To mask or not to mask

[coffeewithmilk]

This thread might have some divided opinions

I have been wearing a face covering whenever I go into a shop or enclosed space where I cannot social distance - for example: went to IKEA this morning and put my mask on. I'm really shocked at the amount of people not wearing one.
I would have thought with everything that has happened the last few months that people would be inclined to wear a mask, but it's almost like nothing has happened... and feel like I even get some strange looks when I am wearing one.

Just for context: I'm not in the UK. Currently in ROI.

Do people think they are superior and won't catch anything so they don't bother putting one on?

AIBU with this?

I don't believe that masks worn improperly help at all eg

-Those worn under the nose
-Those worn under the chin

• Those touched constantly because they slip

-Those discarded into a hedge -Those moist ones stuffed into a bag and then touched many times before they go into the wash.

Well, obviously.

This one, not too bad because it should still catch droplets, just not aerosols.
-Those that don't fit properly and steam up your glasses

Regarding the ECDC link, like I mentioned, it's a month old.
The consensus has been increasingly, including with more research, that masks help control covid.
Part of the evidence is that countries where masks are used, or were used in Europe, have been able to control it more easily at the start. But I'd have to look for the specific evidence that has led to masks actually being recommended by WHO, reluctantly and after many calls by scientists, including people like Fauci in the US.
www.bbc.com/news/health-52945210

Again, as part of a package of control measures, and because communities have to start opening up without letting the virus go rampant again.

I now wear a mask when shopping. I feel I am protecting people around me as much as protecting myself.
Again, it is a choice so can't blame people not wanting to.

@ostinato

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/3966499-face-mask-face-off

@Lweji
Thank you for the link to the BBC article which contained a link to the new WHO advice.

Pages 5 -11 of that advice is really useful and I would recommend them to anyone reading or contributing to this thread, particularly those making their own masks.
The link is here to help you.
apps.who.int/iris/rest/bitstreams/1279750/retrieve

What I fail to comprehend is why it should take a poster on Mumsnet to locate this ( I might add a competent one IMO from previous threads 😄)

Why is this guidance not linked to everywhere and why are we not having a massive public information campaign about the safe construction, use and cleaning of masks whether they are mandatory or not!

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-britons-should-be-wearing-face-masks-in-shops-says-boris-johnson-12027625

The fact that the UK government has waited this long to recommend wearing masks is astonishing.

Once again the UK is weeks if not months behind other countries.

SMH.

So right now I have a plumber in the house mending a leak as an emergency. We are shielding . Precautions have been put in place to reduce the risk of infection. Including it was emphasised him wearing a mask .

Except during our only distance conversation he was pulling at it constantly as he spoke to me ...with his glove covered hands ...With which he will now touch things in the bathroom etc . What is the bloody point!!!!!!
DH will need to deep clean and not work after he has left to keep me safe.

To be honest he would be much safer to us if he wasn’t wearing a mask and using sanitizer regularly,

To be honest he would be much safer to us if he wasn’t wearing a mask and using sanitizer regularly

Do you mean gloves? Wearing a mask and sanitising doesn't really have much direct correlation. I agree though, I have had to have a few workmen in for an emergency, and none of them have worn any PPE, it's ridiculous.

@Porgone
No I mean a mask. If he was not wearing a mask he would not have been touching his face all the time as he talked to me. It was obviously uncomfortable and difficult to speak with. The fact he needed to fiddle with it made the whole thing more risky not less.

To be honest he would be much safer to us if he wasn’t wearing a mask and using sanitizer regularly,

I have my weekly cleaner now.
She wears a mask when she has to go into bathrooms, which are more poorly ventilated or anywhere near us. But I open all the windows while she is here anyway, and that is enough (really, it gets a big draft here, but IIRC, research has shown that even an open door is enough to limit the number of particles in the air).
We keep our distance, and stay in different rooms while she is here, if we don't go out.

What is needed is sensible evaluation and application of the different measures to evaluate risk of transmission, but I'm trained to do it and have read a bit about it.
Most people aren't, so I'm not surprised it's confusing.

