Compassion? What compassion?

[OfaFrenchmind2]

I read all those threads about mask wearing and exemptions, how we must #bekind, have compassion, not say anything about people not wearing masks without any visible justification....

Where is the compassion for the shop worker whose life is on the line, being in contact with dozens of strangers every day, having to go to work anyway because, you know, they have to eat and feed their families? Where is the compassion for the bus driver who has seen colleagues die of Covid? THEY are the people at risk, they are making society work right now, and they are being shat on here because they have to endure people telling them to fuck off when they ask why they do not get to be protected.
Fuck your compassion, it is worthless.

I hear you.

I agree.

I remember just before official lockdown I had to travel and get food for someone in quarantine to leave on their doorstep. I went to one of their nearest small supermarkets and saw a 20-something shop assistant who was being nice to 4 old people. He was offering stock of the lorry before it went into the back of the store and every single one verbally abused him.

@RedRumTheHorse

I agree.

I remember just before official lockdown I had to travel and get food for someone in quarantine to leave on their doorstep. I went to one of their nearest small supermarkets and saw a 20-something shop assistant who was being nice to 4 old people. He was offering stock of the lorry before it went into the back of the store and every single one verbally abused him.

People can helpful or rude regardless of their ages.

Agree. It is the shop worker and the bus driver who see tens if not hundreds of people every day, handles their cash, has to grit teeth through daily interactions often involving subtle disrespect and dismissive attitudes. Has to be close to customers and with minimal or no protection. There is no hero worship for them but they deserve it if anyone. Bin men too.

Totally with you on this.

Yes, there are medical exemptions. But what I see is not those who clearly have difficulty wearing masks, but a lot of other people who are too ignorant, arrogant, or disrespectful of others to bother.

And that is unfortunate for those who have real reasons - not just lazy excuses - for not wearing masks.

And thank you to all the minimum wage frontline workers, who've kept us fed & transported, at some considerable risk to yourselves.

So do you not believe some people can't wear a mask? Or should those people just not be allowed out?

No one should be abused but if physical distancing is observed, the risk to others should be tiny.

Aren't bus drivers behind a plastic screen?

I feel for both 'sides' (there are no sides, I can't think of the right word though). I feel for the people at work who have to continue working surrounded by people not wearing masks- my job also continued throughout lockdown, I was very anxious for a time. I feel for people who genuinely cannot wear masks and are being judged and attacked for not doing so, and who are being told they shouldn't go out and about. The whole thing is just horrible and I do not know what the solution is.

But what I see is not those who clearly have difficulty wearing masks, but a lot of other people who are too ignorant, arrogant, or disrespectful of others to bother.

How can you tell the difference just by looking?

I certainly haven't seen much compassion towards those who can't wear masks. People have detailed violent rapes on here, agonising trigeminal neuralgia, and been torn to shreds.
Fuck your compassion indeed.

Is it not possible to have compassion for both the people exempted from wearing masks and for public facing workers?

In a hotel in Switzerland, workers that were just wearing visors came down with Covid-19, not one worker wearing a mask, or both a mask and a visor, did. It is a strong indication that masks protect the wearer too, so as long as workers that are public facing are wearing masks, they are likely to have some protection.

The people I feel most sorry for are the restaurant and bar workers, as they are in workplaces where the public don't have to wear masks if they are eating and drinking - and we are seeing the results of that with local outbreaks linked to them.

Agree, and if we lived in Spain or France it’s wear a mask or don’t go out

So in your view, all the people who are exempt are telling bus drivers to "fu** off"?

E coli, c-dif, nurovirus, varicella zoster - masks not advised, not even medically trained staff caring for patients in hospital.
Ebola, zika... no masks for the general public advised.
Instead only those working in surgery/requiring a sterile environment are advised to wear PPE.
We were advised to catch it, kill it bin it and wash our hands and cover our mouths when coughing.

I feel that if so many people can be exempted from wearing a mask then there’s no point wearing them at all.
I don’t know why visors can’t be worn instead. There can only be a tiny percentage of the population that can’t wear one.

Agree.

That's not really comparing like with like though.

Masks aren't going to help with ebola, which needs direct contact through broken skin/mucous membranes and such. It's not airborne.

Zika virus is spread by mosquitos.

Masks are really only useful with an airborne virus - such as coronaviruses, and flu viruses.

How can you tell the difference just by looking?
Maybe the ones merrily chatting away with a mask around their neck?

Visors only protect from direct spray. Everything I have seen suggests they really need to be worn in conjunction with a mask to be worth using. Otherwise, even if the direct spray doesn't get you, the virus is airborne and can get under/around the visor.

Agree with you OP. The world has become very selfish in many ways. Perhaps those who cannot wear a mask for good reason could show an exemption card to drivers, shopworkers, etc. that they have a health issue that prevents wearing a mask. Anyone else needs to keep to the rules that protect others, or not use public transport, go in shops etc. which needs to be enforced somehow!

Oh goody another mask thread. MN just doesn't have enough of these do they?

I agree, though I'm not sure which side of the fence I'm on yet. On the one hand, it does feel ableist to restrict people from entering shops if they have medical reason not to wear a mask. On the other hand, what we now understand that wearing a mask is effective at preventing a carrier from spreading it to other people. So in that regard, does the right to go to the shops trump that of others' right to be protected from your potential virus?

You wouldn't tell someone with epilepsy that their right to drive is more important that others' right to be protected from potential harm from them. Is that an apt analogy here?

If you can't make yourself safe for others (rather than from others, in which case it would be more up to you), should you be allowed into certain spaces?

To be fair though, I haven't heard of any outbreaks linked to buses or shops - the outbreaks seem to be linked to places where nobody wears a mask as they are eating or drinking.

But it is possible I have missed something, there are so many covid-19 news stories that I haven't followed them all.