Wearing masks everywhere indoors is so depressing

[Sossen]

AIBU to feel frustrated and, at times, a bit upset that I can’t really do anything indoors now, either on my own or with my kids, without wearing a god damn face mask? I’ve just about been able to tolerate wearing them whilst food shopping but that’s because I now take a lot of time to write out a list and meal plan beforehand and I get in and get out, as opposed to before, when I took the time to browse, picked out what I fancied, and maybe tried on some clothes whilst there. I can cope with this ok but what is depressing me is that my ds is desperate to go to a few indoor places like the trampoline park (our local one has strict guidelines in hygiene social distancing and staggering sessions) and I’ll take him but the thought of sitting there for an hour and a half opposite my dh trying to talk to him with a mask on or watching my ds play and he can’t hear me because of the mask, well it fills me with dread. I had a cinema pass which i’ve has for years but I’ve already cancelled It as there is no way I can sit for up to 3 hours with a mask on, it would be unbearable. Every day out we go on that is predominantly outdoors but have some indoor areas I’ll have to remember to take masks with me. If I nip to post a letter, pick up my medication, go into a public car park to get my car after work I have to wear a mask. I expect to be told I’m moaning but I can’t help it. I fully resent the fact that I am being told to cover my face and I have no choice in the matter. Please tell me I’m not the only one.

@sockyarn well they clearly aren't a hero so let's just hope the other bit isn't true too.

Contradicting snot swallower really? Wow! No, actually, I wasn’t one of those people. I appreciate all that the Nhs do and have done but personally, I didn’t see how me going outside clapping every week would make any difference. I appreciate the Nhs in my own way before anyone judges me for not clapping.

Why do we need to use unnecessarily emotive language such as ‘muzzles’? How are they muzzles? Do you regularly go around biting people?

What is the problem with wearing a mask to protect you/others? Wear one if you can, don’t wear one if you genuinely can’t.

I absolutely find them uncomfortable and difficult to wear and have no problem with people venting about that. However, I think some people need to stop being so over dramatic about a very small thing which might just save someone else from suffering or death. You’re not being required to chop off your fingers and I find the ‘I’m alright so stuff you’ mentality very difficult to understand.

I’m also disappointed that people are already trying to get around the rules. I’ve just returned from abroad and you were required to wear masks on the flight. However, the amount of people making pringles last for three hours was ridiculous. Most of them would be ok probably if they caught covid. But it’s about protecting others mostly isn’t it? I can almost imagine the reaction of these same people if they were in the high risk group. I bet they wouldn’t be so happy then. If we all worked together a bit more I think we’d get through this a lot better.

I doubt anyone is enjoying wearing masks. I had to work yesterday in the heat in one. But then I think about all the PPE nurses and doctors will be wearing and try to be a bit more stoic about it.

None of us know what is in our future, potentially a worse virus is round the corner. I am trying to show my DC that being adaptable, rational and positive is the the best way forward.

@Alabamawhirly1
“Healthy” people can be asymptomatic carriers. Plenty of studies about that.

@Blackforesthotchoc
There’s plenty of evidence of their effectiveness. No need to push untruths just because you don’t like masks.

www.ucsf.edu/news/2020/06/417906/still-confused-about-masks-heres-science-behind-how-face-masks-prevent

www.pnas.org/content/117/26/14857

royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspa.2020.0376

“We examine the effects of different rates of facemask adoption without lock-down periods and show that, even at lower levels of adoption, benefits accrue to the facemask wearers. These analyses may explain why some countries, where adoption of facemask use by the public is around 100%, have experienced significantly lower rates of COVID-19 spread and associated deaths. We conclude that facemask use by the public, when used in combination with physical distancing or periods of lock-down, may provide an acceptable way of managing the COVID-19 pandemic and re-opening economic activity.“

Oh we had a holiday booked to Butlins for the last week in August. Like lots of other people i waited ages for guidance and I’m so glad that Butlins allowed me to swap my holiday to the end of summer next year. I couldn’t have coped spending hours in the big tent with my dh and dc all hot and sweaty.

Yanbu to dislike the sensation ; yabu to suggest that they're useless while admitting not to have read the science. Have a look at this link www.ox.ac.uk/news/2020-07-08-oxford-covid-19-study-face-masks-and-coverings-work-act-now# which provides a summary of a lot of the international research and concludes that mask wearing also provides some protection to the wearer.

