A woman who recently undertook a 12-hour train journey said she was among the handful of passengers in the packed AC 3-tier compartment who were wearing masks.

A septuagenarian was told that Covid had disappeared when he asked a youth standing next to him at a shop and talking loudly to wear a mask.

Calcuttans who are still wearing masks in public places, trying to maintain the physical distancing protocol and washing or sanitising hands frequently have become a minority, despite a renewed surge in Covid numbers. In markets, public transport or social gatherings, they are subjected to ridicule if they tell others to wear masks.

Hawkers without masks at Park Street. Bishwarup Dutta

Dipanjana Datta, a medical geneticist, boarded the Kanchankanya Express on Saturday from Sealdah. The journey to Siliguri lasted around 12 hours. Datta said almost everyone in the coach was without a mask.

“People from other coaches were coming over to chat with friends or relatives. They were without masks and talking loudly. When I asked a man standing close to me to wear a mask, he looked very irritated,” Datta recounted.

Biker without masks in Calcutta. Bishwarup Dutta

She said that people looked at her in a way as if she was doing something funny and foolish. “I did not take off my mask for once because others were behaving very irresponsibly. I even slept wearing a mask. Everyone looked at me in a way as if I was doing something very strange,” she said.

Datta was not the only one to feel stigmatised in a gathering. A septuagenarian resident of Kasba had a similar experience when he asked a youth standing next to him and speaking loudly with the owner of a grocery to wear a mask.

It is necessary for everyone to wear a mask, for his or her safety and for the safety of others. Bishwarup Dutta

“When I asked the youth to put on a mask, he laughed and said Covid had gone. He did not put on the mask. Most of the others who were standing there, too, did not have a mask on. No one else told the youth to mask up,” the elderly man said.

Datta said all through her journey she kept thinking about her three young daughters and her 75-year-old mother. “If I get infected, I may pass on the virus to them. I cannot understand why people fail to realise that they may make their loved ones suffer because of their callousness,” she said.

A few other Calcuttans who are still following the safety protocols said most people take out a mask from the pocket when asked to wear one. But the masks look unclean and many of them wear a surgical mask for several days, against the advice of doctors.

“A surgical mask should not be worn for more than six to eight hours,” a doctor said.

“A lot of people do not wear masks because they do not have any symptoms of Covid-19. But what they fail to understand is that they could be asymptomatic carriers of the virus and may end up transmitting the virus to others,” the doctor said.

“A large number of infected people may not have any external manifestation of the disease. Such people may unknowingly spread the virus to another person, who may develop serious symptoms and need hospitalisation. It is necessary for everyone to wear a mask, for his or her safety and for the safety of others,” said a doctor at a government hospital.

Pramit Ghosh, an associate professor of community medicine at the Purulia Government Medical College and Hospital, said: “More people were wearing masks in the initial days of the pandemic because they perceived Covid-19 to be a dangerous disease. But with time the perception has changed. Many people no longer think the disease is very dangerous. The change is perception is not based on science.”