Masks seem to be back..

[RisingSunn]

Has anyone else noticed this? I've seen a marked increase in people wearing them - in the bank and on transport for example.

Have I missed something?

I’ve never had Covid despite wearing masks as little as possible when we were supposed to and never since we were told it wasn’t mandatory.

I thought I was imagining it! But it was as though I had been thrown back in time.

I will be wearing one next week. Someone from work has tested positive but is going back after day5. I don’t want Covid so will be wearing amask

i have seen a few more being worn. It doesn’t bother me each to their own

Have you sought help for your bitchy attitude`/.

Seriously, wearing a mask is not a sign of health anxiety, in many cases it’s a sensible precaution.

If we were talking about people washing and isolating their shopping and post that would be one thing, but plenty of people do still wear masks, and it’s not just COVID which is rife at the moment.

Why does it bother you so much? I can only assume that you’re not so sure yourself but can’t bring yourself to admit it. So it’s much easier to be snipy at other people and to act as if they’ve done something wrong when they haven’t.

Plenty of people have valid reasons for wanting to wear a mask. If you don’t then so what. There’s no need for you to care if they do.

There are two different things here. Repeated respiratory infection can weaken the lungs over time, and obviously if there are other factors involved (respiratory disease, smoking etc) then that can make things worse. But in normal healthy people it is not common to have significant lung damage because in normal healthy people there isn't a tendency to contract respiratory infection repeatedly over a prolonged period of time. Anyone who is doing so really needs to get medically checked out!

The immune system is something different, and there is evidence that after respiratory infection the immune system is temporarily stronger / trained to recognise and repel infection, even of different types. This is because during the initial infection, a particular type of immune cell travels from the bone marrow to the lungs and turns into a type of white blood cell. Once in the lungs, these cells produce cytokines, hormone-like molecules which help fight pathogens. After a few months these dissipate and the immune system returns to normal. It is thopught this response is a way for the body to reduce the risk of repeated inflammation / infection damaging the lungs.

Definitely not imagining it. I saw somebody driving a car alone wearing one. My son says quite a few overseas students at his school wear them all day. To be fair, it is often much older people and I understand if they feel it’s protective but it is a bit unsettling having gone through the pandemic.

I haven’t noticed an increase in people wearing them.

I went to collect my new glasses from the opticians this morning and there was a box of masks on the reception desk. There wasn't a box when I went for my eye test a fortnight ago. I assumed it was because of recent news about a spike in cases of the new Covid variant.

Cars are a breeding ground for mould, especially if someone lives alone and has been away for extended hospital stays. Someone neutropenic or on immunosuppresants may well want to protect themselves as best they can. I'm sure they don't mean to make you feel 'unsettled'.

I'm hearing from relatives in another (developing) country that they are dealing with nasty strains of flu and Covid right now so I imagine there's something going on right now. It's also exam season so perhaps people are trying not to get their GCSE, A level, exam finals etc kids sick at this important time.

I had a sore throat like razor blades the first time I caught it, strepsils were a life saver! the second time it was a horrendous banging headache. Both times were caught on flights.

Must have been making up that I’m vulnerable when I was in a side room in hospital 2 weeks ago being reverse barrier nursed. Funnily they were all wearing masks too

I’m aware of that, I had cancer during the pandemic and was indeed neutropenic. I wasn’t criticising. People can do what they want. It’s just odd to see such an increase several years after the pandemic. No need to be snippy.

Honestly you sensible to do this i got covid of a friend recently after she had been on a long train journey and my mum got covid of a plane a few weeks back luckily it was coming home and not going out as it would of ruined her holiday. I don't really know anyone else getting it in general at the moment. I find it so odd when people have a problem with others wearing masks I honestly couldn't give a shit what others do aslong as it doesn't effect me or harm others.

That's helpful, thanks.
I think the articles I'm remembering were about Covid, and the message was that repeated infections were bad news because covid can cause permanent damage to various parts of the body even in healthy people.

Also although you say "in normal healthy people there isn't a tendency to contract respiratory infections repeatedly", this does seem to happen with covid - I know healthy non-smoking vaccinated people who have had it five or six times, in addition to normal colds.

I don't have any medical background and the mixed messages about covid and immunity can be confusing. Meanwhile I just try to avoid it!

To be honest ‘unsettling’ is exactly how I would describe it.

I absolutely have no issue whatsoever with people wearing them - but seeing them ( in what seemed like everywhere) did unnerve me slightly - hence this thread.

Five or six times over what period?

Setting aside "long covid" (because yes, obviously it exists but a long term impact from viral infection, even a minor infection, is not unknown), covid is more successful than most viral infections because it is new(er) than others and is currebtly able to adapt quickly. Pretty much most viruses will have been similarly adept at infection in their earliest stages. Covid is still very new. But there were an estimated 7 million deaths worldwide from Covid - 50 million from Spanish Flu.

Without minimising any losses from Covid, the "job" of a virus is to survive and replicate. Like us it is a living thing. The more it kills and the more it damages the less successful it can be at surviving and replicating. Thus, for the majority of people, it is at worst a very bad "cold" and almost certainly one day it will be nothing more than a "cold".

It's fair enough to try to avoid it - as you would avoid a cold or flu. But also remember that you will be in contact with it on a very regular basis, and your immune system will be kicking it into touch every time you do. The level of asymptomatic infection cannot be calculated, but as with the common cold, it is likely to be quite high - you will never know how often you fight it off but you would probably find it disturbing if you did know!

I think it’s because before the pandemic, nobody wore masks in this country. That was regardless of illness or anything else. You’d only see them in medical settings. I really hate seeing them now, largely because I had no choice but to wear one as I was being treated for cancer during the first part of the pandemic and I hated them. They were a sensory nightmare for me. I understand others wanting to wear them if they choose.

Not noticed. I flew a couple of weeks ago and didn't see even one on the flight or at the airport either.

Actually it’s more transmissible and it can also give u sickness and diarrhoea x

Don't be so fucking ridiculous and patronising.

I don't have health anxiety, and by suggesting I do because I choose to wear a mask in very crowded indoor situations where I will be sitting right next to utter strangers diminishes the suffering of people who do actually suffer from that problem.

I don't wear a mask in many other indoor situations but my choosing to wear a mask in those particular situations doesn't have any negative effect on me mentally or physically, and I really can't understand why any one else would even have an opinion on it let alone such a negative one as so many people on this thread seem to have. My mask-wearing simply doesn't affect anyone else at all.

I don't care one bit whether someone else wears a mask at all, I wouldn't make any comment about it, so why people think it's ok to have a go at someone who chooses to wear a mask in a limited set of circumstances is beyond me.

Either short on understanding or a conspiracy theorist.

I wore one last year when I had a chest infection to stop people in my household getting it. Also wear them when I get a bad coldsore.

Very far from either actually. But it would seem you suffer from the former.

I’ve noticed a definite increase in people wearing masks in the supermarket and other shops recently. I