Today (30th), when the obligation to wear a mask indoors was lifted, confusion arose over whether or not to wear a mask at a large mart in Yongsan-gu, Seoul.
This is because the pharmacy located on the 2nd basement floor of this large mart operates in an open manner without being separated by a door or glass wall.
According to the guidelines of the health authorities, it is not necessary to wear a mask in the mart, but it is mandatory in pharmacies, which are medical facilities.
This pharmacy is facing the mart checkout counter, so it was a structure where you could buy medicine right after leaving the mart checkout counter.
The pharmacy employee pointed out, "You can take off your mask when you pass through the mart aisle, but the government guidelines to suddenly wear a mask when you come to buy medicine are vague, so I don't know how to deal with it."
He said, "If I ask a customer to wear a mask, I think they'll get angry."
"Today is the first day, so I'm in the mood to wear a mask, but after a few days, there will be many customers who visit the mart without wearing a mask, and I think it will be confusing," the employee said.
All nine people who visited this pharmacy for 45 minutes from 11 am on that day wore masks.
A customer who bought medicine here said, "I didn't know you had to wear a mask at the pharmacy inside the mart."
Another customer also said, "It's funny and irrational to take it off at the mart and wear it at the pharmacy."
"I think it's right to wear a mask because pharmacies are visited by patients, but since there is no separate entrance, I think there should be a specific policy such as 'wear a mask within a 2m radius of the pharmacy'," one customer ordered.
Another pharmacy on the second basement floor of a large mart in Seocho-gu, Seoul was also only 10 meters away from the mart checkout counter.
This pharmacy, too, was not separated by partitions, walls, or doors.
A customer who visited this pharmacy wearing a mask this morning was unaware of the fact that the instructions for wearing are different between large marts and pharmacies in marts.
He said, "There are ambiguous parts," but "it seems reasonable to wear a mask because people who visit pharmacies have underlying diseases or are vulnerable to infection."
This pharmacy pharmacist said, "There is a voice that there is confusion regarding the pharmacy guidelines in the mart, but according to the guidelines, if you have to wear a mask at the pharmacy, I think it's right to wear it here too."
On this day, from 10:00 am when the pharmacy opened, all nine citizens who visited the pharmacy for an hour wore masks and found an empty pharmacy counter.
(Photo = Yonhap News)