To pop to the shop today without a mask?

[Popsie17]

I know they don’t become mandatory until next week so I don’t have to but I believe most people in my area have started wearing them already. Will I be frowned upon for not doing so?

Basically, I’ve only ever bought one pack of masks and not wore them. I live in the countryside, don’t use public transport, don’t go to busy places and generally get my shopping delivered.

I give the only masks I had to my granny because she was struggling to find some (doesn’t do online shopping etc). So I re-ordered some for myself but they aren’t here yet.

Need to pick something up from the shop today.

Aibu?

YANBU

If it was so critical to stop the spread of the virus this would have been mandatory from day 1.

Pile of nonsense in my opinion.

If you don't have one, don't wear one. They're mandatory from next Friday, by which time, you'll have your masks.

The masks have been implemented now to prevent a second wave (and so they can be more lax with social distancing measures)

Just go to the shop. It’s not mandatory nor can anyone question you on why you’re not wearing one. If the shop says you need to, that’s different. Unless you foresee yourself going in for longer than 15 minutes then wear a scarf.

OP isn’t showing reluctance, but asking a simple question. Some people just live to tut others. They have a week before it’s mandatory, tut then.

My sister works in a medical profession and says that using a mask correctly (correct touching, not touching, when to remove etc) is so unlikely to happen in a everyday out and about situation that the protection they offer is questionable. She thinks many mask wearers will likely get a false sense of security and inadvertently increase transmission risk. Having watched an instruction video on correct use of masks, I can see where she's coming from.
It isn't a cut and dried panacea but on balance the government have decided the pros outweigh the cons and so we do. Doesn't mean people who aren't pro-mask are awful idiots though.

See all the people saying that they would have been mandatory from day 1 if they worked.... as you stupid?

Westminster has flip flopped every single deicsion they have made during this pandemic. Every piece of advise. Even when they seem to settle on one thing, their MPs are out giving interviews on the same day and and still saying opposite things from each other. The MPs and their advisors break the rules themselves, and get away with it.

The government have been shit. They havent wanted to impose any restrictions, whenever they do all the scientist say it should have been weeks ago like they were told but no, Boris knew better.

They fucked up every step. Its been a shit show... and you are using their guidance as an excuse? Because if masks were useful, they'd have made them mandatory weeks ago. Clearly they wouldnt; they havent done anything else when they should have. Why would masks be different.

Use your own brain instead of following bloody Boris and put a flipping mask on.

@Glitteryone

YANBU

If it was so critical to stop the spread of the virus this would have been mandatory from day 1.

Pile of nonsense in my opinion.

did you miss the whole "this is brand new and we havent a fucking clue what to do" that the rest of us saw???

Seriously? this is your argument? Wow...

Use your own brain instead of following bloody Boris and put a flipping mask on.

I am using my own brain and think mandatory mask wearing in shops will not make a difference, especially when people keep touching them and then touching other items. Therefore I am against the mandatory bit as it makes shopping unpleasant. Rather than breaking the guidance I will stop shopping in person. That doesn't affect anyone else does it so I don't know why everyone is getting upset at those of us that are saying we don't like them and will choose to avoid places where they are mandatory.

My sister works in a medical profession and says that using a mask correctly (correct touching, not touching, when to remove etc) is so unlikely to happen in a everyday out and about situation that the protection they offer is questionable.

So when I stood in the pharmacy for half an hour the other day without touching anything (automatic doors), any touching of my mask I might have done (I didn't) would have totally negated all the droplets I exhaled during this period? Has your sister thought this through?

People touch their faces all the time without masks. One other advantage of the mask is I can't actually get my fingers in contact with my mouth and nose area where most of the germs are likely to be hanging around. Adjusting a mask would only involve touching the ear bands which are clean before I touch them and won't come into contact with anything else after I've touched them.

