To not understand why people have a problem with wearing a mask?

[Changednamesorry]

Where I live masks are mandatory for everyone over the age of 6 in any public indoor space (shop, train station, doctor's surgery etc) and where it is not possible to guarantee the 2m distance. 100 euro fine for non compliance.

Of course some people break this rule but the vast majority wear masks including a lot of kids younger than 6. My mum and dad in the UK also wear masks when out atm.... But they also said its ay best a 40% uptake and that in the supermarket the staff don't wear them!!!

Here on MumsNet i see lots of people saying that they "won't wear a mask".... Why? It's to protect others so surely its a good thing to do even if they are a bit uncomfortable?
In Asian countries (China, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea) mask wearing is and always has been done to protect others.

Why?

I wont be wearing one because they look uncomfortable and claustrophobic. Plus I like my hair and make up to look good and a mask would look messy.

@CupofHorlicks - I’m assuming you are joking. No one could be that selfish and threatened other people lives. It’s mandatory on public transport not optional.

Two reasons- health reasons eg asthma or disabilities which are often hidden or ptsd.

Or the most common reason too selfish to put other people’s help before their own comfort.
This pandemic has highlighted two very different groups of people , those that have gone above and beyond making sacrifices that have put their own lives in danger. And those who won’t do something as simple as wear a mask because why should they, they are low risk , stuff everyone around them.

@Parker231 no I'm not joking, I dont want to wear a mask. Nor do most people who I see at work, in supermarkets and everywhere else in public. If its mandatory on public transport then I'll wear a scarf and hold it over my nose.

'To not understand' = I'm incapable of thinking outside my own bubble so I'll use this pretext to sneer at others.

Then there's always incongruous juxtapositions. 'In Asia . . . ' well, we're not in Asia. In China it's common to eat dogs, I just don't understand why we don't add them to the menu here .

I suspect individualistic cultures find this a bigger psychological barrier

I thought this at the start but I live in a US state that requires mask wearing indoors in any public space, shops, hairdressers, schools etc.
Everyone is doing it without much fuss so if it was compulsory in the UK I suspect pretty much everyone would actually just get on with it.

Because it's not compulsory and not an Asian country. What's the point of your post. To complain about people not following a non existant rule in a country that you don't even live in.

I have ‘moderate’ asthma. I have been hospitalised with a virus previously due to asthma and nebulised many, many times. I will be wearing a mask where advised to as a. I am not an arsehole and b. Having moderate asthma does not mean I cannot wear a mask, it’s uncomfortable, sure, but I prefer to protect others by wearing a mask; the discomfort is a small, necessary inconvenience.

Those with severe asthma will have real issues with wearing a mask. These people wheeze pretty much all the time. This is c 4% of the population. I predict many people suddenly declaring their ‘severe’ asthma status and it will come as a surprise to many of their friends and colleagues

@everythingisginandroses

Who wants to see your ugly selfish faces anyway?

Too bad there's not a mask for ridiculous ugly personality .

'Selfish' the new, but already very tedious and tired flopstick to beat others with. Boring!

@SurreyHillsGirl

I have ‘moderate’ asthma. I have been hospitalised with a virus previously due to asthma and nebulised many, many times. I will be wearing a mask where advised to as a. I am not an arsehole and b. Having moderate asthma does not mean I cannot wear a mask, it’s uncomfortable, sure, but I prefer to protect others by wearing a mask; the discomfort is a small, necessary inconvenience.

Those with severe asthma will have real issues with wearing a mask. These people wheeze pretty much all the time. This is c 4% of the population. I predict many people suddenly declaring their ‘severe’ asthma status and it will come as a surprise to many of their friends and colleagues

I have 'moderate' asthma and most of my asthma attacks have happened in high humidity - it's a known trigger for many asthmatics. Wearing a mask will increase the humidity of the air that's breathed in. Just because, for you it's 'small, necessary inconvenience' that doesn't bring on an asthma attack, it doesn't mean that it is the case all 'moderate' asthmatics, it could provoke an attack in many of us.

This pandemic has highlighted two very different groups of people

No this pandemic has highlighted the fact that people are throwing their toys out of the pram now they have got what they voted for and they dont like it now the reckoning has to be paid.

In a way they couldnt have envisaged.

The selfish pricks are the ones who continued to go on ski trips/Cheltenham/cruise ships. I suspect the real reason behind some of the mask shaming is because they want THEIR holidays to resume as soon as possible. They werent too bothered about people with medical conditions when they were losing their DLA.

