#MaskUp meets #Mask4AllMalawi (Mandatory Mask wearing gazetted as law)

 #MaskUp meets #Mask4AllMalawi 

By Harold Kapindu

Covid 19 harshtags have flooded both the international and local social media. The most outstanding, or rather the ones that have attracted my attention are #MaskUp and #Mask4AllMalawi.

With the surge in Covid 19 cases, the new campaign under the harshtag #MaskUp is picking up momentum on social media with local celebrities and public figures joining the cause in order to promote consistent and proper wearing of face masks in public spaces. 

Founded and spearheaded by musician Piksy and arts promoter, social behavior change and media expert Edward Kankhomba, the movement so far has a number of musicians, fashion designers, poets and television personalities. 

Some notable names seen in a large e-poster that is updated on daily basis include Daniel Thom also known as  Super DT, a TV host/presenter at Mibawa TV, musician Vube and Youth Health activist Blesssings Banda. 

To join the movement, one simply has to wear a mask, take a picture and post it on social media with the MaskUp harshtag. The team then collects the pictures which are updated daily on the campaign's e-poster.

Also, advocating for the same cause, its another campaign dubbed Masks4AllMalawi aiming at producing and distributing made in Malawi community masks to the total population of 19 million.

The campaign has so far manufactured millions of Made-in-Malawi community masks and has reached 

a production rate of greater than 420,000 per day. 

As part of the #Masks4AllMalawi campaign’s aim to achieve universal mask coverage, the campaign has also provided 31,500 community masks to the Malawi Prison Service, enough for all prisoners and guards.

An analysis of the potential impact of Universal Mask Usage as part of a comprehensive overall solution, reveals some potentially startling figures.

For instance, in Hong Kong, where Voluntary Universal Mask Usage (VUMU) appears to be in operation, there have been 15 reported cases per 100, 000 population and 4 deaths, despite being bordered by China and having a densely populated population of 7.5 million. 

This compares to 272 reported cases per 100, 000 population in the UK where VUMU is not enforced.

Corona virus is real and wearing of masks prevent transmission from person to person.

Log in on your social media platforms and type #MaskUp #Masks4AllMalawi #StayHome #StaySafe #WashHands #Sanitize #SocialDistance