Thanks all. This really wasn’t a moan at wearing masks or refusing to wear one. It was just simply because I don’t have a suitable face covering to hand because I gave the only ones I owned to my granny. I need to go pick up something specific for my child’s birthday, not spend ages in a shop. But like I said. More are on the way 🌸

As I said earlier - I will be wearing a mask now that they're mandatory. BUT... some of the replies on here really highlight the key issue with them. Masks are to protect other people from you, if you have the virus. If you do what people say on here 'take it off, put it in your bag, put it back on again... use it again later' and so on, all that handling of the mask means that if you have the virus you will have it on your hands and therefore onto everything you touch. People will not be sanitising their hands every time they touch their mask. If you don't have the virus, it doesn't matter if you touch it/other things or not... but then if you don't have the virus, wearing a mask makes no difference anyway!

Right at the start of lockdown, there was a suggestion that we should all 'behave as if we have the virus' (or something like that) - ie: making you really think about how your behaviour or actions impacted others. That's what should happen with masks, but it wont. Thankfully there is very little virus around in the wider population, so for most people who aren't using their masks correctly, it won't matter. But they have real potential to become 'vectors of disease' (to coin one of BJ's phrases).

I will comply, and I will wear one (and all the masks I'll be making each have their own pouch to go in my handbag, and into the wash, and I'll take several with me whenever I leave, so I have have a clean one after I've taken the previous one off). We won't see any affect on the numbers, because they're at low levels now and with lockdown relaxed (and plenty of testing), we'll see case numbers in the hundreds for some time to come regardless of mask wearing (the number of cases picked up because of interactions in shops must be tiny). But hey ho, it is what it is...

Conversely, I think masks on public transport makes more sense - people potentially in close proximity with each other for a prolonged period, and a more simple case of 'put mask on, get on train/bus, carry out journey, get off train/bus, put mask away' means the mask has a stronger purpose and is much less likely to become a virus spreader. So I'm not 'anti-mask', but I think it's about the context and situation.

@corythatwas

Wearing a mask for a quick trip to a pharmacy, as you did, makes total sense and was obviously the right thing to do in that context. Where they become problematic is that, in order to wear them ‘correctly’ to avoid cross-infection you need to behave in quite a self-aware, regimented way - no face touching, no fiddling with them or pulling them off and on again to chat/smoke/provide proof of id/sneeze (yes, people are doing this). This is very much at odds with the idea of resuming any kind of normal life - covering your face, not touching anything, not interacting with others is not most people’s normality. So shopping for many will become a ‘dash in, dash out’ activity rather than a leisurely browse around John Lewis, which obviously has implications for the high street.

In practice, most people I see wearing them have them hanging around their chin in the street, pull them up briefly to pop into a shop, pull them down again to answer the phone or chat to someone they know or go into a cafe, pull them up again to enter another shop etc etc...

I need to pop to the shops without a mask today.. to buy some!! I will probably wrap a cotton scarf over mouth and nose though

Virtually no-one is wearing them around here. Maximum 5% on a supermarket visit yesterday.

I think the real question for people here is do you think any PPE face covering, clinical mask, face visor shield, cut up old t shirt, a scarf, a repurposed eye mask (complimentary aviation travel types) etc etc ie just some thing that can cover your mouth and nose which allows you to breathe normally (as a scientifically proven by surgeons who wear these things to fix you as a profession) make a difference?

In other words the globe outside of England wear some protection so why do you feel either politely indifferent, anti rules and being told rebellious sensitive, or think they don’t do anything to protect you and others in your splitting distance?

Why are you like 90% of the UK public (probably not in Scotland anymore) not wanting to take sensible possibly life saving small steps like simply putting on some sort of covering to help us all get out of lockdown and save a collapsing economy?

Not a rant not an insult so don’t be over sensitive but as a fellow Brit who is customarily taking a combination of all sensible Covid mitigation measures including a face covering for myself and my young family why can’t you? My young child at school was taught all Covid mitigation behaviours and best practices and that includes how to make a face covering and wear it! If a little child understands why do grown ups think it’s not foe them or they are super entitled? Obviously as the good doctor says some very small sections of society with disabilities will be exempt but then again they either will not be as protected themselves or possibly become inadvertently super spreaders. We have already by all counts possibly over 50k excess Covid fatalities. These people’s families will probably be some of the few among other more precautious types to bother wearing some protection along with a combination of other Covid pandemic mitigation measures.

