Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Face masks. To feel that we have all been through enough....

999 replies

NiknicK · 14/07/2020 04:40

And shouldn’t have to wear face masks if we don’t want to. I know it’s not officially been confirmed yet, but it’s expected to be today, and I don’t get it. If face masks truly help prevent the spreading of the virus, then why on earth wasn’t it made compulsory at the beginning of this pandemic, why now? I know you’ll all likely call me selfish but I can’t do it. I have to wear a mask for ten minutes once or twice month to collect mine and dh’s medication and I find it unbearable even for that small amount of time. They make my face itch and make me want to touch my face more, I can’t breathe properly and get panicky, they slide up as they’re too big for my face and hit my eye lids. My ds is autistic and I suspect I have some traits eg sensory issues, and the thought of having to wear these masks when I find shopping stressful enough as it is, fills me with dread. AIBU?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
10
Roussette · 14/07/2020 08:41

Lots of people won't want to wear a mask so the shops will continue to be empty

And lots of people like me will feel far more comfortable about going to shops now that shoppers are wearing masks. Works both ways. If someone reaches across me for a tin of beans without a mask on, I do not like it. If they have a mask on, that is slightly better if they do that.

ExtremelyBoldSquirrels · 14/07/2020 08:42

@Roussette

How will you know? Will you ask them for their medical reason?

From the 24th I will go to the information desk of the supermarket (if I am in a supermarket) and ask them why someone is not wearing a mask and if they are implementing it strictly.

What business is it of yours? Strangers don’t need to share their personal medical data with you.
OLGADEEPOLGA · 14/07/2020 08:42

I'm in the 'I don't like it so I won't go to the shops' camp. Online shopping all the way now for me.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 14/07/2020 08:42

I really don't like wearing them either, nobody does. It's not "sensory issues" to find them claustrophobic and stressful, everyone feels this. I live in a part of Spain where they are now mandatroy everywhere in public, indoors and outdoors and even if social distancing is possible. And it's 40ºC. It's deeply unpleasant, but my kids haven't been at school since March and were unable to even leave the house for 2 months because the lockdown was so strict.
I desperately want them to be able to go back to school in September and if everyone wearing a mask helps with breaking the chain of transmission, then i will comply.
They aren't pleasant, but you will get used to it. We have.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 14/07/2020 08:43

mandatory

Roussette · 14/07/2020 08:44

What business is it of yours? Strangers don’t need to share their personal medical data with you

I do not want to know their medical data, don't be ridiculous. I want to know that the shop I am in is implementing the rules.

SockYarn · 14/07/2020 08:45

I'm with you, @NiknicK.

Government muzzles are horrendous. I won't be wearing one either. I can't breathe with one om (I am asthmatic and have the inhaler to prove it) and they are so hot sticky and uncomfortable.

Not going supermarket shopping is unavoidable - we all have to eat. But I certainly won't be browsing or going places like craft shops or any other types of shop wearing a mask.

I have ordered visors for when shops are utterly unavoidable but otherwise I just won't shopping.

Furthermore, I volunteer in a charity shop and if they think I'm the one who's going to police people wearing masks they can sod off.

CatteStreet · 14/07/2020 08:45

NameChange84, I know a man well over 70 with heart problems who had a very mild dose and was better in days. I do read a lot on here about people told they would be 'unlikely to survive' Covid, and I do believe you were given that message, but the capricious nature of this virus does seem to work both ways - I understand you being extremely careful (I have had lung problems and repeated pneumonia too), but I think there are very few people indeed for whom one can say it's a certain death sentence. I say this to encourage rather than doubt you, btw.

Drivingdownthe101 · 14/07/2020 08:46

@Roussette

How will you know? Will you ask them for their medical reason?

From the 24th I will go to the information desk of the supermarket (if I am in a supermarket) and ask them why someone is not wearing a mask and if they are implementing it strictly.

ok. I can’t wear one as I suffer from extreme claustrophobia due to a traumatic event in my past. I have a panic attack if anything goes on my face. Now I will deal with this by not going in shops. Doesn’t matter to me, I can get what I need online. But do you think others who potentially have an issue like mine should have to explain themselves to shop staff?
purplechairandcat · 14/07/2020 08:46

It's been compulsory to wear them in Scotland since Friday and I get they're uncomfortable but they're also necessary, and the majority accept it as such.

BelleSausage · 14/07/2020 08:48

@Bladeofgrass

Do you have hearing loss? I do. I wear a mask and wish they were universally worn.

What in if I need to speak to someone when I’m out is we both unhook our mask by one of the ear loops and stand at a social distance briefly to talk.

A simple solution.

OrangeBlossomsinthesun · 14/07/2020 08:48

Drivingdownthe101 can you wear a plastic visor instead?

Butchyrestingface · 14/07/2020 08:48

From the 24th I will go to the information desk of the supermarket (if I am in a supermarket) and ask them why someone is not wearing a mask and if they are implementing it strictly.

I’m in Scotland. Shop workers (at least in some stores) have been advised not to ask customers why they are not wearing a mask.

