"For Those Who Need It More Than Me" Movement Against Buying Masks Gains Momentum on SNS

[Source - Online Community Capture]

[Asia Economy Reporter Shinwon Yoon] As the shortage of masks continues due to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), the government is implementing a public mask 5-day rotation system. However, the supply of masks is still insufficient. In response, various social networking services (SNS) are seeing a movement called the 'No Mask Buying' campaign to help those urgently in need of masks.

Recently, the 'No Mask Buying' campaign has been active not only in online communities such as mom cafes but also on SNS. As the mask shortage continues, the campaign encourages those who have a certain number of masks to refrain from buying more in order to reserve masks for vulnerable groups.

In particular, young people who can purchase masks online despite the high prices are willing to give up public masks for vulnerable groups such as the elderly who are not familiar with online shopping.

A man in his 20s, office worker Mr. A, who expressed his intention to participate in the 'No Mask Buying' campaign, said, "Seeing that many of the people standing in line at the local pharmacy were elderly, I felt I should join," adding, "I have a few masks left that I bought online, so I will not buy any masks for the time being."

Also, a netizen encouraging the campaign on SNS with the hashtag #NoMaskBuying wrote, "The problem is that people keep buying expensive masks," and added, "We should give public masks to vulnerable groups and boycott masks from companies that are profiteering online. Since public masks are being released, let's all boycott until companies lower their prices."

Meanwhile, starting today, the government has implemented the 'Mask 5-day Rotation System' to stabilize supply, allowing masks to be purchased only on designated days. The day on which one can buy masks is determined by the last digit of their birth year. Mondays are for those born in years ending with 1 and 6, Tuesdays for 2 and 7, Wednesdays for 3 and 8, Thursdays for 4 and 9, and Fridays for 5 and 0.

Additionally, for children aged 10 or younger born after 2010 and elderly people aged 80 or older born before 1940, proxy purchases are allowed if a cohabiting proxy buyer brings their own ID and a resident registration certificate listing the cohabitant.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.