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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Making the wearing of a mask manditory

589 replies

weepingwillow22 · 08/07/2020 13:49

Has anyone else noticed the worldometer projections for UK deaths have changed significantly since the relaxation of restrictions last week?
covid19.healthdata.org/united-kingdom

The deaths are now predicted to be back up to 800 a day by november with a second peak in cases surpassing the first one.

The graphs do however show that this can be avoided if mask wearing is made compulsory.

AIBU to think that the wearing of a mask or visor (excepting those eho cannot wear them for medical conditions) should be made manditory in all indoor public places in order to avoid this second peak.

If cases rise again to the extent projected here another national lockdown will be required resulting in more job losses, school closures and unnecessary deaths.

Surely the wearing of a mask is a small price to pay to avoid a second peak particularly as the scientific evidence now points to it being highly effective in preventing asymptomatic spread.
www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent

Making the wearing of a mask manditory
OP posts:
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5
MinnieMousse · 09/07/2020 17:36

No government is stupid enough to put into law that you can wear the mask or stay the fuck indoors/face penalty.

But governments all over the world have made mask-wearing mandatory in certain locations, I assume also with similar exemptions to those here. I just don't understand why English people are the exception?

Windyjuly · 09/07/2020 17:38

Just don't wear it on your chin then sneeze everywhere!

Yellownotblue · 09/07/2020 17:38

Here’s advice on how to choose the right mask if you have COPD, asthma.

www.businessinsider.com/anti-maskers-say-they-cant-wear-masks-because-medical-conditions-2020-5

Multiple world leaders, Nobel Prizewinners and Tom Hanks have come out to support mask wearing. What a sinister conspiracy, I’m sure they’re all aligned with Chinese interests or something.

Vintagevixen · 09/07/2020 17:43

I am very unlikely to take advice from Tom Hanks on anything! Spoilt Hollywood actors are way down my list of advice givers. Quite a few world leaders too!

Hercwasonaroll · 09/07/2020 17:45

@Yellownotblue But now we have a multitude of other social distancing measures in place. The incidence of it is falling. I expect it will rise again eventually but minor behavioural changes can lead to much less virus spread.

They won't mandate it because they have said school is safe.

UmbrellaHat · 09/07/2020 17:46

Was in a garage today getting car fixed. Lots of signs up but no SD or wanky masks. Men getting on my car, checking the manual I was hding, lots of surfaces touched etc-normal interaction, mercifully. Be customer came in wearing a mask, went for a coffee and came back not wearing it, clearly having realised not the protocol here.
These are people doing really jobs on the real work with customers, unlike the pompous councils refusing to open kids' playgrounds as 'not safe for their employees' ditto schools.
So mask up if you want, but let the rest of us who can read and understand stats get back to human existence.

halexanderamilton · 09/07/2020 17:47

NHS is preparing for a second wave in the winter simultaneous with normal flu season. They're giving their staff flu jabs early to try to counteract some of the impact. The fact that the NHS is preparing in this way tells me that the government know all about the expected winter second wave and the fact that they haven't made wearing a mask a priority is indicative of how they clearly don't care.

The science shows that wearing a mask matters - otherwise why would healthcare professionals and hairdressers need to wear them? If they didn't make any difference these professionals wouldn't have to.

We should all wear masks when we're inside in public places.

halexanderamilton · 09/07/2020 17:47

NHS is preparing for a second wave in the winter simultaneous with normal flu season. They're giving their staff flu jabs early to try to counteract some of the impact. The fact that the NHS is preparing in this way tells me that the government know all about the expected winter second wave and the fact that they haven't made wearing a mask a priority is indicative of how they clearly don't care.

The science shows that wearing a mask matters - otherwise why would healthcare professionals and hairdressers need to wear them? If they didn't make any difference these professionals wouldn't have to.

We should all wear masks when we're inside in public places.

