To suggest the poorly wear face masks...

[NonDropbear]

Like they do in Asia - if you've got a cold/flu, cover it up? DS (4) and dd (5mths) have been sick with coughs and colds since october and I'm at wits end, esp when people say 'it's that time of year'. Have I got this to look forward to October to may until they're at big school? Has this been a particular bad year? Don't see many grown ups but surely productivity would be increased if everyone tried to be a bit less sick?

It doesn't work apparently, it's just a cultural thing in Asia, not backed up by evidence

Meant to say actual flu (as in, not just a cold) is increased this year as the vaccine effectiveness was massively reduced. The virus mutated, or the ordered the wrong vaccine- I forget which.

Those face masks to nothing to prevent the spread of common viral illnesses.

Hand washing.
Lots and lots of hand washing.
And getting them outdoors and dirty.
Avoiding anti-vac cleaning products - really!

Also take some comfort from the fact that your unwell children are 'exercising' their immune system and will be building antibody stocks - it's grim when you are in the midst of it, but it will improve as they get older.

So, YABU to suggest face masks.
YANBU to find this horribly hard

I heard that the most useful thing you can do is wash your hands, thoroughly and a lot. And try to keep your hands away from eyes,nostrils, and mouth. So that any droplet contamination from surfaces you've touched doesn't get an easy passage into the body.

Feckeggblus, one of the strains in the flu vaccine this year was not v effective (?3%), the other 2 did just fine.

The circulating influenza viruses mutate all the time and every year's vaccine is based on a 'best guess' what might be around when the next winter comes.

Are you going to put the face masks on your kids too OP? They are spreading germs as well!

I agree with other posters, if everyone just practised better hygiene with hand washing etc that'd be the better approach.

Ah that makes sense. I was speaking to my neighbour who works in A&E and she said so many more elderly people have it this year there is just more in the population.

Interesting the masks don't work...guess it does help flag who to avoid! What's the difference between hand washing and anti bac wipes etc? I had heard that surface wipes are overkill in that they get rid of all those lovely immunity building germs. I imagine I can guess general views on toy sanitiser?

And thanks for the sympathy!

It's a cold and the reality is that there is very little you can do to avoid them. Eventually they will be less frequent as immunity builds up. Expecting "the poorly" to wear face masks is quite frankly ridiculous.

Oh yeah actually had kids in mind more than adults. Dinosaur patterned or whatever.

The over-whelming number of childhood respiratory illnesses are caused by viruses, not bacteria.
Many viruses are not killed by anti-bacs (Noro virus in particular aka Winter Vomiting Virus; needs running water, soap and hand rubbing to get rid of) and too clean an environment weakens our immune systems.
There is some interesting work being done on how the fall of common childhood illnesses (anybody ever seen somebody with diphtheria? No, me neither. Which is a good thing of course) may be contributing to the rise in allergies/eczema/asthma.

The common cold is a bitch, but part of growing up IMO.

The proliferation of anti-bac products is a triumph of marketing over science

When I read the title I was thinking you meant plastic masks so you didn't have to look at their sickly faces . . . But YANBU to want less viral illnesses. We didn't have a bad winter this winter but did have a year of constant viruses. I read somewhere usual for young children/infants was 6 - 12 per year.

I use antibacterial spray in the kitchen and bathroom is always scrupulously clean. I don't see the problem as it's to kill horrible food bugs and poo bugs! My kids go outside and eat mud and get filthy playing in the woods. But I'm not going to wilfully expose them to e-coli. So I'm not on board with the hating on antibac products although my mil judges me - I use disposable kitchen roll and antibac, she uses a manky sponge and water and is lax about washing hands during eg meat prep.

I go to a uni with a large proportion of Chinese/Asian students who wear masks daily.

They said it's not to prevent illness but due to pollution/traffic on the way to uni. They seem as snotty and ill as the rest of us!

Some people are very careless, by that I mean not covering their mouth when coughing or sneezing (won't stop all the germs but would help) and the amount of people I see not wash their hands after sneezing into them or going to the loo! I have to admit though I thought you were recommending a nice soothing face pack for sick people when I saw the post! [embarassed]

Oops I clearly can't spell! [embarrassed]

Small DC get lots of coughs and colds in the winter time - its just what happens when an immature immune system comes into contact with the world and while its utterly maddening and demoralising at times, its just life.

Yes to hand washing with soap, no to face masks, anti-bac wipes and other pointless modern inventions that do nothing to protect anyone's health. Let them go outside and get dirty and apparently washing up by hand, as opposed to putting everything in the dishwasher, also helps as it doesn't sterilise everything and kids need some dirt to have a healthy immune system. My DM's slap-dash approach to washing up has at least had one advantage as my immune system is pretty good!

What is toy sanitiser?

I don't touch antibac - I'm much more of a soap and water type and we dont suffer with colds etc. DH always used to but he has been much better the last few years basically since he met me so now I've realised this I'm going to take credit

Oh, and you can clean your kitchen and bathroom effectively without using anti-bacterial products. Its just nonsense marketing hype. Bleach will kill anything - even ebola!

Reading the Thread Title, I thought you meant beauty face masks.

Germs are everywhere, we all host more germs than we have human cells we can't get rid of them we need them, seriously the importance of the microbiome is just starting to be appreciated

Teaching your kids (and other adults!) to cough and sneeze in the inside of their elbows, instead of in their hands, would achieve a lot. It is such a simple thing, however so few people do it.