Almost all passengers on Taipei MRT wear masks despite lifting of mask mandate for public transportation

儘管取消了大眾運輸的口罩規定，但台北捷運的乘客幾乎都戴著口罩

Public still divided on lifting of mask mandate


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An extremely high percentage of passengers on the Taipei MRT or public buses in the Taipei metro area are still wearing masks on Monday (April 17), the day the mask mandate for public transportation was lifted by the country’s Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC).

To be in line with the lifting of the public transportation mask mandate, there are no longer signs or public broadcasts requiring masks to be worn on the premises of the Taipei MRT on Monday. However, almost all passengers on the MRT and public buses still wore masks on Monday, the first day masking is no longer required on public transportation in the country, CNA reported.

A 22-year-old woman surnamed Su (蘇), who was still wearing a mask while taking the Taipei MRT on Monday, told SETN.COM, “There are still many confirmed cases at present. Even though the mask mandate for public transportation has been lifted, I still want to wear it for a while."

SETN.COM quoted a woman surnamed Pan (潘), who chose not to wear a mask on the MRT, as saying, “I feel I have almost been dissolved by the epidemic. As most people have been infected, they have immunity and shouldn’t have to wear masks anymore.”

An unmasked Mr. Li (李) said that he had been looking forward to the lifting of the mask mandate for a long time, CNA reported. He added that the symptoms of the confirmed diagnoses are now like the flu, so he is not worried about contracting the epidemic.

On the other hand, Ms. Chiang (蔣), who commutes by bus, still wears a mask. She said that she is a little worried because she has not been diagnosed with the disease yet, so even though she doesn't like to wear a mask, she will continue to do so in a closed environment like a bus, until the situation becomes more stable.