrance of bubbling noodles. The smell of crispy crackling skin on a roasted chicken or duck.

Joining the large crowds one late October day, we rode the cable car up to the Great Wall, like scores of others taking advantage of a gloriously cool sunny afternoon.

These days, one cannot go anywhere without wearing a mask.

You get into a Didi and a mask is required. You enter a department store and will be informed by the staff to put your mask on while having your temperature checked.

It doesn't matter what restaurant you go into, slap a mask on.

In a buffet restaurant, you don't go to the food counter without a mask lest you get sent back to your table.

Unlike the United States or other countries, a mask is not an "issue" here. People accept the mask because it is simply a matter of public health.

It is not a "freedom" thing. It is an "I don't want to die if you sneeze on me" thing.

The only time I ever take off my mask these days is when I am eating or having a drink.

It goes back on afterward.

The disease has permanently changed habits that were normal before the outbreak.

I doubt very much the situation will change, even if the disease fades or recedes into the background.

Whether we want to or not, like it or not, the once ignored face mask is here for good.

I haven't even tried going to the movies yet. Any popcorn I am munching is being done in solitary comfort in front of my TV set.

No sense looking back at those freewheeling days when no one was wearing that face covering which hangs from your ears.

Last winter, and now into spring, grabbing the mask is now automatic.

You grab your sweater or a spring coat. I still bring along a hat so my ears do not tingle.

I then put on my mask, and away I go.