After the Korean health authorities floated the possibility of lifting the mandatory mask wearing amid the abating of new Covid-19 cases, an expert said infants and toddlers should be the first group to remove masks.

Jung Jae-hun, a professor of preventive medicine at Gachon University College of Medicine, said that not wearing facial masks used to be “a Korean norm,” on a local radio show on Monday.

“A return to normal means that one day you will have to take off the mask. We should continue to discuss when we can take them off on what conditions.”

Jung noted that even though removing masks was imminent, it was not like an on/off switch.

Instead of choosing between taking off masks all at once and continuing to wear them, the authorities could gradually life the mandatory system in multiple steps, just like they did with the easing of social distancing, Jung said.

He went on to say that Korea has already passed the spike of the Omicron and BA.5 variants without a collapse of the healthcare system or a shortage of intensive care units. Thus, an outbreak of a new variant is not likely to cause as much damage as before, he added.

Infants and young children, in particular, should be the first group to lift the mandatory mask wearing because covering faces could hamper their language development, Jung emphasized.

Many people already obtained immunity against Covid-19 and the effect of face masks weakened, he said.

“I heard from educational experts that face masks were causing many problems in education for children, their language development and facial expressions,” Jung said.

The current quarantine policy cannot protect people in large groups and vaccinations are for individual health management, he said.

“Lifting the mandatory mask-wearing should start with infants and toddlers first, quickly,” he added.

Jung proposed that the government designates certain places only to wear masks such as medical institutions, public transportation, and indoor workplaces, and leave the other areas mask-free.