Unmasked: The mask business is a picture of chaos

Why read this story?

Editor's note: The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday directed the state government to ensure that those found without a face mask in public were sent to COVID-19 care centres to perform community service. Drastic much, I hear you say, but probably called for given that the pandemic is showing no sign of abating. Gujarat has recorded over 200,000 cases so far, with 4,000-plus fatalities. A week before that, the Delhi government bumped up the penalty for not wearing a face mask in public to Rs 2,000, from Rs 500 earlier. In Mumbai, where the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation had made wearing masks compulsory on 8 April and imposed a fine of Rs 200 on violators, the civic body had collected nearly Rs 11 crore in fines till November. The net result of these and similar stringent measures is that masks are now everywhere. Almost everyone sports one (barring the odd violation, of course), and every second outlet stocks masks across fabrics, colours, price points and the levels of protection that they offer. People without a mask stick out like a sore thumb, and …