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.

Ok, well I do find that wearing a mask ruins my enjoyment of the activity I'm doing. I would normally like having a quiet train journey and sitting and reading my book for 90 minutes (I have a toddler, being alone and with a book is a luxury!) but I was counting down the minutes until I could get off and take my mask off. I am not a huge shopper but sometimes fancy a wander round the shops, but won't do it while I have to wear a mask because I wouldn't enjoy it. I wouldn't go to the cinema or a theatre if I had to wear a mask for the same reason. I'm not refusing to wear one, I'm not saying I'm incapable of wearing one - I had to wear one for about three hours because I had a hospital appointment the other day and obviously I wore it throughout - but I am avoiding being in the situation wherever possible. That's not allowing a mask to ruin my life, it's just choosing not to make myself voluntarily uncomfortable and to waste money on activities that are no longer worth it to me if I have to wear a mask.

Also the level of whinging about other people moaning on this thread is both ironic and quite funny.

Thanks for that balanced post @TeacupDrama

We all hate them but will just have to get on with it. I do wish people would stop moaning though it’s a fact of life for the time being. It won’t be forever.

It won’t be forever.

Won’t it? When do you think it will stop?

If you don't have a medical problem then it's really something we all need to do to get through this quicker.

That said my mil has low lung capacity and she wears one.

I don't mind it for shops at all. I am hoping the kids will be told to wear in school. My youngest is under 11 but he's more than happy to wear one.

@luckylavender yes SE Asia have done brilliantly if you forget that’s where Covid and SARS originated and gloss over the fact that it’s widely accepted that their death figures are a nonsense.

I loathe them too, but on the bright side it is saving me money as I don’t go in many shops now apart from Sainsbury where I don’t linger. This won’t be forever, but I do find it strange and quite depressing really.

@Sossen

Yes i can’t understand this either. Some people, not all, seem to feel that they are morally superior for doing the right thing and what’s expected of them.

I totally agree.

What I am finding a little bit heartening is that only a few weeks ago you would have been piled on by 80 to 90% of posters

Now it's closer to 50 - 50% (although the from that 50% that many who think you are unreasonable are still judgemental and sanctimonious about it all).

I am not sure if more people are beginning to think differently about it or the people who agree with you on this are more likely to speak up.

Hopefully a bit of both.

The chances of even seeing an infected person (in most places) are about 1 in 2000 now, less if you take into account if anyone is actually ill with it they aren't likely to be out and about much.

Using the official figures. For every 10,000 tests done now there are likely to be 8 people with the virus testing positive, 2 people with the virus getting a false negative and 10 people getting a false positive. There are also interactive maps out there that show there are less than 3 people in most areas currently infected. So even if you believe in the efficacy of masks - they are pretty much a waste of time.

[quote TheWoodsAreDark]@luckylavender yes SE Asia have done brilliantly if you forget that’s where Covid and SARS originated and gloss over the fact that it’s widely accepted that their death figures are a nonsense.[/quote]
Covid and SARS didn’t originate in South East Asia.

(Have a google and see if you can work out which countries are in south east Asia and which are in east Asia.)

"yes SE Asia have done brilliantly if you forget that’s where Covid and SARS originated and gloss over the fact that it’s widely accepted that their death figures are a nonsense"

Yes, those sneaky Asians

Why can Europeans never accept that much of the rest of the world has started surpassing them in near enough everything?

@TheWoodsAreDark - look at Thailand, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Vietnam ...

Ignore the virtue signallers OP. It is actually possible to get on with wearing them, not moan about them, not call them derogatory terms, not compare them to oppressive regimes, not think CV is a hoax, but still not like them, doubt the point of them, and want to limit the times and occasions you go to places where they are now mandatory.

So even if you believe in the efficacy of masks - they are pretty much a waste of time.
*
IAintentdead So, experiment - if you are in a crowded room and allow 100 people to cough directly into your face, would you prefer to be wearing a mask or not?

@TheClaws

and most people wearing one now are only doing so because they are required to by law

face coverings are favoured by governments mainly because they are a visible demonstration of 'doing something'

I oppose the compulsory wearing of face coverings because I believe that the introduction of such a regulation is disproportionate to the problem at hand.

There will, of course, be further restrictions to come on the way we (used to) live our lives. And it seems most people will happily accept them.

AlecTreveleyan, going by the general tone of your posts, you oppose face coverings because you are a sociopath. Governments are using a visible, obvious weapon against a highly transmissible virus. You also don't get to speak for the motivations of "most people". (You got it incorrect anyway.) Further restrictions only occur if you fight against the early ones - like masks.

perhaps i should simply preface everything with IMHO :)

to me, it is already clear that the cure is worse than the disease and IMHO in the near future the folly of lockdown (and by extension the compulsory wearing of face coverings) will become the more popular opinion.

What those who favour wearing face coverings never offer up is the conditions by which going back to 'normal' will return. There is no review date in the legislation. There is no 'if cases go below X or if deaths fall below X then there will no longer be a requirement to wear face coverings'.

