Non-medical

Asians, especially in Japan, China and Taiwan, have worn masks for a host of cultural and environmental reasons, including non-medical ones, since at least the 1950s.

Hanim Zainuddin, for instance, usually spends her work hours donning a green sarong and crisscrossing the skies as a flight attendant. After flights were grounded, however, she noticed that more of her coworkers were switching over to health care work, helping in non-medical functions at the hospital. Zainuddin opted to join them, becoming one of 500 aviation workers who made the switch under a state program to adapt work under the pandemic.