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

[NiknicK]

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?

Just about every cold or flu I've ever caught, I've caught from travelling on public transport. My colds are always bad and last for a good 3 weeks. I, for one, am relieved that we have to wear masks on the tube, buses and overground here in London. The tube alone can be like tinned covid in the rush hour.

@sockyarn but you are infact badly informed, it isn't just that you have a different opinion from me, it is that you have a badly informed opinion, ie an opinion not informed by research or science or medicine. But in a large supermarket where all you are doing in passing someone in an aisle they are totally pointless this is incorrect, again. Some of the information provided by scientists has shown how far and quickly droplets spread in supermarkets. You are quite simply wrong about this, your opinions are wrong. Also I will judge the fuck out of you if you are virtue signalling with your wee disposable mask to chuck into landfill, because all that matters is Covid I could equally turn that around and say you are virtue signalling with your references to landfill, refusing to do small things which will help stop spread a disease, because all that matters is the environment - again badly informed - you can wear a cloth one, most people are.

When you are in a large supermarket and the person passing you sneezes @SockYarn they are not useless at all.

Which is why supermarket staff have been falling in in huge numbers. Oh wait.... they haven't. And newsflash - there are lots of reasons why people sneeze other than Covid. Given the extremely low rates of community transmission, they are far more likely to have hayfever, or a cold.

I imagine that people hated having to blackout their windows during the second world war too. But they did it because people would die if they didn't. We need to do the same now with facemasks.

www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent?fbclid=IwAR12ThonOCd6ILSjKiMn3xueseVKK9wM-EgXOBTpyYXuWSb1R-Sml6uiX1I

"Two compelling case reports also suggest that masks can prevent transmission in high-risk scenarios, said Chin-Hong and Rutherford. In one case, a man flew from China to Toronto and subsequently tested positive for COVID-19. He had a dry cough and wore a mask on the flight, and all 25 people closest to him on the flight tested negative for COVID-19. In another case, in late May, two hair stylists in Missouri had close contact with 140 clients while sick with COVID-19. Everyone wore a mask and none of the clients tested positive."

Getting everyone to rant about face masks is a great way from distracting us from the care homes fuck up, isn't it? if everyone wore masks and the virus was dealt with, we would all have more time and energy to focus on other things in the world going wrong.

Because there weren't enough and there was no proof that they did anything. Now there is no proof.

You do realise that the implications of the virus are far scarier than being annoying and itchy and the government telling you what to do?

Yes @Jaxhog blacking out your windows is EXACTLY the same thing.

Fed up of these ridiculous WW2 comparisons now.

*there IS proof, even

An considering our government tends to do the minimal safety wise in order to save the economy (and YES I do understand why, but that still means a compromise on safety) then if they make something mandatory, you really do want to do it!

OP why don't you buy a couple of different masks, maybe you'll find a cloth one more comfortable than a surgical mask. My concern is that is this doesn't get enforced. I had to take the train to an appointment last week and half of the people weren't wearing masks!

Good luck coming to Spain, entering the equivalent of Tesco without a facemask, if the general public don't humiliate and shame you, the cashier won't serve you. The security guard will call the police.

And you think that’s a positive thing?

I am in no way against wearing face coverings (I’m currently wearing one in a hairdresser while DS has some if the massive amount of hair he’s accumulated over the past few months removed).

But I really, really do object to this absolute bullshit where people feel it’s ok to interrogate and humiliate people. That is an enormously undesirable side effect of all this. And what is worse, is it’s very clear how many people absolutely love being able to do so.

People should be concentrating on whether they are doing what’s expected. Instead they’re positively gleeful at yet another Covid related excuse to judge everyone else.

Plus, I really do worry for the people who are excluded from basic parts of public life by all this. Making the social world actively hostile to people with acute anxiety (Exacerbated by face coverings) or autism or anything else is most definitely not a good thing for society.

Just because being a total arsehole is becoming increasingly socially acceptable in Spain (or wherever), doesn’t make it a good thing.

And what is worse, is it’s very clear how many people absolutely love being able to do so.

Absolutely. All the people who were snitching on their neighbour for doing things which were never illegal and starting ranty threads about people "flocking" places and "flouting" their made up rules are going to be taking it upon themselves to quiz people not wearing masks.

Self-appointed Covid police. None of their business why I'm not wearing a mask, or the next person isn't wearing one. But that's not going to stop them.