IMHO the govt is likely to impose more restrictions on our liberty before it relaxes them. We'll see either way.

HopelessSemantics their subtle racist subtexts are never as subtle as they think, are they

I wonder how thewoodsaredark has worked out that ALL “southeast Asian” countries’ death figures are nonsense? Or is it just an assumption?

I would, for example, find it hard to trust anything the Chinese government put out as “official”, but how about Japan? Their death rate has only just passed 1000. They should have a load more cases so what’s going on? Government suppression? Possibly, but medics aren’t seeing excess numbers of cases and deaths and raising concerns. In fact, when they added in excess deaths compared to the last 5 years, the total still didn’t reach 2000.

Various theories why - people wear masks a lot, especially when they have cold/flu symptoms. They locked down at the right time. Schools closed for Easter break a few weeks earlier, knocking out one route of transmission. There could have been a similar enough coronavirus that wasn’t covid, but circulated last year meaning people had more immunity to covid. And lastly, some believe it’s because they’re ethnically superior. Every country has its weirdos

The chances of even seeing an infected person (in most places) are about 1 in 2000 now, less if you take into account if anyone is actually ill with it they aren't likely to be out and about much

Less in Scotland. I think the official figures are at an absolute maximum 475 people "have it" and are currently infectious. Half in care homes or hospital. Large percentage young people at the pubs in Aberdeen, nowhere near where I live. Most people who have it and know they have it will do the right thing and stay in the house. So that leaves how many infectious people cutting about in Asda? Count them on one hand.

And before someone goes on about asymptomatic cases - yes, it's a thing. But when cases in general are so low, so are people who have it and aren't showing any symptoms.

I don't like wearing one and will actively avoid situations where it is mandatory. I used a click and collect online shopping system on holiday and didn't go into any shops. The only occasions I wore one briefly was in MacDonalds when we stopped to break the journey and only at the ordering screen as we are in without masks. Once on holiday when ordering ice creams inside. I found it stressful as couldn't hear everything the assistant was saying and my bloody mask kept slipping off my face.

I was planning to take the kids to an indoor climbing centre that has recently reopened but won't be going as spectators now have to wear a mask for the whole session. Will book an outdoor Go Ape activity instead.

Hopefully government will reconsider when they realise the impact on the economy.

It won’t be for ever.
This line gets trotted out a lot. But do we know this? Has Boris the Clown said "it won't be forever"? Has he said a single word about it being a temporary measure? I wouldn't put it past him to make it permanent, given the sly way he softened the public up for making them mandatory. This is one reason some of us are opposed to this drip drip of government mandates like this: there is a danger of them becoming permanent, by stealth.

If this mandatory mask wearing supposedly gives us "more freedom", why are there still so many things we're not allowed to do yet?

Saint Boris said in March "we can turn this around in twelve weeks". How many weeks of this madness has it been now?

@sockyarn absolutely- I was talking with someone the other day who due to a very Bad situation he faced whilst fighting for queen and country In Afghanistan was left with PTSd and couldn’t stand anything over his face, I had ptsd and luckily have managed to successfully address triggers but if I hadn’t I would have probably been suicidal by now having to cover my face so can really understand the trauma having to wear a mask is causing for some. It’s not a case of -it feels a bit uncomfortable it can have very serious mental repercussions for some, people will literally think they are dying. Before the mask mafia start at people not wearing masks they should consider the reasons why and consider themselves lucky that mask wearing is just a bit uncomfortable for them. It’s been Caroline Flack’s inquest this week, glad to see the #bekind stayed the distance.

But if the wearer doesn't have the virus, there's no point in the mask

How does the wearer know that they don't have the virus, especially as some people are asymptotic?

I genuinely have hardly noticed the mask. I put it on and I do everything I would do without it. My kids wear them without a fuss. I don't find breathing any different.

It's only an issue if you make it an issue

Further restrictions only occur if you fight against the early ones - like masks.

Ah right I must have missed everything shutting down and schools closing long before masks became compulsory.

@wanderings

It won’t be for ever. This line gets trotted out a lot. But do we know this? Has Boris the Clown said "it won't be forever"? Has he said a single word about it being a temporary measure? I wouldn't put it past him to make it permanent, given the sly way he softened the public up for making them mandatory. This is one reason some of us are opposed to this drip drip of government mandates like this: there is a danger of them becoming permanent, by stealth.

If this mandatory mask wearing supposedly gives us "more freedom", why are there still so many things we're not allowed to do yet?

Saint Boris said in March "we can turn this around in twelve weeks". How many weeks of this madness has it been now?

I agree wanderings

@TheClaws

*So even if you believe in the efficacy of masks - they are pretty much a waste of time. * IAintentdead* So, experiment - if you are in a crowded room and allow 100 people to cough directly into your face, would you prefer to be wearing a mask or not?

As that is never going to happen thats a ridiculius comparison.

Where the hell do you go where all the people in your vicinity are all coughing in your face?