@ddl1 why would you live in complete isolation, does mask wearing give you more comfort than social distancing and good hand hygiene? Genuinely interested.

Does anyone else find they’re getting a spotty chin (something I have NEVER suffered from) or really dry cracked lips from wearing a mask?

I’m definitely not going many places at all, as wearing one makes me feel uncomfortable due to my asthma.

@Sossen

We are all young fit healthy no medical conditions don’t smoke aren’t overweight etc. Yet some people expect you to be terrified

Me and DH are (were) some of fittest, healthiest people you will meet. We both had the virus in March. DH has on-going fatigue issues and I’ve been left with a heart condition that give me the stamina of an 80 year old. I have to take a rest at the top of flight of stairs. I don’t know when or if I will get better. We were unlucky I guess but don’t be complacent that because you’re fit you’ll get off lightly. Besides which, the main purpose of masks is to protect other people, so it’s largely irrelevant if you think you’re unlikely to be hit hard - you’re protecting those who are at greater risk.

You do realise its not just you being effected by this

EVERYONE is in the same boat.

You have your child and your husband, alive and well

There are people out there that have lost loved ones.

Wearing a mask will stop the spread and stop people dying

Stop moaning

Yeah, I do have bad breath but only usually
in a morning when I wake up.

Those posters parping on about ventilators...

You do understand that anyone can refuse to be ventilated? That people have refused it and survived?

As for would I wear PPE if I was treating a Covid positive patient yes I would. Just as treating anyone with an infectious disease. But most of us don't have it. Those of us living in an area where no one has died of it in weeks, there have been a handful only of positive tests...the chances of encountering anyone who has it (and is asymptomatic) on the weekly shopping trip is tiny. Very different from treating someone who actually has it!

I don't believe the disease is a hoax. I don't think one poster on this thread has tried to posit that theory. However what I do agree with others is that the reaction and fear is disproportionate, and the long term effects on economy and society are more worrying than the disease.

@NHSHero What is lies? Seriously
what is your problem? I have not attacked anyone on this thread for having a different opinion to me so why are you behaving like this?

@Sossen

That’s sounds really hard. My DM has a medical issue which means she could get away with not wearing one but she does. Not because she feels they do much to reduce the virus but because she’s terrified of being called names and given a load of abuse.

There really is no such medical condition exemption. If you cannot wear one for the reasons given for exemption then you are exempt. If you can wear one then you are not exempt. It isn't condition dependent. If you have a breathing condition but can wear a mask then you are not exempt. If you have the same condition but cannot wear a mask then you are exempt.

I cant stand wearing one either. It steams up my glasses. And although I am asthmatic I wanted to wear one in the Range the other week. It was awful. I decided to wear it as am pregnant for extra protection but oh my goodness never again. I'm investing in a badge or lanyard that says I am exempt from wearing it as asthmatic as I have to explain myself constantly as to why I haven't got it on. I just cannot wait for this all to be over

Yes, I do get it’s not just about me. That’s why I’ve adhered to every socially distanced rule/guideline/law that our dear government has imposed. If I didn’t give a shit about other people then I wouldn’t have done this.

I'll save my sympathy for medical and care workers who have to keep them on consistently for 12 hour shifts.

I HATE it but if it means more things can stay open and I can see people (albeit outside) I'll take that hit any day!

So someone up thread said that the end date for mask wearing is when there are no more covid deaths. If masks are so great, so effective then surely we should wear them all the time. What if we have a bad flu year? Do flu deaths not matter? Is it just the utter obsession with covid? Far far too many people are enjoying this utter shitstorm. They thoroughly enjoy the drama, the relentless mask policing. Do people really believe that Joe Bloggs in the street is a) wearing the kind of mask that will offer ANY protection and b) wearing it correctly? Nope, it's just another bit of drama for them to enjoy.

That’s perfectly fine. I have sympathy too believe it or not. My SiL is nurse. Fair enough she doesn’t work on a covid ward but she’s had to wear PPE from the start, and to en fair she often had to wear it before covid. Difference is she doesn’t moan she just gets on with the job that she’s paid to do.