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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Masks on public transport

55 replies

likeacrow · 01/07/2020 16:31

Aibu or is there no point in wearing a face mask on public transport if you then pull it down every few seconds to eat crisps or swig pop?

OP posts:

lughnasadh · 01/07/2020 16:36

Well unless everyone is doing it, I reckon you'll be OK.

Plenty of people are claiming medical exemptions, or just not bothering.

The ones eating aren't any more of a danger.

Macncheeseballs · 01/07/2020 16:37

I thought no eating was going to become a rule too

Original poster

likeacrow · 01/07/2020 16:39

There were 2 separate passengers who sat on the bus with their masks on then pulled them down every few seconds to cram a crisp in /have a drink of pop.
Would other people have said anything to them I wonder?
I wanted to but didn't.

OP posts:

Original poster

likeacrow · 01/07/2020 16:41

@lughnasadh

Well unless everyone is doing it, I reckon you'll be OK.

Plenty of people are claiming medical exemptions, or just not bothering.

The ones eating aren't any more of a danger.

I don't think I won't be okay. I just think it's unfair how some people consistently ignore pretty clear rules /guidelines. It just irritates the sh*t out of me to be perfectly honest, but maybe that's just me. Especially when it's adults doing it.

OP posts:

katy1213 · 01/07/2020 16:43

Also, those who wear the mask over their mouth but tucked under their nose. What good does that do?

annabel85 · 01/07/2020 16:50

I think the mask on transport issue highlights well the English attitude to the whole thing. Make an attempt to follow the rules to show compliance (in this case wear a mask on public transport) but bend the rules as much as you can get away with (only wear it properly at a point where you might be challenged for not doing so).

OohThatCat · 01/07/2020 17:04

I got the tube last weekend for the first time in months. Whilst I sweltered in a mask the entire time, I saw people:

wear them under their nose

wear them under their chin like some weird chin strap

wear them dangling from one ear

not wear them at all

constantly pull them down to eat / drink

I am sure as soon as you touch them, you've contaminated them, you're supposed to take them off by the straps round the ears and then discard? So anyone doing any of the above has almost immediately ruined the point of their mask.

As an aside I got some absolutely beautiful masks from Etsy today and quite looking forward to trying them!

2beesornot2beesthatisthehoney · 01/07/2020 17:22

That is why I have been against them from the start . As soon as people don’t wear them properly they become a greater risk than not wearing them at all if they have CV. Yes a mask would stop droplets but If they have the virus and then start touching the mask on the front in an area where germs will increase rapidly due to the moist environment, they will transfer those germs onto surfaces spreading the virus. The minor positives are then wiped out by the negatives.

KitchenConfidential · 01/07/2020 17:25

As soon as people don’t wear them properly they become a greater risk than not wearing them at all if they have CV..
How? And why should people not do it because some people aren’t doing it 100% perfectly? That’s some very strange logic.

annabel85 · 01/07/2020 17:32

People aren't even trying with masks, they only have them for show in case they're challenged.

Problem is we've too half hearted about it from the start. If masks were made compulsory in supermarket and public transport from day one it'd be second nature now, even if a layer of the public here can't sit on a bus or a train for 15 minutes without stuffing their face.

rosiejaune · 01/07/2020 17:34

Maybe they need to eat because they don't get time to during their low paid insecure job, or they are diabetic, etc? Just give people the benefit of the doubt.

DisobedientHamster · 01/07/2020 17:55

@rosiejaune

Maybe they need to eat because they don't get time to during their low paid insecure job, or they are diabetic, etc? Just give people the benefit of the doubt.

Can't be doing that!! NO exceptions, none, public shaming/'challenging', photos on SM, blah blah blah . . .

MereDintofPandiculation · 01/07/2020 17:57

I am sure as soon as you touch them, you've contaminated them, you're supposed to take them off by the straps round the ears and then discard? I'm never sure about this advice. We're supposed to be wearing them to protect other people, therefore any contamination has come from the user, so it doesn't really matter if they touch them, surely?

I think this advice has simply been carried over from medical grade masks worn to protect the user.

Jaxhog · 01/07/2020 17:58

If you touch your mask over and over, it is not worth wearing it because you are contaminating it.

Alaimo · 01/07/2020 18:23

As others have said: if you touch your mask over and over then it doesn't do anything for you. Still helps to protect all those around you though.

DisobedientHamster · 01/07/2020 18:27

@Alaimo

As others have said: if you touch your mask over and over then it doesn't do anything for you. Still helps to protect all those around you though.

It's not there to do anything for you, anyway, only to protect those around you.

GetUpAgain · 01/07/2020 18:48

I gave blood today, you have to wear a mask, you also have to drink fluids before and after. They just said to gel your hands, take your mask off, drink, mask back on, gel hands. If a mask stops a sneeze reaching me I'm glad the person wears it, even if they take it off to eat it has still done some good.

Original poster

likeacrow · 01/07/2020 19:04

@rosiejaune

Maybe they need to eat because they don't get time to during their low paid insecure job, or they are diabetic, etc? Just give people the benefit of the doubt.

I absolutely knew someone would say this!! One person was eating cheese puffs and drinking an Oasis, the other eating some other kind of crisp. We'd all been sat in the bus station for a good 10 mins previously, so they could have eaten /drunk then. I find it hard to believe that 2 unconnected passengers both had a blood sugar dip as soon as they got on the bus.

OP posts:

onedayinthefuture · 01/07/2020 19:22

Masks are definitely for protecting others. Those wearing them thinking they are protecting themselves are sadly very naive as you are just as likely to have the virus go into your eyes.

Ilovegreentomatoes · 01/07/2020 19:26

But if I sit on a bus with a mask and say five people get on without I may be protecting them by wearing my mask but I could end up getting covid from them
Annoying when you look at it like that.

Ilovegreentomatoes · 01/07/2020 19:27

And bus drivers do not challenge ppl who get on without because legally there is nothing they can do.

JorisBonson · 01/07/2020 19:29

Man on my train this morning was wearing no mask and holding a battery operated fan to his face 🤦🏻‍♀️

NewModelArmyMayhem18 · 01/07/2020 19:30

DC and I went on a bus for the one and only time so far since lockdown t'other week. We travelled on three buses in total and on each one there was some 'I dare you to say something' teen not wearing one. Had I been on my own, I would have talked to them but my DC would have been mortified had I done so in their presence. I was very surprised though that the bus drivers didn't just refuse to let them on. It has put off me using public transport again it has to be said.

annabel85 · 01/07/2020 19:35

I absolutely knew someone would say this!!
One person was eating cheese puffs and drinking an Oasis, the other eating some other kind of crisp. We'd all been sat in the bus station for a good 10 mins previously, so they could have eaten /drunk then. I find it hard to believe that 2 unconnected passengers both had a blood sugar dip as soon as they got on the bus.

Eating on public transport is just bad manners anyway (unless it is for a health emergency or a long journey). During a pandemic it's just wrong, you shouldn't be traveling long distances anyway on public transport at the moment if it means you've got to eat. You should have your mask on at all times.

Original poster

likeacrow · 01/07/2020 19:43

@Ilovegreentomatoes

And bus drivers do not challenge ppl who get on without because legally there is nothing they can do.

I've known bus drivers to challenge people trying to get on without a mask, but once the journey starts there's not much they can do. As I understand it, it is now a legal requirement to wear one unless you're exempt.

OP posts:

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