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'm a mental health nurse in the nhs so am now in a mask and face visor (that is too tight on my head) 12 hours a day. I'm also a glasses wearer. I basically cant work on the computer anymore since Im either fogged up or get too much glare on the visor. Add to that the already quite horrific heat and lack of air we have on the wards and everyone is pretty fucking pissed off at the end of the shift. It certainly isnt something we forget about like someone upthread, it's hot and wee cant communicate properly. I truly feel for those who have been in full ppe for the duration.

As for it being 12 weeks too late. The change in rules for the NHS is entirely due to test and trace. If you are named as a contact by a symptomatic colleague you do not have to isolate if you were always wearing the appropriate ppe. A ward in our hospital wasnt wearing the masks and lost 20 members of staff in one day last week because of the rules and the NHS just cannot afford that to happen on a wider scale.

.not everyone wants to tow the line and wear a mask every time we pop out to the shops

Erm yeah thats what ive been saying all thread.

@changed but its not normal here to wear a mask not like some asian countries who wear them regularly
So it will take time for people to become used to them
Also all the evidence from who at beginning was wishy washy in how effective they are and many still aren't convinced
And in supermarkets its always the ones wearing a mask who dont social distance and so many wear them incorrectly
What country are you in also that has 2 m distancing i didnt think many did ?

Personally I quite like the masks.

Why do you think the Government have followed other countries re face masks but not when it comes to disinfecting the streets.

Because telling the population to do the former and sort out their own masks costs them nothing.

The latter however....................

oh and while im on the subject Did anyone see the documentary on Universal Credit that was on BBC2 early this year?

A guy got a job cleaning train carriages. He was given no more than a few minutes to clean an entire train carriage. And we wonder why the virus spread so easily in this country? I stand by what i said!!

And we are supposed to believe that companies like the one he worked for will be "reasonable" at BJs behest and not cut corners????????!!!!!!! But yeah its totally the fault of people who are struggling to cope with face masks.

@HeIenaDove who is disinfecting the streets? And i didn't think it lived for days outside , plus I am not licking the pavements. Spraying disenfectant has soma health consequences too i imagine

Because I do not want to.

I'll wear one in places that are mandatory but not in places where they aren't. I'm claustrophobic and hate the feel of them on my face.

This is why I wear a mask.

Oh dear, Waxonwaxoff0, is it really? Well it doesn't cause you any harm and isn't quite up there with 'i want to practise for when I wear a ventilator' so I suppose that's something.

I don’t understand where this idea that people in the U.K. are the only ones who complain about face coverings comes from. ALL my friends and relatives who live in continental Europe have complained about the discomfort, and I have seen plenty of description of discomfort on here and elsewhere online from those who live in places where it is more widely mandated. But they wear one where and when mandated. As everyone I have seen in the U.K. is doing. They are wearing them where mandated. Why is complaining about something unpleasant considered so bad? Why is it assumed that by saying you don’t like wearing one means you won’t comply? Why does anyone want to know the reasons why someone isn’t wearing a mask? It’s none of my business. It seems like a new sort of virtue signalling to say “I cause myself discomfort for YOUR benefit”

I wear one when going into the town centre. Ds won't be able to wear one under any circumstances because he would continually rip it off and after a few tries attack the person trying to put it on him.

Because the British are passionate about their sovereignty and their right to do what they want and won't be told by others what to do.

For 14 weeks nobody has to wear a mask and the government completely pooh poohed mask wearing as there was no evidence that it made any real difference. Now suddenly everyone has to wear one. Is there new evidence to suggest it helps?

@Miljea

I have to wear one on a daily basis, now, as I'm patient facing NHS, and the office we work out of is so small, we wear one around our colleagues as well. So 'all the time'.

It really, really isn't a drama. After a couple of hours, as opposed to having MNetty 'panic attacks' 🙄 etc, we more or less forget we are wearing them. That's a rotating cast of 18-20 people.