Whatever policy stores adopt re asking/not asking customers, I can’t see them responding positively to someone at the info desk demanding to know why “stocky bloke in loud shirt in aisle 3” is not wearing a mask. Grin

You have no right to other people’s medical info.

merrymouse · 14/07/2020 08:48

If face masks truly help prevent the spreading of the virus, then why on earth wasn’t it made compulsory at the beginning of this pandemic, why now?

Because we know more now.

besensiblepeople · 14/07/2020 08:49

I know it’s not officially been confirmed yet, but it’s expected to be today, and I don’t get it OP please could you watch this video - face masks were obligatory in Czech Republic for everyone outside from Mar 19 to now, their cases and deaths have been a tiny, tiny fraction of the UK and most of the world, everywhere which imposed face masks have similar had a fraction of cases of deaths compared to UK, please please watch this, it has been circulating for a long time, and the UK has not recovered during lockdown. It isn't just to do with this, it is also to do with groups ignoring the recommendations, secret parties and raves and goodness knows what else. But also this.

we have been through enough we will be going through a lot more if the virus isn't controlled.

Chloemol · 14/07/2020 08:49

It’s compulsory in shops from 24th July. And it’s because during lockdown there was no requirement as not as many people where about, shops were closed in the main and SD adhered to more or less

As lockdown has lifted more shops are open, more people about and much less SD. Look at all the MN comments saying yes ignore the rules just use common sense.

Well now we were masks to allow us to do shopping. You will get used to the mask

And if you want to complain to anyone do it to the selfish lot on here you think it’s ok not to follow the rules

Quarantimespringclean · 14/07/2020 08:50

It’s not hypocrisy to change your mind when presented with new facts or evidence. It’s called learning.

I don’t like wearing a mask, it’s sweaty and breathing is uncomfortable so I don’t go out much. However when I do go into enclosed spaces like shops I wear one because I would not want the guilt of being infected and asymptomatic and so infecting someone else - like maybe an autistic child who might find being hospitalised particularly distressing.

Roussette · 14/07/2020 08:51

I don't doubt wearing a mask is difficult for you, but no doubt you could have a medical exemption so you don't have to wear a mask. I feel for you because you're caught between a rock and a hard place.

However, unlike you, there will be a lot of people who will just say they can't wear them because they feel faint, their glasses steam up, they don't like them and so on... so rules are rules unless there is a medical reason.

I want to know that the shops I go in implement this and not just ignore it, otherwise what's the point of me wearing a mask, which incidentally I hate, but do it for the good of my fellow human beings.

Rosehip10 · 14/07/2020 08:51

Little point in this, as the amount of masks I see being worn under the nose is ridiculous.

Railingsohno · 14/07/2020 08:51

Bloody hell I am embarrassed to be British sometimes. It’s a mask, just put it on and get on with it! Some special snowflakes here.

I’m in Scotland and we’ve had it for a week now and it’s really fine.

ShebaShimmyShake · 14/07/2020 08:52

Small tip: put your mask higher up on the bridge of your nose and your glasses a little lower down on top of the mask, to create a kind of seal. Will help stop the steaming up.

Doggodogington · 14/07/2020 08:52

If you don’t like it, don’t go to the shops or on public transport. I really can’t believe that adults are struggling with this, it’s a fucking mask or a scarf or a buff. I have to work on public transport and it pisses me off that I am wearing a mask to protect you, not myself, and you can’t give the same consideration to myself and the other passengers. (By you I mean all you delicate little fairies who come over all dramatic at the thought of doing something that you do t want to do).

besensiblepeople · 14/07/2020 08:52

I won't be wearing one either. I can't breathe with one on(I am asthmatic and have the inhaler to prove it) my dc has asthma, has had serious lung problems in the past, and wears a mask without a problem so try it. Using your inhaler will help if it is needed. The medical masks - which you can get cheaply on amazon at the moment - filter air and actually make it nicer to breath when walking along the road or in a pollen filled field.

Malbecblooms · 14/07/2020 08:53

we have all been through enough

It's been ages months of not going out as much and juggling childcare and work. We haven't been through a war or natural disaster.

(I appreciate this is not applicable to people who have lost relatives, who indeed have been through a hard time).

British people love a drama. Very few people can't wear a mask. Unless you have a significant learning disability and couldn't understand the reasoning behind it or a child with autism where The change is too much.

I don't like the feeling of it is a piss poor excuse for not doing something that could slow the speed of a viral pandemic.

ExtremelyBoldSquirrels · 14/07/2020 08:53

@Roussette

What business is it of yours? Strangers don’t need to share their personal medical data with you

I do not want to know their medical data, don't be ridiculous. I want to know that the shop I am in is implementing the rules.

Which requires the shop worker to ask about their personal data (even though they aren’t entitled to it either) and then confirm it with you. It’s not even the shop worker’s responsibility to check this stuff (it’s for the police to enforce).

Maybe, rather than going around policing everyone else, you should just worry about what you’re doing and leave others alone.