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?

face mask = comfort blanket!

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.

Totally agree. Why do people cough and sneeze over their hands then touch door handles, computer keyboards etc without washing- hence sharing their germs?

I always suspect the masks don't really work. I mean they don't filter the air ime (spraying weedkiller with a mask on) the air comes in and out round the mask as through the mask is too dense and you'd become breathless.

Wash hands or at least disinfect. Never put hands near face. Always clean them before eating or preparing food or drink.

I had the flu jab for the first time last year and have yet wacks wood hard to catch anything. As someone who only has to come within a foot of anyone with a teeny tiny sniffle of a cold to catch it, it's been very effective for me. I shall certainly be having it again this coming winter.

Interesting that masks don't work but as a pp has pointed out you'd at least know who to swerve.

it's the spit that carries the virus. Clean hands are the key. Otherwise, it's actually good to catch a cold and build up immunity. My nan had loads of kids and when she reached her 80s brilliant immunity to all sorts of bugs that we used to catch, but she would get away with. Stomach bugs, colds etc. Must have helped her live longer.

def get the flu jab tho.

Can't see masks helping that much apart from for identification purposes. Maybe we should make them ring bells too?

Agree with the thorough hand wash, soap and hot water approach. I quit anti bac cleaners and soaps on GP advice after eczema outbreak on my hands and it's been better. I've also switched to cleaning bathroom with white vinegar & tee tree oil (use bleach for inside loo still though) and use 50/50 water/vinegar mix as all purpose cleaner.

We don't seem to have anymore bugs as a result! I do order kids to do thorough hand wash as soon as they get in from school though and change hand towels every day or do. Also squirt spray disinfectant indoor knobs, loo flush etc. regularly.

If the face masks don't work, then why do the US make immunosuppressed children wear them? They're very common in young oncology patients. Genuine question btw.

Do they?
Immunosuppressed children out and about? Or in hospital?

I have no idea - how odd.

flue jab?
never had it
also never had flu

OP, I feel for you, but I'm another in the hot soapy water for everything camp. FWIW my youngest (now nine) had flu this year for the first time since he was in Reception - before that he was ill constantly. It's hard but it is true these bugs boost their immunity and they do outgrow it.

Think yourself lucky Suzanne it's fucking horrible!

Both - out and about and in hospital. I always wondered why it's done in the US but not over in the UK.

I suspect that masks are a physical barrier to stop them putting their hands to their mouths and noses which is the most common way bugs are transferred from person to person.
Aerosol transmission of bacteria and viruses is not that common unless you work in a dental surgery or work in an operating theatre. Or if you use lots of antibacterial sprays to clean! Hand dryers create good aerosol transmission and flushing toilets so lid down before you flush!
Apparently when they spray onto a dirty surface they pick up the bugs and spread them further. They also take a long time to work so need to be left for up to 30 mins before you can wipe them away.
Bleach is good but needs to be diluted it is pretty useless when concentrated.
And always dry surfaces thoroughly after cleaning. Bugs don't grow on dry surfaces.

Viruses spread most effectively via surface contamination - even airborne viruses are hard to transmit via droplets, and IIRC NHS advice even in high infection control wards is that a metre distance will prevent most droplet infection.

The highest risk of transmitting a virus is touching surfaces someone who hasn't washed their hands has touched - so it's not OCD to try to avoid touching door handles in public toilets, handlebars in trains and buses, etc! In comparison masks won't really do much at all. S rupous hand washing and trying to avoid touching your nose/eyes is the best infection control - the eye membrane is particularly vulnerable to infection, so you touch a door handle that someone with unclean hands has touched and then rub your eyes without thinking...bingo.

I'm always having this argument with MIL, whose understanding of science is pretty basic! Agh.

I thought the title was "To suggest the POOR wear face masks"

I miss read the thread title and thought it said the poor.

Like the elbow coughing idea, will work on that with ds. So what about alcohol hand gel (on hands!) hospital style? Does that kill germs. Toy sanitiser is that stuff you can spray on toys to allegedly kill surface bacteria.

Some adults cough all the time and are not infectious. People with lung cancer, some types of lung damage. They already get treated in public as if they shouldn't be out of the house.

Has your DS started nursery this year? Usually you get loads of colds and bugs if they havnt been in childcare before nursery.

OP many people wear masks to stop them catching things or to avoid pollution, not because they are ill, so someone in a mask is not necessarily sick and needing avoiding.

OP as pointed out above, face masks are for the people who are not ill.