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Better be safe: Covering-up continues despite mandate lift
At her campus in East Java, Balilah Rizki Putriga is among the few who continues to wear a mask following recent restriction-easing and the lifting of the pandemic emergency status.
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Passengers use their gadgets on board a commuter line train at Bekasi Station, West Java, on June 12. (Antara/Fakhri Hermansyah)
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t her campus in East Java, Balilah Rizki Putriga is among the few who continues to wear a mask following recent restriction-easing and the lifting of the pandemic emergency status.
Bhelly, as her friends call her, still cannot wrap her head around how people are taking their masks off so quickly.
“At my university, most people already let go of their mask,” the 21-year-old, who studies international relations at Jember University, told The Jakarta Post on June 15.
“[Mask mandates being lifted] is not a guarantee that we’re free from the virus. Or any virus, for that matter,” she said.
President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo lifted the COVID-19 emergency status for Indonesia on Wednesday, following the World Health Organization’s (WHO) declaration last month that the disease was no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
The move came after stages of easing restrictions the government has implemented since late last year.
Just two weeks ago, the government dropped mask requirements indoors, in public spaces and on public transportation.
