Face Masks---

I see people that work in service industries often wear masks still in Siem reap. Many people wear masks riding around town. At our local Khmer place to eat no one does. Go ride a minivan and driver will wear mask.  Coffee shop I visit by the Siem Reap river service people wear masks. I see individual tourists and Cambodians wearing masks when I'm out walking.

I will not go to large events. Mask or not. We skipped Khmer new year in Siem Reap. Stayed home. Just me though. I caught Covid last time in Vietnam from a small gathering. Not pleasant.

@mpmilestogo

Thanks for your comment.

I made it through three years in Albania, Mexico, and Vietnam without getting Covid. Of course, my being an antisocial hermit may have been a factor!

DB~

As Miles said,very few people wear masks now, and usually in the mistaken belief that it will stop them getting infected,  whereas you know a mask reduces transmission but offers no real protection. I had Covid last year,  no worse than a bad cold, although I lost my sense of smell for 2 weeks,  which felt odd. Around Siem Reap I may see maybe one person a day wearing a mask, if that.

@hdgh29

Thanks. That's encouraging news!

DB~

I'd say about 10% of the people here in PP are wearing face masks, just as they did before Covid. Funny that you are hoping that this is not becoming a political debate when obviously this is your intention. As for Vietnam: lots of people have always worn face masks, so what is your point?

In Cambodia at the begining of COVID 2019, Hun Sen saw the chaos that could transpire with medical facilities overrun, and put in specific measures to mitigate the situation, masks hand washing temperature distancing, and then a rapid vaccination of critical staff then the population, isolation of areas limited entry into the country, all this achieved 137000 with the virus 3657 dead all others recovered, out of a population of 17 million, because in Cambodia you had rules and the population accepted those rules,

In the west it was a far different situation, to many guide lines, to many I know my rights, one knee jerk reaction to another, open borders a rule for one group and not for another, in a pandemic you have to make positive decisions to limit the spread,

now the COVID situation has settled but don't be complacent and think it's gone it like all viruses waits for another day or opportunity to create chaos,

Before covid people thought they are fancy and would wear face mask for pollution amd dirt when then travel on motorbikes etc

@Small Boxyes it makes sense. When riding with an open face helmet I sometimes wear a mask to keep out the dust and bugs, and motor exhaust fumes. Just like I wear eye protection.

@Small Box

Indeed, for decades you could see Asian people (Japan, China, Korea, Indonesia, Vietnam and others wearing masks. Not that they were afraid of getting infected (apart from a cold or a flu maybe) but the air quality in many big cities in Asia is very poor and air pollution is rampant.

So when Covid started and it became an obligation people had no problem with it.

Also no problem with hand sanitizing although I was amid the few that had a small flask of sanitizer with me. I believe that hand sanitizing was more important than wearing masks.

Millions of people touch the same surfaces and risk to be infected by someone. Think only of elevator buttons, handles of tuktuks, trains, trams, door knobs and so on.

Now masks are only up to any person and that is good.

Joe

@hdgh29 well I was never stupid enough to not wear a full face helmet so it was always funny to me. But my cousins always wore the masks and thought if themselves as higher class wearing it I believe.   (buy a real helmet unless you want no face when you crash but hey that's just paranoid me. . Bugs and dirt do suck to breath in Even walking on a dirt road.

@JoeKhmer you realize you don't get covid from your hands and food. Unless you rub your eyes with your food etc. Otherwise food outbreaks would have been super common and huge trace alerts back to where people had eaten. I don't care about washing my hands unless I'm going to pick my nose or rub my eyes and usually just use a kleenex for that or qtip.

@Small Box

You are so wrong.

It has been proven that people touch their nose many times and through that can either spread a virus or catch a virus. People also sneeze and not everyone cleans their hands after sneezing or coughing.

Hands touch all kinds of surfaces and materials and raise the risk of spreading a virus.

I wore a mask but put extra effort in sanitizing my hands. I didn't get COVID, that's not to brag, might be just coincidence. But I did my share to prevent infection.

@JoeKhmer

I was here from when COVID started 2019 to April 2022, when rules where relaxed and travel was allowed, I had my 3 jabs here Chinese  one, never had COVID, but followed all the rules laid out by the Cambodian government, but the UK or the USA was far from compliment, and suffered in deaths and infections, and you are right about hand washing and coughs, covid may have settled down in Cambodia, but it's still out there waiting it's opportunity to strick again,

@JoeKhmer you do read I said nose and eyes? I'm sure you got covid with no symptoms unless you are a recluse.  Name one outbreak that was caused from food? Sorry you can't. I'm a Dr what is your medical experience? Nice argument but no need to panic. Lots of people with regular fever and colds lately not covid.