Bay of Plenty Times
  • Bay of Plenty Times home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Sport
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport

Locations

  • Coromandel & Hauraki
  • Katikati
  • Tauranga
  • Mount Maunganui
  • Pāpāmoa
  • Te Puke
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Thames
  • Tauranga
  • Whakatāne
  • Rotorua

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Kristin Macfarlane: Masks making Covid 19 coronavirus fight trendy - but did they come too late?

Bay of Plenty Times
8 Sep, 2020 09:00 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wears a mask during her visit to the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington in August. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern wears a mask during her visit to the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research in Wellington in August. Photo / Mark Mitchell

COMMENT:

"Mum, can you buy me this fake Gucci face mask," said the wannabe bougie 12-year-old while pointing to a post on Facebook.

"Ooh, can I have a Steamers one? The one with the Māori warrior on it," said the Bay-proud, sports-loving 11-year-old.

How is it, that just days after face masks became compulsory on buses that they also became the must-have fashion accessory of 2020?

It does make sense, though.

Open up the latest news from Bay of Plenty

Get daily Bay of Plenty headlines straight to your inbox.
Please email me competitions, offers and other updates. You can stop these at any time.
By signing up for this newsletter, you agree to NZME’s Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Read More

  • Covid 19 coronavirus: Face masks 'a big change' but right thing to do, Health Minister says - N...
  • Spy: The face mask is fashion's hottest new accessory - NZ Herald
  • Covid 19 coronavirus: NZ fashion designers making face masks for the sophisticated shopper - NZ...
  • Covid 19 coronavirus: The Auckland suburbs wearing face masks in supermarkets under level 2.5 -...

Their requests came months after I had already stocked up with your generic, plain, disposable face masks for our home supply should we ever need them.

It also followed the 11-year-old questioning how useful masks were in protecting someone from Covid-19. I gave him the pants/peeing analogy and, though horrified at the example, it all made sense.

We went into lockdown on March 26, and have lived between alert levels 4 and 1 ever since.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Face masks only became compulsory on public buses last week.

Not only have the number of posts selling reusable face masks seemed to have tripled since then, but the number of people I've seen wearing fashionable versions increased also.

Discover more

World leaders need to follow NZ lead on Covid-19

11 Aug 01:44 AM

Kristin Macfarlane: How I spent my Lotto winnings ... in my head

18 Aug 04:24 PM

Comment: We can't control Covid-19, but we can control our actions in our fight against it

25 Aug 01:30 AM

Comment: Teachers aren't qualified to counsel children beyond NZ's school curriculum

30 Aug 09:00 PM
NewsletterClicker

This is obviously not a bad thing because anything that reduces the risk of contracting and spreading Covid-19, while also allowing people to go about their lives with as much normalcy as possible, is good.

It's also allowing people, who may have been financially impacted by Covid-19 to make extra money through the selling of reusable face masks ... which has also got to be better for the environment than disposable ones?

But I do wonder why, months later, it's only coming into force now.

Should we not have made this a thing during lockdown when buses were operating for essential service workers and also when they were reintegrated into people's lives as a daily form of transport for members of the public?

In recent days, another Kiwi life has been lost at the hands of the deadly virus that has plagued the world, and the number of cases we have continues to increase.

The efforts we are putting in as a country are strong, but do they go far enough? Some will say they go too far, and others not far enough - but until we have eradicated Covid-19 we can't really say we have done enough, can we?

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Covid-19 in NZ — 18th December
Active cases
Confirmed & Probable
51
⬆︎8
All active cases are imported
2110
⬆︎10
Total cases
0
In Hospital
0
In ICU
2034
⬆︎2
Recovered
25
Deaths
427
⬆︎10
Border cases
Daily cases020406080
Last updated: Fri 18th December at 12:17 am
Go here to see all our Covid-19 data
Save

    Share this article

    Reminder, this is a Premium article and requires a subscription to read.

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

Bay of Plenty Times

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

03 Jul 08:00 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

03 Jul 07:32 AM
Bay of Plenty Times

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM

There’s more to Hawai‘i than beaches and buffets – here’s how to see it differently

sponsored
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Recommended for you
Bus passengers rescued from floodwater in Taranaki, heavy rain sweeps country
New Zealand

Bus passengers rescued from floodwater in Taranaki, heavy rain sweeps country

03 Jul 08:18 AM
Fatal crash charge: 20-year-old to face court over Southland tragedy
New Zealand

Fatal crash charge: 20-year-old to face court over Southland tragedy

03 Jul 08:09 AM
Cemeteries worth making a stop at in Europe
Travel

Cemeteries worth making a stop at in Europe

03 Jul 08:00 AM
'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member
New Zealand

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

03 Jul 08:00 AM
How student loan penalties are keeping Kiwis from returning home
New Zealand

How student loan penalties are keeping Kiwis from returning home

03 Jul 07:49 AM

Latest from Bay of Plenty Times

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

'Needs to be killed': Gang president allegedly ordered fatal attack on fellow member

03 Jul 08:00 AM

After nearly three weeks of evidence, counsel have begun delivering closing statements.

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

'Oh hell, yeah': Pensioner moves from leaky caravan to new elder village

03 Jul 07:32 AM
Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

Heavy rain warnings: BoP acts like 'scoop' for wild weather

02 Jul 09:19 PM
'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

'Scary stuff': Locals on crash corner fear it will take a death to get it fixed

02 Jul 09:11 PM
From early mornings to easy living
sponsored

From early mornings to easy living

NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Bay of Plenty Times e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Bay of Plenty Times
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • NZME Events
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP
search by queryly Advanced Search