Coronavirus: Kasoa residents explain why they don't wear face masks

About a week after government directed all citizens to wear nose masks anytime they are stepping out of their homes to protect themselves and others from the Coronavirus pandemic, many are yet to see reasons to adhere to the directive.

Most residents of Kasoa Newtown, during a tour of the area by GhanaWeb, were found in town without the masks and gave varying reasons for that.

For some, they would only wear the nose masks if government is ready to provide them with some for free.

“My money is being deducted as tax and it's being used to produce this thing; about 150,000 a day and yet I’m at home, I’m not going to work and you expect me to produce it and wear it. I don’t have the money anyway so let him (President Akufo-Addo) bring my share of the 150,000 nose masks that he is paying for with our money,” one resident asserted.

Other residents, however, noted that they don’t wear the nose masks often because they are uncomfortable thus making them run out of breath easily.

“I am fasting, so I feel weak when I wear the nose mask for a very long period. However, I wear it often because I don’t know where I may contract the disease from,” one of them told the news team.

Another added that “I’m also on a fast so I feel weak when I use it. That is why I left it at home.”

Others were also not wearing the nose masks because they believed they were safe at the places they were.

“I know there are no recorded cases of coronavirus here at Kasoa Newtown. I came to my boss and I know it’s safe here as well.”

One resident, however, believes he doesn’t need a nose mask to protect him from the coronavirus because he is an African.

“I believe I am strong and healthy because I bathe with sanitizer so there is no way I will contract the virus. I have been injected with an antivirus so I will never buy a nose mask or wear some until the pandemic is over. As an African, I won’t be infected so I refuse to wear nose masks.”

Ghana has so far recorded 3, 091 cases of the pandemic with 303 recoveries and 18 deaths.