My first box of masks in 2020

Yesterday, on the eve of a second lockdown in England, I used up my first box of masks this year. 

It is one of the few boxes of EN14683 Type IIR masks I ordered on 26 January, i.e. 2nd Day of  Chinese New Year. Wuhan had just gone into lockdown. Long queues formed outside Hong Kong's pharmacies, often before sunrise, for surgical masks that may or may not come on sale at 10 or 15 times their previous price. Perhaps I'll want to send some to friends & family back in Hong Kong, I thought, so I went to Boots' website and placed an order with them. 

My first box of masks this year

A few hours later I tried to place another order but it got rejected. Boots had run out of surgical masks. 

When the masks arrived I posted them all save a single box of 50 to Hong Kong. Why did I do that? I certainly thought I most probably wouldn't need them, but, well, it wouldn't do any harm to keep a box on the top of my bookshelf anyway - just in case. 

Surgical masks stayed hard to buy for months. We learnt casting our nets beyond the UK with the help of national registries of online pharmacies established under the European Directive 2011/62/EU (thanks), but it seems many people did as well. In the end, I only managed to get 15 more boxes from Germany, which were also airlifted to Hong Kong. 

The situation was better with hand sanitisers. They had gone off the market for a week or two, but they were back by mid-February. In the few happy days when Chinese case number had started to fall, but outbreaks in Korea, Iran and Italy were still in the future, Boots even did a 'Buy 2 Get 1 Free' promotion with their pink, Valentines themed, 100mL bottles of sanitisers. I got a few dozens, kept one for myself, and posted the rest. 

It had turned out to be my only bottle throughout the first lockdown.

By March the flow of masks reversed. I received two boxes of unsolicited masks from my family: one I later found out to be of the anti-dust, anti-pollution variant, and another contained 50 individually-packaged masks. "Overpackaging!", I thought, but they did come handy on my trips five months later. 

In April I also received two homemade fabric from my friends in Cambridge. They have been very useful on short errand trips. 

But this trusty box of Type IIR masks remained my best for a long while. Sturdy, breathable and with a strong aluminium strip that prevents steaming up when properly fitted, I saved them for my longer trips away from home. I cycled with them to Putney, to Windsor and to Cambridge. I used them on my flights to and back from Heidelberg too. 

As England goes into lockdown again, it might be useful to reflect on how far we have come since the first one. Both disposable and fabric masks are now easily obtainable at reasonable prices, and I counted 70% compliance with masking in Stratford Centre the other day. Hand hygiene - and public hygiene in general - have improved. We may not be where we want to be, but we've come a long way. 

And we'll be alright. 

"We'll be alright", handwritten on a lunch delivery bag today. 

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