That may be because those of us 'left standing', i.e. the 99% who adapted to the ever morphing 'rules' and 'guidelines' aren't those who cite 'anxiety', 'panic attacks' and 'claustrophobia', given that we faced the actual Covid Onslaught, and- um- got on with it.

I am sick to death of the patheticness of so many of us. Covid has found us deeply wanting, as a nation.

Brexit will destroy us.

Well I am sorry that being raped at 17 and having to have an abortion as a result has left me pathetic with "mumsnetty panic attacks". You don't know anything about people's circumstances. My trauma is extremely real and effects many aspects of my life, lots of things I missed out on as I was too afraid to go out without my dad or my brothers or later my husband. Mask wearing is impossible for me but I am trying to find something I can cope with. How dare you belittle people's lived experience.

COPD makes it very hard for me to wear a mask. My DD a carer has to wear one and she suffers from fear of anything on her face and cries every day because she has to wear one when she puts it on. It's a phobia and everyone who has a phobia of some kind knows what she is going through.

“ Because the British are passionate about their sovereignty and their right to do what they want and won't be told by others what to do.”

And yet simultaneously British people were “too compliant” with lockdown. Which is it?

I won't wear one because the air we breathe is clean. The chances of getting covid and dying from it are very slim. And if people who are showing symptoms stay home then again your chances of getting it are even less. Good hygiene and keeping a bit of distance is enough. I don't want to live in a world where everyone is going about scared. Life is full of risks, we can't go around in masks and bubble wrap hiding from these risks.

Also, the public don't know how to wear masks. I've seen lots of people touch their masks, their faces, surfaces... If the virus is on their mask I think they're more likely to infect themselves from touching the mask and their face than they are to get it by going past someone.

I can understand some scenarios where they are appropriate but going about Tesco... Nah!

SidSparrow - you wearing a mask isn’t to protect you, but others around you.

I wear them for 12 hours a day some days for work. They steam up my glasses (o can’t wear contacts), give me a rash under my chin and irritate my eyes. I have dry itchy skin behind my ears from the loops and my head aches if I have to wear those plastic things that make them fit properly (small head!). That’s just surgical masks. The FFP3 masks are much worse, hooded respirators even more so. I have regular negative tests, the cleanest hands known to mankind (seriously, they’re red raw!) and an absolute pro at social distancing. I do not have COVID and I’m not going to subject myself to any more minutes in a mask if I dont have to.

That’s why but judge away.

Split between
1.Laziness can't be arsed attitude

1. Won't affect me attitude

3.Actual medical reason 4.Snowflakes.

A mask protects others and unless your wearing a mask used in critical care it certainly won't protect you. If the government makes it mandatory instead of advisory I think they will have to supply you with one or venues will have to. ( Think they do on railways and hospitals if you haven't got one but not sure) one reason why they poo pooed idea in the begining as they couldn't even supply the NHS.

@Miljea

I have to wear one on a daily basis, now, as I'm patient facing NHS, and the office we work out of is so small, we wear one around our colleagues as well. So 'all the time'.

It really, really isn't a drama. After a couple of hours, as opposed to having MNetty 'panic attacks' 🙄 etc, we more or less forget we are wearing them. That's a rotating cast of 18-20 people.

That may be because those of us 'left standing', i.e. the 99% who adapted to the ever morphing 'rules' and 'guidelines' aren't those who cite 'anxiety', 'panic attacks' and 'claustrophobia', given that we faced the actual Covid Onslaught, and- um- got on with it.

I am sick to death of the patheticness of so many of us. Covid has found us deeply wanting, as a nation.

Brexit will destroy us.

Gosh, and you’re patient facing you say? That’s a worry.

Just to add that I reckon about 8/10 people from the general public I see, are not wearing their mask properly (idiots wearing them without their nose covered I’m looking at you) and have contaminated them within the first few minutes of wearing them by touching them, pulling them up and down, putting them down on surfaces, I could go on...... judging by that, there really is no point in wearing them at all for the majority of people.

I would wear one if I had to, but thankfully I don’t use public transport.