New Mask Law in the UAE: A premature return to normal?
[객원에디터 3기/정연우 기자] On February 25th, 2022, the National Emergency Crisis and Disasters Management Authority (NCEMA) and the Abu Dhabi Media Office announced several changes to UAE’s COVID-19 regulations. Notably, this included the removal of the mask mandate for outdoor activities if social distancing guidelines are followed. In addition, passengers entering the country who are fully-vaccinated are no longer required to show a PCR test, and close contact cases no longer need to undergo quarantine. However, mask wearing in indoor spaces is still required in all seven emirates, including malls, cinemas, restaurants, and Expo pavilions. Likewise, this policy update does not apply to schools; students and faculty will continue to be required to wear masks both indoors and outdoors within campus grounds.
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UAE government has responded with effective public health policies, including building field hospitals, communicating with the public, conducting mass PCR testing with drive-through tests, and vaccinating all local residents. In fact, the country has attained one of the highest vaccination rates globally, helping to flatten the curve much faster than neighboring states. After hitting a peak of 3,977 daily cases on February 3rd, 2021, UAE has been able to gradually decrease its daily caseload reaching an average 430 new daily cases as of March 10th, 2022.
The new mask law was announced amidst the decrease in cases in order to encourage a return to normal pre-pandemic business operations and international travel, especially since the country’s economy – particularly that of Dubai – is highly reliant on tourism. Nonetheless, considering that there was a spike of cases in January 2022 which peaked at 3,068 cases, standing in stark contrast toan average of 54 daily cases in December 2021, it is evident that daily cases can go up and down within a matter of weeks or months. This week is further exacerbated with the emergence of new viral mutations, such as the highly contagious omicron variant. Additionally, other countries who have also removed mask mandates following decreases in caseloads , have subsequently experienced a resurgence of infections. In the United Kingdom, for instance, daily infections rose from an average of 33,491.9 cases on Feb 18th, 2022, to 41,429.1 cases by March 2nd, 2022, marking an astonishing increase of 7,937.2 cases in merely 12 days. As a result, the British government re-introduced face masks requirements by the 24th of the same month.
With Covid cases having yet to reach zero in the UAE, and from the lessons of other countries who have experienced the consequences of prematurely loosening mask mandates, is it not too early to implement this new law? Perhaps the Emirati government should prioritize public health above its economic ambitions and reverse the new mask law before it is too late.
Credits to: Reuters, Timeout, Khaleej Times, Nature Immunology, Worldometer, BBC News, Nerve Tumours UK
