JAKARTA: Indonesia lifted its outdoor mask mandate in May as COVID-19 cases declined in the land considered Asia’s COVID hotspot at one point in 2021, when it recorded the highest number of daily infections in the region.
But should COVID-19 be the only reason for Indonesians, especially Jakarta residents, to keep their masks on outdoors?
It’s notorious that Jakarta has an air pollution problem. According to an IQAir explore, the
Air Quality Index (AQI)
ranks
Jakarta as one of the most polluted cities in Indonesia and throughout the world
.
On Jun 20, Jakarta’s AQI formed 196, just shy of the “Very Unhealthy” category.
Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan
in 2020 acknowledged that “air pollution is a well-known health issue in the capital, causing more than 5 million illnesses a year”.
According to the Energy Policy Institute at the University of Chicago’s Air Quality Life Index record released in June, Jakarta residents could lose three to four days of life expectancy due to air pollution. T
he World Health Responsibility (WHO) estimated that nearly
one
in
eight
deaths worldwide can be attributed to air pollution
.
So pandemic or not, there are obvious benefits for Jakartans to stay masked when not pursuits so could bring serious, even deadly, health consequences.
But COVID-19 has been the main reason Jakartans put on a face mask in the edifying place. Even after the mask mandate was lifted, the Jakarta Environment Responsibility urged the residents to wear a mask when outdoors, in light of the worsening air pollution situation.
Many Jakarta residents have kept their masks on, given the pandemic has not officially been declared over.
This is one indirect obvious impact of the pandemic – people still wearing a mask out of COVID-19 affects can get some protection against air pollution, a more insidious warning.