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Original poster

Do you struggle with wearing a mask in shops?

122 replies

BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation · 14/01/2022 15:54

I've always struggled with having to wear a mask and feel like I'm suffocating although I'm fully aware that I won't. I get anxiety attacks and my anxiety is based around feeling too hot and not being able to get enough fresh air.

Last couple of weeks have been a real struggle. Anybody else feel like this? I wonder how much longer we're going to have to keep wearing them.

OP posts:
Hemingwayzcatz · 14/01/2022 16:23

@Havilland

Angry
Ebola’s average fatality rate is 50%.
amusedbush · 14/01/2022 16:27

Generally I’m fine with them though I occasionally get a bit claustrophobic, usually when I’m too hot and my glasses fog up. I don’t really go anywhere so I’m usually just wearing one for a short time but I’ve noticed that any time I wear one for an extended time (at the hairdressers, on the train going to visit my parents, etc) my skin breaks out horribly. I was on a train for an hour each way on the 4th January and I’m only just saying goodbye to the cluster of massive, painful spots that appeared on my jawline shortly after. It happens every time, even if I take extra masks and never wear one long enough for it to get damp and humid from my breath.

SickAndTiredAgain · 14/01/2022 16:29

I struggled when they were first introduced as they made me quite panicky - I suffer from panic attacks anyway. I got used to them but stopped wearing them as soon as I was allowed to.
When they were reintroduced I found them easier, but now I’m pregnant I find them quite nauseating and frequently have to pull it down to have a sip of water. I’ll stop as soon as they aren’t legally required.

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Bert2e · 14/01/2022 16:29

No

ClafoutisSurprise · 14/01/2022 16:31

@Havilland I don’t think anyone has ever said Covid requires the same level of caution as Ebola. Doesn’t mean we don’t need to take no precautionary measures at all. It’s not a binary dangerous-not dangerous, full hazmat or nothing whatsoever situation.

Ebola is a virus that is far more extreme in its effects on infected people, but which hasn’t been able to spread anything like as effectively as Covid. Different animals.

7Worfs · 14/01/2022 16:34

I haven’t worn a mask since they activated plan A - not in shops, on train or tube, not even at my GP. The trick is to stop looking around nervously waiting to be challenged - just walk about your business and don’t look at other people.
If someone says something, just say in passing ‘I have an exemption’ without stopping.

Bookrat · 14/01/2022 17:01

Yep, I struggle in exactly the same way you do, OP. Currently all my shopping is ordered online and delivered. I will be so relieved when the mandate is lifted.

nobodysdaughter · 14/01/2022 17:11

@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation

"Do people have a go at you if you don't wear one? I don't know what I'd do if someone pulled me up on it."

I've found no one will have a go at you, about anything really, provided you pull your shoulders back, keep your head firmly up and meet any funny lips with a full on stare back.

RedCandyApple · 14/01/2022 17:14

I’ve never wore one. No one says anything apart from in the very beginning shops would ask as would the bus driver and one rude man was nasty to me on the bus but that was the very early days. No one says anything now and where I live most people don’t wear them

Namechangedrunner · 14/01/2022 17:15

Christ, the idiots are out in force today!

Of course I wear a mask. It’s annoying but there is plenty of credible, peer reviewed evidence to show it reduces transmission. Admittedly, some people may be too stupid to understand said evidence, but it still exists.

Lou98 · 14/01/2022 17:18

@BarrowInFurnessRailwayStation

Do people have a go at you if you don't wear one? I don't know what I'd do if someone pulled me up on it.

I wear a mask the majority of the time, however, like you I suffer anxiety and on the days when I'm struggling/panicking I don't always wear one or take it off halfway through.
I am also pregnant and suffering with bad sickness, wearing a mask sometimes makes this worse and I take it off before I'm physically sick.

I've never had anyone say anything to me or ask why I'm not wearing one. You get the few odd looks but that's it.
If anyone did - I would tell them to mind their own business.

If it made you feel more comfortable, you could buy one of the lanyards

HeavyHeidi · 14/01/2022 17:20

I live in Germany. You wear one or you can't get into any shops. And not just any mask, FFP2 one. For some reason, there don't seem to be that many people in Germany who are exempt or simply can't wear one but sometimes they do (how does that even work).

Summersdreaming · 14/01/2022 17:25

I don't wear one, I'd say about 30% do, 70% don't round my way. Nobody will say anything I doubt anyone cares at this point.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 14/01/2022 17:26

@HeavyHeidi

I live in Germany. You wear one or you can't get into any shops. And not just any mask, FFP2 one. For some reason, there don't seem to be that many people in Germany who are exempt or simply can't wear one but sometimes they do (how does that even work).
OP isn't in Germany so what they do there is irrelevant.
skellingtonboot · 14/01/2022 17:26

@HeavyHeidi

there don't seem to be that many people in Germany who are exempt or simply can't wear one but sometimes they do (how does that even work).

Same in France.
Everyone in a shop wears a mask.

I think the rules change tomorrow to require children from 6 years old to wear masks in shops and busy outdoor spaces.

It's not really "optional".

TimBoothseyes · 14/01/2022 17:27

Yes. It's bad enough wearing glasses in the winter anyway because as soon as I get inside they fog up, with masks there is no let up and I am walking around in a permanent fog.

Aposterhasnoname · 14/01/2022 17:28

Yes, it rides up into my eyes, so I’m constantly fiddling with it. My glasses steam up and I can’t hear anything anyone says.

EileenGC · 14/01/2022 17:29

@Waxonwaxoff0 the OP didn’t specify ‘UK posters only’. People can comment if they want.

I’m in Germany too. No mask, no entry. Shops, transport, events, schools… some places will accept an exemption certificate but I’m yet to see someone exempt and I work with the general public - 2,500-3000 people per day who access our venue.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 14/01/2022 17:29

Also it's looking like Germany is seeing a surge in cases. Masks alone don't seem to do much.

inmyslippers · 14/01/2022 17:29

I don't wear them. Living as normal

Waxonwaxoff0 · 14/01/2022 17:29

[quote EileenGC]@Waxonwaxoff0 the OP didn’t specify ‘UK posters only’. People can comment if they want.

I’m in Germany too. No mask, no entry. Shops, transport, events, schools… some places will accept an exemption certificate but I’m yet to see someone exempt and I work with the general public - 2,500-3000 people per day who access our venue.[/quote]
Doesn't appear to be working looking at the latest case rates.

EileenGC · 14/01/2022 17:30

@Waxonwaxoff0

Also it's looking like Germany is seeing a surge in cases. Masks alone don't seem to do much.
It’s called omicron and we’re a couple of weeks behind UK. Incidence has never been and will never be as high as UK’s.
HeavyHeidi · 14/01/2022 17:31

OP isn't in Germany

Oh I apologise, see I don't know the OP personally so I do not know where she lives. She only talked about struggling with masks and not where exactly geographically she is struggling.

Waxonwaxoff0 · 14/01/2022 17:33

@EileenGC France has higher numbers than the UK with stricter mask rules.

Svara · 14/01/2022 17:37

I can wear one but can't focus on anything else while wearing one. They make me anxious and panicky and I need to focus on breathing. I was needing to do multiple food shopping trips as I would forget several things that were on the list in front of me, or leave something to get next time as I just wanted out.