Stay safe and think have I forgot to cover my mouth and nose not can I get away with it!

Look at the pandemic norm outside of England. Are they wrong or unnecessary? Nobody like to wear these things but nobody wants to get or give Covid either unless you think herd immunity is a thing despite no cure and as yet unknown long term organ damage.

Please consider a mind set recalibration as we had people lost to the Covid battle daily for months and just small mindful steps may make a big community collective difference! It could save your life if that is the incentive you need to hear!

@TwilightPeace
'Too many people not doing the right thing just because it’s not mandatory yet. Very selfish.'

In your opinion.

In my opinion, they are doing the right thing because as of yet it is not mandatory. So it is a choice something we all have at this current time. So please step off the high horse,

If you have a child's party hat, wear it over your nose and mouth, with the elastic going around the back of your head. Sorted.

I used a tea towel and some pegs recently. Was such a hot day so v uncomfortable.

Was halfway to doctors when I remembered I had forgotten my mask and didn't want to be late for baby's jabs. Wouldn't have been allowed in otherwise so had to make do with what I had. (tea towel and pegs were to stop sun getting in baby's eyes)

You must have something you can use...

Anyone else loving the angry reviews on amazon for face masks? They are quite funny, 'this doesn't protect against viruses, absolutely appalling!'. Funny that seeing as it's essentially made from fabric you'd use for a t-shirt... Feel bad for the sellers though, the are having to deal with these people. None of them have said the masks protect against viruses either, most say they are good for protecting against dust and pet hair, that's it. Even that's a stretch to be honest.

Where they become problematic is that, in order to wear them ‘correctly’ to avoid cross-infection you need to behave in quite a self-aware, regimented way - no face touching, no fiddling with them or pulling them off and on again to chat/smoke/provide proof of id/sneeze (yes, people are doing this)

As I already said, wearing a mask effectively prevents me from touching my nose and mouth area.

There is absolutely zilch evidence that people without masks don't touch their faces or that they touch their faces less! Just watching those people in the pharmacy, they were constantly scratching their noses and rubbing their faces and touching their mouths. People do this unconsciously ALL THE TIME. At least lifting your hands to your face and encountering cloth might serve at some kind of reminder.

Pulling it off is something I do via the ear bands, which are never going to come into contact with any other person or object so are unlikely to pick up or transmit any other infection than what is already present on my hands. .

Do you have a burqa to hand or could you borrow one from a neighbour?

There is absolutely zilch evidence that people without masks don't touch their faces or that they touch their faces less!

I was watching all the interviews for F1 the other day. All of them were adjusting their masks frequently on camera. It was very obvious they were touching their faces because of the mask to adjust it. If it wasn't there they wouldn't need to move it.

@corythatwas

My sister works in a medical profession and says that using a mask correctly (correct touching, not touching, when to remove etc) is so unlikely to happen in a everyday out and about situation that the protection they offer is questionable.

So when I stood in the pharmacy for half an hour the other day without touching anything (automatic doors), any touching of my mask I might have done (I didn't) would have totally negated all the droplets I exhaled during this period? Has your sister thought this through?

People touch their faces all the time without masks. One other advantage of the mask is I can't actually get my fingers in contact with my mouth and nose area where most of the germs are likely to be hanging around. Adjusting a mask would only involve touching the ear bands which are clean before I touch them and won't come into contact with anything else after I've touched them.

Yes she's thought it through, she isn't saying that masks don't help in any way, or that some people don't use them well. Just that the in an entire population the benefit of mask wearing will vary greatly from person to person so it isn't a black and white 'of course masks are good' opinion.

ButterMe do you have any comparative evidence as to how much people touch their faces when they don't wear masks? I was watching the people in that pharmacy (none of whom wore masks) and they were at it constantly.

Also, isn't the latest evidence showing that exhaled droplets is more of an infection risk than hand transmission?

Just put something over your face. Do you want to catch it and give it to your granny by accident.

It doesn’t really matter if you “think” there are few cases in your area - because people are still being refused tests and the holiday wanderers will be back in a non quarantine fashion spreading it around (again) .