Yellownotblue · 09/07/2020 17:47

Masks in schools will create so many issues though. Difficult to hear students/staff speaking. Bullying, taking them on and off, it'll be another thing to police. Also there's a high chance of kids misusing them.

I find statements like this profoundly disheartening. The virus has not gone away. It won’t go away. There is every reason to believe there will be a second and subsequent waves, until there is a cure or vaccine. Many thousands more will die.

So why can’t we teach our kids to use masks, as children in many other countries do? It is such a non issue once it becomes the norm. The novelty wears off very quickly. Children are fine with them.

In what way are British children too dim, too unruly or too irresponsible to wear masks, when so many other children in the world manage just fine?

canigooutyet · 09/07/2020 17:48

@UmbrellaHat

Those little spy cameras are really cheap btw, I'm now as part of my going out coping protection thing My god, now I really am spluttering my tea! This has to be a wind up! Going out protection thing? Since she was that a thing? All this stuff with vigilantes and spy devices for a risk that is so insubstantial as to be negligible.
Sorry if this wasn't clear from the entire post. Self protection to help me get out of the door knowing if any abusive twunt decides to get up in my face it will be filmed because of my lack of mask. If I do attract this behaviour I will be posting online/handing over whoever. I'm sure I mentioned this in that post as well. Same post also mentions this was something I did before CV as part of a personal project about perceptions of hidden disabilities.

It might sound bizarre for you but when you read endlessly about how nasty you are, this gets to you. Of course I don't have to read, however, bit late after you've read it. And of course I can walk away and I have found myself doing this increasingly over the past few months from this site.

The personal thing - who knows eventually I might share publicly the blatant discrimination faced on a daily basis. Yes it would also be shaming those people, and that is why I'm hesitant to post because I, unlike those who prefer to simply force and coerce, not like that. Publicly shaming them is taking the easy way out. Nothing changes.

Hercwasonaroll · 09/07/2020 17:52

In what way are British children too dim, too unruly or too irresponsible to wear masks, when so many other children in the world manage just fine?

Lots of ways actually. Low level misbehaviour is a huge issue in schools. Adding a mask battle into the mix of changed timetables, anxious children and exhausted staff is just asking for trouble.

Do you have any recent secondary school classroom experience?

The government school guidance says schools are covid safe without masks. They have all but banned them.

Ispywithmycynicaleye · 09/07/2020 17:52

@Buccanarab

What's the point wearing a mask if everyone touches the pin machine when paying by card?? Arent you more likely to catch it from the keypad than walking past someone without a mask.

No, the virus doesn't enter the body through the skin. The only way it gets from your hands to inside you is if you stick your hands/fingers in your mouth/nose/eyes after touching an infected surface.

Erm, if an infected person touches the keypad, transferring infectious particles, the next person to touch it will potentially have those particles on their hands. If/ when they touch their face/ mouth they could then also be infected.

Clearly I didn't mean the virus is absorbed through the skin! I really didn't expect, with all the hand washing advice everywhere, that I would have to explain that. But he ho, there's always one.

Face coverings reduce the chance of infected droplets being expelled onto surfaces as the droplets the virus is transferred in will get caught in the mask, rather than spread out and land here, there and everywhere.

I really don't understand your argument, the same applies whether infectious particles are transferred to something by physical contact or by tiny water particles from someone's breathe. The particles are still on the surface, people who touch the surface, who then touch their faces etc, still face the exact same risk of catching the virus. Or am I missing something??

Yes, masks may stop some particles floating onto surfaces, but contact with surfaces touched by hundreds of people a day without being cleaned is just as great a risk.

Yellownotblue · 09/07/2020 17:53

So mask up if you want, but let the rest of us who can read and understand stats get back to human existence.

🤨 your refusal to wear a mask is the very reason why we won’t get back to normal existence for a looong time.