I guess its the irrational logic that is irritating me. Are there clusters of cases linked to shops? Has there been an upsurge of cases since shops reopened? Why are we doing this now when cases are much lower than they were a few months ago. Why are we happy for cafes and pubs to be opening up (presumably we are not expected to wear a mask in these)? Why are we permitting social gatherings of increasing numbers (without masks) where contact will be much longer than the brief encounter in a shop. I will reluctantly wear a mask but I just think unless we are more consistent with the other measures it will be a waste of time.

The quicker people comply the quicker life will return to something like normal. This has been evidenced by countries who have had better management of COVID.

You can stay at home then and do your shop online and stop complaining..
Just in case you have forgotten: We are in the middle of a pandemic and we are trying to get back to some sort of normality safely.

YABVU

You are welcome!

Every headline in the last few years has made me feel a little ashamed to be British and this post has just reinforced it.

The first time I wore a cloth mask on public transport I actually thought I was going to suffocate. But do you know what happened after 10 minutes? I calmed down and am now a pro at whipping my mask on and removing it without contaminating my hands, I don't feel like I'm going to die either.

My son is ASD and I've been preparing him for weeks now in case it became compulsory so now as a teen, autistic, totally non empathetic person, he knows how and why he needs to wear one if he wants to go to a shop. He does have the choice to just not go in to a shop as well.

My first world issue with this being mandatory though is if I have an I can't be arsed to make lunch one day and I nip to Pret for food, if I get there and have forgotten my mask I'm either going to have to walk all the way back to work and then back to Pret or go hungry

The more people who wear a mask, the sooner life will go back to normal. Because the infection rates will decrease. How hard is that to understand?!

Just cover your mouth and nose inside a public place. Take personal precautions to help keep transmission low. Keep your hands clean, give others space. Stop bitching about it.

@OneInEight The completely irrational, knee jerk nature of policy making in England is very frustrating.

Let’s face it, this new rule about face coverings is not about responding to new evidence or whatever. It’s about Boris deciding that pressure in the media (social and otherwise) is now such that he needs to be seen to be pro-face coverings.

And after all the bluster and ‘great British common sense’ talk for weeks and weeks, they know that they’re not going to get buy in from large numbers of people. It’s all just so poorly led.

In another case, in late May, two hair stylists in Missouri had close contact with 140 clients while sick with COVID-19. Everyone wore a mask and none of the clients tested positive."

To be fair - only 46 people out of 146 (140 customers and 6 members of staff) were actually tested - the other people either didn't have any similar symptoms or they didn't want to be tested. We are now led to believe that some people are asymptomatic with coronavirus - how do the local authorities in Missouri know whether any of the other 100 people caught the virus or not?

Also, the hair stylists continued to work whilst displaying symptoms - they should have stayed at home instead of going to work - with or without masks.

They were not mandatory as they were originally coming at it from the viewpoint that it won’t stop you catching it. However ( and I must admit what I had been saying all along) they are now approacjing it from a preventative measure - you may have COVID-19 but not yet know or show it. So to prevent you from passing it to others you should be wearing one to stop POTENTIALLY passing it on. So if everyone wears one they are stopping POTENTIALLY breathing the virus into the air. If you’re not wearing one and don’t yet know you’re infected you are passing it into the air. I know they can be uncomfy and not fit well but that’s trial and error. A lot of the disposable ones are pretty bad fitting. You may need to invest a pound or two and purchase cotton washsable ones which are actually widely available from many stores now. Or online. And try them on at home so you can get a good fit and feel for them. I understand about your son but under 11 not REQUIRED to wear them. But if everyone else wears them the chances of your son catching it are very limited.

"Unhooking it necessitates touching it. From what I've read, that negates its efficiency, puts you at risk of spreading the virus to your hands and on to other surfaces, and allows any virus that has been trapped inside the mask to escape, so its pointless having one in the first place."
Isn't that why we have hand sanitiser?

I wash my hands before I go out.
I carry a miniature hand-sanitiser with me.
I put my reuseable mask on and then sanitise my hands.
I do not touch my mask while wearing it because I make sure it fits and the straps don't require adjustment when I put it on.
I keep it on whilst shopping and remove it in my car.
I sanitise my hands before unhooking my reusable mask, put it back into its sealable bag and then sanitise again.
I remove the filter and throw it in my bin and wash the mask at 60 degrees frequently and regularly.

I also carry sanitiser for where there aren't automatic opening doors such as at the bank & building society.

Simples.

Let’s face it, this new rule about face coverings is not about responding to new evidence or whatever. It’s about Boris deciding that pressure in the media (social and otherwise) is now such that he needs to be seen to be pro-face coverings.

No, its because there is growing evidence that wearing a mask does slow the spread of the virus, and wearing a mask is a fairly easy thing to do for most people.

I'm more inclined to go shopping now that I know masks will be worn.