No I mean a mask. If he was not wearing a mask he would not have been touching his face all the time as he talked to me. It was obviously uncomfortable and difficult to speak with. The fact he needed to fiddle with it made the whole thing more risky not less.

Sounds like he should find a mask that fits, and that he doesn't fiddle with.

To all those ignorant people above about hidden disabilities, I've had to do all the following, at great distress to me, but to keep YOU lucky non disabled ignorant insensitive morons safe.

1. get a lawyers letter from the Disability Law Centre to prove I am deaf and that I need the other person to remove their mask so I can lip read

2, gotten a mask that says 'lip reader' on the front from etsy (was not cheap)

3, gotten badges with my disabilities on them (again not cheap)

4, gotten an exemption letter from my doctor, oh and a new prescription for ADs which I had hoped I no longer needed, oh and a new referral to counselling

5, downloaded the thistle app

6, bought a sunflower lanyard

7, downloaded some apps that are meant to help transcribe voices but each app actually misspells words and dont recognise Scots.

Are you all happy now?

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-face-coverings-to-become-mandatory-in-english-shops-12027960

Why wait until 24 July ?

Just a reminder which might be handy then

@Parker231

news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-face-coverings-to-become-mandatory-in-english-shops-12027960

Why wait until 24 July ?

So they can back off from it in a week

It should have been mandatory from the start.

@username2020 actually yes, that all sounds like sensible stuff to help you during a pandemic when we are in a situation where science and transmission rates show face coverings are useful. How many strangers do you talk to when out? Shop staff etc on the tills have the barriers so they don't have to wear them, for example, so that thankfully wouldn't be an issue.

Good to see our government not changing their position of once again faffing about dragging their feet before a decision is made

10 more days

What amazes me is why people need to wait until Boris says this or that and then follow? Do you not care about the risk to your health from this pandemic that so far killed 50k in the UK?

Some of us preempted a possible UK pandemic long before it was officially here via continental Europe thinking that it would fly in from mainland China direct back in February. Therefore we already started to tentatively carry out potential Covid mitigation such as semi imprisonment hibernation and cancellation of meetings, more social distancing, not touching things, constantly scrubbing hands and yes wearing both gloves and face covering PPE etc. So why do people in the UK need to told that this may be beneficial and indeed still challenge the compulsory benefits of all Covid risk mitigation such as mask wearing?

I am absolutely astonished. Just like the Covidiots en mass at the beach, rioting with Police etc etc.

How many more fellow Brits need to perish before people take a less relaxed selfish attitude. What if it impacted your loved ones? Wearing a face covering is not going to kill you is it! Surgeons and doctors do it for hours and I don’t tend to hear them complaining!

twitter.com/cpierle2u/status/1282340211679268868?s=20

Carla Pierle
@cpierle2u
·
Jul 12
Replying to
@mloushin

@jhaskinscabrera
and
@justin_hart
I was an RN working in the operating room. We wore masks during surgery only. Masks came off between surgeries. We received breaks, rarely having to wear a mask longer than four hours at a time. In addition, surgery ORs are kept cold with excellent ventilation. FACTS MATTER

Maskopedia 2020: a year of denial, U-turns, and Covid controversy

www.standard.co.uk/news/health/maks-mandatory-coronavirus-2020-a4497776.html

Maskopedia 2020: a year of denial, U-turns, and Covid controversy

www.standard.co.uk/news/health/maks-mandatory-coronavirus-2020-a4497776.html

Maskopedia 2020: a year of denial, U-turns, and Covid controversy

www.standard.co.uk/news/health/maks-mandatory-coronavirus-2020-a4497776.html

The face mask has slipped. The government is simply full of idiots and there's nothing more to be said

Ministers spent all afternoon at the despatch box admitting they were wrong and that everybody else had been right.

www.independent.co.uk/voices/face-masks-coronavirus-oliver-dowden-matt-hancock-a9618891.html

That article is absolute perfection @ResIpsaLoquiturInterAlia, thanks for the link. I can’t wait for Marina Hyde on Friday.