“Anti-droplet masks? They’ll be available from Monday. People with waiting number tickets given out from 9:30 in the morning can buy a box each.”

This is the answer I got at a hypermarket in Seoul asking for an anti-droplet mask. The anti-droplet mask has been in the hypermarkets and convenient stores for a month now, but they are a rare find. I have visited a number of retail shops selling the masks in Seoul, but they were “not in stock.” These places said the masks are not stocked every day, and the limited supply lasts only a few hours after opening.

The absence of anti-droplet masks is replaced by mass produced single-use masks. Most of them are made in China with a price tag r