Hercwasonaroll · 09/07/2020 17:54

We won't go back to normal until there is a vaccine that has been mass administered. That doesn't depend on masks at all.

monkeytennis97 · 09/07/2020 17:55

@Yellownotblue I agree. If it's 1 in 3900 then a secondary school of 2000 pupils will have contacts of over 3900. As a secondary teacher yes I can see that it would cause behavior issues etc but I know many parents and students want to wear them (not to mention teachers and school staff). I think they should wear them to protect themselves and others.

Vintagevixen · 09/07/2020 17:55

I won't be making my DD wear one to school and I don't think it should be made compulsory, she would never learn anything but spend most of her time fiddling with/getting grumpy with a mask. I make her wear one on public transport only because it's compulsory and she hates it as do I, even though I wear them for 12 hour shifts and have for years, there is no comfortable mask. I've used all medical grade ones as a nurse and none are comfortable.

canigooutyet · 09/07/2020 17:58

@Yellownotblue

Here’s advice on how to choose the right mask if you have COPD, asthma.

www.businessinsider.com/anti-maskers-say-they-cant-wear-masks-because-medical-conditions-2020-5

Multiple world leaders, Nobel Prizewinners and Tom Hanks have come out to support mask wearing. What a sinister conspiracy, I’m sure they’re all aligned with Chinese interests or something.

If I wanted advice on acting, then I might ask him for his advice.

I take advice from various medical sources, not one doctor
Others have said they can't breathe while wearing a mask and promoted medically invalid claims that the strips of fabric limit wearers' oxygen intake. A doctor recently debunked this idea by measuring her heart rate and oxygen levels while wearing four differnet masks for five minutes each, finding no change in her ability to breathe normally and bring oxygen into her body.

And and look at that, scroll down more - stay at home more, go out during quieter times etc.

Yellownotblue · 09/07/2020 18:01

The government school guidance says schools are covid safe without masks. They have all but banned them.

The government has changed their advice on lots of things, including the safety of schools reopening in June. They also initially said it was safe to discharge elderly patients to care home, and we all know how that went. They also said earlier that face masks were not useful And should only be worn by medical staff, and they changed their advice on that too.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see new advice on the use of face masks in schools by September.

Hercwasonaroll · 09/07/2020 18:05

I would be incredibly surprised if they changed it. They've spent so much effort convincing us it's safe without them. I don't particularly want them in school, so many issues.

Vintagevixen · 09/07/2020 18:06

Yeh well no one can deny the government haven't covered themselves in glory.

I for one would be opposing face masks in school and I truly hope they don't do so. Class bubbles etc much more sensible IMO.

LaurieFairyCake · 09/07/2020 18:08

I wore a mask today on bus/train/tube - it was so hot and uncomfortable I paid £20 to get a taxi back to the station as I couldn't face wearing it on the return journey on the tube

And it's only 20 degrees in London. I actually felt nauseous wearing it

It's that shit I would actively avoid going out again if we have to wear masks

Vintagevixen · 09/07/2020 18:15

I don't blame you lauriefairycake! I used to commute to work on the central line, so glad I won't have to be on it this year during any hot spells. Can well imagine the amount of people fainting etc, it's usually pretty bad for that even in no mask times....

canigooutyet · 09/07/2020 18:18

There another thing about the underground here. There are signs all over the place about overheating, dizziness etc regardless of the time of the year. Summer we get told to take water with us.

How will that work long term with SD and masks? Realistically it won't because people will decide bollocks to this when they put mask 10 in their bag and haven't made it into work already. Plus they need to boil these cos the stash is running out or buy/make more.

Maybe the transport systems are cooler in different parts of the world.

monkeytennis97 · 09/07/2020 18:24

@Vintagevixen I teach yr 7,8,9,10,11,12.... no bubble for me. I'll be wearing one.

Vintagevixen · 09/07/2020 18:28

Cool it's your choice, but I don't want my DD wearing one. In her school year 7 they are keeping them in bubbles of 30 in September but I appreciate not every school may be the same.

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