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?

I understand where you're coming from, OP. I find the masks make me feel hot and panicky. I feel the same way if I'm in a room, car etc which is oppressively hot; likeci can't bear it and need to get out.

I'm in Scotland where we've had to use masks for a couple of weeks already. I bought a couple of handmade masks off eBay, asking the seller to use as soft & light a fabric as possible. Even then, I've still had to lift the mask off for a minute or two to help calm myself.

I observe a certain irony in that the Ban the Burqa brigade are probably among those shaming non mask wearers. Weren't we told society was under threat due to gagales of black clad , face covered women infiltrating.

[quote Nemchangetoday]@WutheringTights

Well I genuinely didn't do any of the things mention in the post you quoted so actually yes that was down to other people

*NiknicK
If you want to talk selfish, how about all the people who went out to the pub the weekend before lockdown was enforced, knowing lockdown would be announced the next day. People dragging their kids to crowded beaches, not social distancing, leaving rubbish and bags of excrement all over the place. People not keeping their distance and leaning over others when food shopping. People having large parties and gatherings!

In other words...
It's everyone's fault but mine.
Everyone else should make sacrifices so that I don't have to.
Other people should pay the price for XXX, not me.
And so on.*[/quote]
Did you read the part about someone infecting 71 people by just riding in the lift? You may not have done the specific things in the post quoted, but if you're asymptomatic and visited the supermarket then you have probably infected more people than a family social distancing on a beach. Just wear a mask then we can all get back to much closer to normal much more quickly. The alternative is many, many local lockdowns.

You sound like my 5 year old.. "my mask isn't comfortable wa wa wa "

Please, please just wear a mask. Don’t wait until July 24th (why the silly 10 day delay)
I am sad the Government can’t get to grips with this but they are in charge.
Get used to wearing a mask. You may forget occasionally but do your best. If you are exempt then be prepared to prove it.
We have to beat this thing before it comes back.

frustrationcentral thankyou.

I have been watching with dismay, those that seem to have been whinging without good reason and the growing negativity to anyone who physically cannot wear a mask, knowing that those with a genuine problem will be the ones to be ostracized because of this. If you can, then you should, if you can't then you should not have to hang a bloody great label around your neck. I for one do not want to wear a tag saying that I almost suffocated as a child, or was beaten and sometimes raped with a hand pressed over my mouth as an adult. Nor do I want to have to explain this to random disapproving people, or to supermarket staff.

I have had enough of all this too. As far as I am concerned policy is being made up on the back of a fag packet to appease those who are terrified of COVID. And basically stuff everyone else who is prepared to accept some degree of risk and are frustrated with the inconsistencies of the messages coming out or concerned about all the other impacts.

We still don't know the true death rate because we don't know how many cases there have been; an issue that is compounded by the fact there is now more evidence of many cases being asymptomatic. Most cases remain mild although there are known risk factors - age being one of them. We still don't know how many people have antibodies nor when COVID arrived in the UK.

Face coverings IF USED CORRECTLY (a big if) MAY help if SD is not maintained. But this is pissing against the wind if we don't have a reliable test and trace system, if there is not rigorous testing of health and social care staff or for other areas where transmission can be high (factories for e.g.). And not to mention the issue that is schools.

I am against mandatory face coverings for the very reason that I know I am better at maintaining SD if I don't have one on, I touch my face and glasses more with one on because I cannot fucking see properly when my glasses steam up (and I have tried all the so-called solutions to this) and I wear the same mask for longer than I should.

I think face coverings are a sop designed to try and give a semblance of control to people who cannot cope with the fact that Covid isn't going away and there are risks, and people will inevitably die

Love all these precious little creatures who suffer from lack of oxygen the minute someone mentions the word 'mask' to them.

I'd love to see the reactions on here to 'my surgeon operated on me without wearing a mask because wearing one upsets her'.

How the fuck do you all think doctors and nurses manage to wear them for hours on end? Bloody grow up and stop acting like entitled toddlers.

