Lice je nesumnjivo jedan od ključnih pojmova u misli Emmanuela Lévinasa. S obzirom na to da je pandemija COVID-19 upravo lice dovela u krizu, članak istražuje mogućnosti pandemijskog čitanja Lévinasova razumijevanja pojma lica. Stavimo li poznato uvjerenje o prvenstvu etike nad ontologijom u kontekst njegove kritike Buberova personalizma, razumijevanje Lévinasova pojma transcendencije Drugoga otvara širok prostor pandemijskom čitanju njegove misli. Upravo se u tom kontekstu otvara mogućnost obrata u razumijevanju zaštitne maske za lice, jer bi se na tragu Lévinasove misli moglo zaključiti da je ta maska zapravo vidljivi znak transcendencije lica Drugoga. Stoga pandemijska udaljenost od lica Drugoga ne mijenja ontologiju lica, već je zapravo produbljuje. Sličan se zaključak može iščitati i iz Lévinasova komentara zabrane vidljivosti Božjeg lica u starozavjetnoj Knjizi Izlaska. The face is undoubtedly one of the key concepts in the thought of Emmanuel Lévinas. Given that the COVID-19 pandemic has brought several aspects of the face into crisis, the article explores the possibilities of a pandemic interpretation of Lévinas’ understanding of the concept of the face. By placing the well-known Lévinas’ statement of the primacy of ethics over ontology in the context of his critique of Buber’s personalism, Lévinas’ understanding of the transcendence of the Other opens up a wide space for a pandemic interpretation of his thought. This context affirms the possibility of a reversal in the understanding of the role of the protective face mask. That mask becomes a visible sign of the transcendence of the Other’s face. Therefore, the pandemic distance from the face of the Other does not change the ontology of the face, but actually deepens it. A similar conclusion can be drawn from Lévinas’ commentary on the prohibition of the visibility of the face of God in the Book of Exodus in the Old Testament.