I’ve got to admit: when I read the news about the free surgical masks to be given to Singapore households, I was certain that they’d all be collected within the first day.

Or at least, 50% of them.

After all, Singaporeans are known to be kiasu and kiasi, right?

Apparently not.

Only 6% of Free Masks Collected by S’pore Household on 1st Day

There are about 1.37 million households in Singapore, and it turns out that only about 82k of them have collected their free masks on the first day.

The collection will last for nine days (until 9 February 2020).

According to various reports, the collection process has been calm and quick; people were able to collect their masks within minutes without queuing.

If your household has yet to collect them, you can go to maskgowhere.sg to check out where to head to.

Also, remember: this one-time distribution is for you to keep at home, and to use them only when you’re sick and need to visit the doctor.

Now, what happens if there are many uncollected masks?

Uncollected Masks Will be Put to Good Use

According to Communications and Information Minister S. Iswaran, he had met up with several people who claimed that they won’t be collecting the masks as they have enough at home, and these people said that “it’s better to leave them for others who need it more.”

Mr Iswaran added, “I think this speaks volumes about the kind of society that we are. This is something we should cherish and continue to reinforce in Singapore.”

Goody, indeed.

So what’s going to happen to those leftover masks? Would they be given to community cats?

No.

According to Mr Iswaran, they would be “put to good use” and it doesn’t involve cats.

“Clearly, our highest priority is to ensure that our healthcare services are well supplied with these masks because they are at the frontline in many ways, and therefore we need to ensure that they are well resourced to do the job that they’re doing.”

While it’s not explicitly said, these masks might be given to those who are at the frontline.

In the meantime, do check out our article on how to on put a surgical mask correctly…and we hope you’d never need to use that guide.