@Gfplux , I guess the delay is to give people a chance to get masks ready?

@Gfplux

Please, please just wear a mask. Don’t wait until July 24th (why the silly 10 day delay) I am sad the Government can’t get to grips with this but they are in charge. Get used to wearing a mask. You may forget occasionally but do your best. If you are exempt then be prepared to prove it. We have to beat this thing before it comes back.

I've been wearing one since mid May. It's second nature to me now

Oh don't be such a baby OP. All this 'I can't breathe' - you're breathing will be far more impacted if you catch COVID-19, as will the breathing of anyone you infect.

I think most people's unconscious objection to masks is that they protect other people, not the wearer of the mask. We only benefit if other people do it - and it's clear that most people won't wear masks if it is optional.

No one is enjoying this. I should be on holiday now - instead I have no holiday and no refund yet. But we just have to crack on.

@newnamenewgamenewpain

You sound like my 5 year old.. "my mask isn't comfortable wa wa wa "

This is disablist. It's the equivalent of saying of someone dependent on a wheelchair "I feel uncomfortable standing up wa wa wa." There's a very obvious difference between finding a mask uncomfortable and having the sort of major sensory/phobic reaction that OP describes.

We need them now as more people are out and about , if you don’t want to wear one stay home. It’s a small effort to keep yourself and everyone else a bit safer

And basically stuff everyone else who is prepared to accept some degree of risk and are frustrated with the inconsistencies of the messages coming out or concerned about all the other impacts.

Well I agree with you as it happens but I still don't really see the issue with mask wearing, it isn't that big a deal and it also isn't very difficult to remember not to touch my face while wearing one.

This is disablist. It's the equivalent of saying of someone dependent on a wheelchair "I feel uncomfortable standing up wa wa wa." There's a very obvious difference between finding a mask uncomfortable and having the sort of major sensory/phobic reaction that OP describes.

I wouldn't bother @DuineArBith , such a sad thread to see so many unable to understand that just because they can "suck it up", not behave like " entitled toddlers" then they can't understand why anyone else can't.

I'll wear a mask, because I can. I also totally understand that some can't and this is a big thing for them

I tried one of these masks today. It wasn't constrictive at all, but I do a lot of talking at work, so it was pretty steamed up by the end of the day. I'd recommend it though.

I understand your concerns OP, but it really is easy and there are different ways to cope with it. I have to wear a mask all day (8hrs min) and I pop to the toilet to breathe for a bit, change to different types of masks (we've had to wear them since April, I have quite a selection!), alternate with a face shield if slightly further away from others...

It's imperfect, but it's sensible. I'm hoping we get to take them off for work sometime before October. But then I'm in a country which listened to medical advice and shutdown early and hard and now we have barely any cases and deaths less than a quarter of the U.K. on a per capita basis. If I was living somewhere which had messed it up so phenomenally, I'd be hanging on to my mask for a while.
It's funny how some of the western societies are finding it harder than other cultures where it is very natural to take care of the weakest by making difficult sacrifices for yourself.

Frankly i don't think most people are being disablist. I do think a lot of people don't understand the issues that some people have around wearing a mask.
But there has been a LOT of special fucking snowflakes who are throwing their toys out of the pram who have no other reason than "they don't want to wear a mask" and they are the frustrating ones.

Wow, some pretty selfish thinking here.

You'd rather risk passing on the virus to a vulnerable person (as masks are more effective when worn on the infected person than when a healthy person wears one) than wear a mask as its uncomfortable? Asymptomatic spreading isn't about how your body reacts to other infections, it's the nature of this virus which is brand new and therefore neither you or anyone else will have any idea how it will impact you.

I understand some people will have real genuine reasons they cant wear masks, disabilities being the prime example. But as with the other measures, these things will only work at keeping numbers low if the majority of the population abide by the rules.

