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| Gettyimagesbank |
By Lee Hyo-jin
As face masks have become an inseparable part of daily life in Korea amid the year-long COVID-19 pandemic, a recent survey found that office workers on average spend one-third of their day with a face mask on.
A survey of 801 office workers conducted by recruiting platforms Job Korea and Albamon showed, Tuesday, that those surveyed reported wearing a face mask for an average of 482 minutes, or about eight hours per day on weekdays.
"Wearing a mask all day was very uncomfortable at first, but I've gotten quite used to it. Now I don't take it off even when we are well-distanced in the office," said an office worker surnamed Jhoo living in Songpa District, Seoul.
Each day she wears a mask from the moment she leaves for work at 7 a.m. and keeps it on until she returns home at 6 p.m., taking it off only during lunch and coffee breaks.
Like Jhoo, 76 percent of survey respondents replied that they keep a mask on in the office except for inevitable situations such as when they drink water. Another 19 percent said they wear a mask when they need to be close with others such as during conversations or meetings. Just 3 percent replied that they do not wear a mask inside the office.
Many people found it disruptive to wear a mask for long hours. When multiple reasons were allowed, 64.5 percent replied that it was "uncomfortable to breathe," 41 percent mentioned "sore ears due to mask strings," and among other cited reasons were skin troubles, headaches and disruption in communication.