Im willing to bet there is a correlation between those who brand them "benefit scroungers" and those who expect them to wear a mask with no excuses.

Ive decided not to book a hair appointment for a while. But i suspect this still wont be good enough because the idea isnt to keep people safe on its own. Its to help the economy as well so the idea is to wear a mask and still do all the things you would normally do. Fine the economy needs a boost but people need to be honest about it and stop being disingenuous.

Got what they voted for as in.............individualism.

“This pandemic has highlighted two very different groups of people , those that have gone above and beyond making sacrifices that have put their own lives in danger. And those who won’t do something as simple as wear a mask because why should they, they are low risk , stuff everyone around them.”

I know a number of HCPs working with Covid patients who don’t want to wear masks outside their job. I know people like you hear “I don’t want to” as “I refuse to”, so where do these selfless yet selfish people fit in your binary?

I won’t wear them unless they are made compulsory, they just end up steaming up my glasses.

They are compulsory on public transport. I imagine if there is a second wave or local spikes, the wearing of face coverings will be extended. Countries who have managed Covid better, are still wearing masks.

This pandemic has highlighted two very different groups of people , those that have gone above and beyond making sacrifices that have put their own lives in danger. And those who won’t do something as simple as wear a mask because why should they, they are low risk , stuff everyone around them.

ODFOD. I have done and continue to put myself at risk and make sacrifices every single day for other people through my work. I choose not to wear a mask outside of work where I deem it appropriate not to. Where do I fit into your narrow sighted analogy?

They really aren’t pleasant to wear at all but I still do deal with it. I’m 8 months pregnant though so I think that greatly clouds my view, I have a lot at stake right now.

It’s now mandatory in hospitals and I’ve been wearing one to all of my appointments since lockdown. When the weather is hot it can feel unbearably suffocating and I always want to take it down to have a drink but just daren’t so sit there suffering. I couldn’t believe how many people (including staff believe it or not) didn’t wear one before it became mandatory.

I am NHS admin. Have been working right through the crisis without any social distancing or protection in the workplace. Now in June we suddenly have to wear masks. I wear one for 8 hours a day. I cant stop scratching my face as its so hot and uncomfortable. If it makes me selfish to throw off the mask on my way out the door, so be it. I don't need to use public transport atm. All my colleagues hate it as well. Even those with asthma have been told they have to wear them

It should have been done earlier, as should a lot of the response to Covid 19.

Apart from those who find it uncomfortable, need to lip read, or forget to bring it with them, worth noting that we are led by someone who thinks rule breaking is OK, especially by his advisors.

Apart from those who find it uncomfortable, need to lip read, or forget to bring it with them, worth noting that we are led by someone who thinks rule breaking is OK, especially by his advisors.

Needing to lip read is a valid exception. It is not against the rules for someone to remove their mask for your benefit in terms of communication. Don’t lump it in with people choosing to not to wear a mask on mandatory situations for the other reasons you’ve listed.

This pandemic has highlighted two very different groups of people , those that have gone above and beyond making sacrifices that have put their own lives in danger. And those who won’t do something as simple as wear a mask because why should they, they are low risk , stuff everyone around them.

This pandemic has highlighted people who use the virus to try exert moral superiority over others, who believe passive aggressive tactics like shaming or pithy comments work, who have given their desire to be busybodies free license to stick their nebs in other people's affairs with aplomb; and people who have just gone on minding their own fucking business.

There, fixed it for you.

@SchrodingersImmigrant

Because Brits are simply so special.

Honestly, Brexit didn't make me want to leave, but god, this unbelievable whining is making me look elsewhere. I used to love it here. I also liked Brits with their quirks, but the whining. The non stop "Well I can't because x" whining.

Best of luck in your new country, then!

www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/disabled-man-starved-death-during-22247500?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sharebar

A disabled man starved to death during the coronavirus lockdown because he could not access essential food, an MP said.

Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy said she was aware of a "tragic" report that a man in her constituency of Streatham, south London, had died after being unable to access food essentials.

She asked charities giving evidence to the Women and Equalities Committee what they felt about the Government's "reluctance" to expand the clinically vulnerable list amid people with disabilities struggling to get food through priority delivery slots.

They said people are still finding it hard to get deliveries, some cannot socially isolate in supermarkets because they are blind, carers are being disbelieved when they say they are shopping for more than one person and customers are being asked to " prove" their disability