Personally, I'd rather be uncomfortable for 40 mins 3 times a week when shopping than potentially risk infecting someone who may really suffer or worst case scenario, die.

I have one question to all the people complaining they 'don't want to' because they 'feel hot', 'panicky', 'faint' or get 'air thirst'.

How do you feel about Anti-Vaxxers?

I'll put money that a large percentage of those currently snowflaking around about 'not wanting' to wear masks (NOT those who really, genuinely can't) would also agree that parents who choose not to vaccinate their completely healthy kids are outrageous and should be prevented from sending kids to state schools etc or anywhere they mix with your kids.

Take a look at yourselves if you are - because this is the same thing. The general population is being asked to take a tiny bit of risk and a bit of discomfort to enable herd-level protection for those in society who genuinely can't.

A lot of those people, including a lot of children, will be those who have been shielding. We're out and about more, we're mixing, we're relaxing restrictions and this group is moving towards being able to come outdoors and back into society. If this step will make it safer for those individuals (and it will), then I see it as the decent thing for others to do.

I would support an official exemption card - not because people should have to explain their medical issues to others, but because it would stop them having to do just that. It would also deter a percentage of chancers from piss-taking if they thought they could be asked to produce it and prosecuted if they couldn't.

And, fwiw, I actually would support school children wearing masks when they return in September, probably from KS2 onwards. My 10 year old got used to hers when out and about very quickly, and it would be an extra layer of protection for them, for school staff and for the children in their classrooms who are more vulnerable. I strongly think it would hugely cut down on transmission of other winter bugs as well.

I have had enough of all this too. As far as I am concerned policy is being made up on the back of a fag packet to appease those who are terrified of COVID. And basically stuff everyone else who is prepared to accept some degree of risk and are frustrated with the inconsistencies of the messages coming out or concerned about all the other impacts.

Not so sure about this. You might be right. But the other impacts are really one and the same, impacted by an out of control virus aswell as by prevention measures. If anything many of the policies now are to allow things to resume despite risk, so more aimed at those who want to get back out there asap.

I don’t like wearing one, I know it’ll keep you safe, but it doesn’t feel right, I’m sure you’ll be fine and won’t catch anything, I don’t have anything that you can get... god that argument sounds familiar 🤔

Ps, either way I agree about the fag packet...

Brefugee: Frankly i don't think most people are being disablist. I do think a lot of people don't understand the issues that some people have around wearing a mask.
But there has been a LOT of special fucking snowflakes who are throwing their toys out of the pram who have no other reason than "they don't want to wear a mask" and they are the frustrating ones.

I agree with all this: especially as with some people, it's not even 'I don't want to wear a mask', it's 'I won't wear a mask, because I don't want anyone to tell me what to do!' I think there has been 'disablism' on both sides, but actually often more from people who don't want to wear masks or otherwise adapt their behaviour to those who are at some extra risk if they catch the virus, and seem to think there is nothing in between being at death's door already and being unreasonably fearful of the virus: 'Why should everybody have to change their behaviour because of a few old and sick people?' 'I'll live my life as I please; if you're obsessed with fear, you can stay at home washing your hands!' This is very callous toward people with any health problems that put them at increased risk; and indeed toward non-disabled people who have to do jobs that put them at risk. I am not of course referring to those who have medical needs that prevent them from wearing a mask, and who sometimes get unfairly classed with the callous and macho objectors to masks, just as people like me who cannot stand safely in a moving vehicle sometimes get unfairly classed with people who simply refuse to give up their seats to older people because 'I was here first'.

ginnybag: *How do you feel about Anti-Vaxxers?

I'll put money that a large percentage of those currently snowflaking around about 'not wanting' to wear masks (NOT those who really, genuinely can't) would also agree that parents who choose not to vaccinate their completely healthy kids are outrageous and should be prevented from sending kids to state schools etc or anywhere they mix with your kids.*

Actually, there seems to be a fair bit of overlap between the more extreme ideological objectors to masks and the anti-vaxxers.