To ask the mask police to please PLEASE stop

[PennyDreadfuI]

Another mask thread but I'm not going to apologise because I'm absolutely at the end of my tether with this sort of thing.

I can't wear a mask because I have trigeminal neuralgia and I've lost count of the stares, comments and filthy looks I've had (and yes, I do wear a lanyard, even though I'm not keen on advertising the fact that I have a hidden health condition). I've heard of people not being allowed on buses, being challenged by staff to explain their reason for exemption and being told they can't enter shops despite being exempt (none of which is legal). I've been told I should wear a visor (I can't, and they're next to useless anyway - Scotland have just banned them unless they're worn with a mask), that I should just stay at home (I can't and neither do government guidelines suggest I should), that I shouldn't use buses (I don't drive and can't walk long distances or cycle because I have inflammatory arthritis) and that I'm selfish (I'm not - if I could wear a mask, I would).

I understand this is a contentious issue but please, can people just think for a minute before they judge or comment? Exemptions are there for a reason - those who are sticklers for The Rules should surely accept and respect this one, too. It's awful that people are too scared to go out for fear of what's essentially discrimination.

The pandemic is bad enough by itself - let's not lose our sense of empathy and humanity, too.

There are too many people not wearing masks and so the ones who are genuinely unable to are getting the blame.

I think there is something to this, it doesn't excuse abuse but it's happening. If you go somewhere and see the occasional person without a mask, it seems reasonable to assume some sort of exemption. But I went to Asda a few days ago and there were so many people without them, all 30s to 50s, some in groups where none wore masks. It did beggar belief that they could all be exempt.

Too many people are wanting exemptions. They should think of others and wear a mask.

Ps. I am really sorry you're suffering more with this though OP. Don't let them get to you x

just as there are genuinely vulnerable people, there are genuinely people who cannot wear a mask.

All deserve freedom

I think the vulnerable should consider investing in better quality masks that do protect them, rather than simple fabric masks.

Great. Where do we get them from, how do we get them properly fitted, who pays for them, how convenient are they if you have a job where you have to speak to people?

another magic person that KNOWS how many people are just pretending
No, and I can't be arsed to look it up, but it sure as hell is NOT 90% - which is the average number of people not wearing face coverings OVER THEIR MOUTH AND NOSE whenever I have been on public transport recently.
Also, I'd take a fair bet that morons (approx half the people I see on public transport not wearing a face covering) that drape a mask around their neck do not have an exemption - if they did, why bother to buy one in the first place?

Anyway, @RealityExistsInTheHumanMind, jog on, hopefully straight into someone sneezing a burst of covid germs straight into your face, and take your vile conspiracy theories with you.

I do agree that some people see masks as a licence to behave like utter idiots.

I didn't see a single socialising event in a supermarket between lockdown starting and masks becoming compulsory where I live. Supermarkets were weirdly silent - shoppers were solo and not opening thei mouths, keeping their distance.

On the day masks were introduced it appeared to be take your toddlers to the supermarket day, with loads of dads especially accompanied by toddlers and behaving like IKEA bank holiday shoppers. Also loads of people stopping in the aisles to chat to acquaintances.

That's mostly stopped now but people certainly behaved very strangely in the first week.

*90% exempt

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

I think the vulnerable should consider investing in better quality masks that do protect them, rather than simple fabric masks.

Great. Where do we get them from, how do we get them properly fitted, who pays for them, how convenient are they if you have a job where you have to speak to people?

In your workplace you need to negotiate that with your employer based on reasonable adjustment for whatever makes you vulnerable.

Outside work you can either fund it yourself and source it by spending time researching or you can accept you will encounter people without masks and you can maintain social distancing.

Why would you not fund it yourself if it’s a major worry to you, but you would rather go to shops where there will be folks with no masks than rely on online deliveries? There are choices here.

@Viviennemary

Too many people are wanting exemptions. They should think of others and wear a mask.

If they could wear a mask they wouldn’t need to be exempt.

@chickenyhead

just as there are genuinely vulnerable people, there are genuinely people who cannot wear a mask.

All deserve freedom

Quite!

In your workplace you need to negotiate that with your employer based on reasonable adjustment for whatever makes you vulnerable.

Oh that's hilarious. How do I get it as a reasonable adjustment when government have said these masks are for healthcare workers only?

Why would you not fund it yourself if it’s a major worry to you, but you would rather go to shops where there will be folks with no masks than rely on online deliveries? There are choices here.

I'm not going to the shops as a customer - I still get the priority slots for people that were shielded (at a cost of £5 per delivery when it used to be free or £2, another tax on the vulnerable). I would buy the masks for when I have no choice (going on public transport for example) but where do you buy them from (and guarantee they are genuine - even the government can't do that). They also need to be fit tested - where do you get that done?

So, yes I'd buy them for when I need them if I can get genuine, properly fitted ones - where sells them?

Outside work you can either fund it yourself and source it by spending time researching or you can accept you will encounter people without masks and you can maintain social distancing.

You can't always maintain SD though. If someone sits or stands next to me on a train, when I'm at work. It's not always possible

People need to do whatever they can do and feel comfortable and safest with and then mind their own businesses about what strangers are doing.

I went out shopping yesterday without a mask to a busy shopping area, half the shoppers had them the other half didn't everyone was very nice and civilised lots of lovely pleasant people with smiling faces. Although I have had a couple of men at different times give me dirty looks but with no remarks.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

In your workplace you need to negotiate that with your employer based on reasonable adjustment for whatever makes you vulnerable.

Oh that's hilarious. How do I get it as a reasonable adjustment when government have said these masks are for healthcare workers only?

Why would you not fund it yourself if it’s a major worry to you, but you would rather go to shops where there will be folks with no masks than rely on online deliveries? There are choices here.

I'm not going to the shops as a customer - I still get the priority slots for people that were shielded (at a cost of £5 per delivery when it used to be free or £2, another tax on the vulnerable). I would buy the masks for when I have no choice (going on public transport for example) but where do you buy them from (and guarantee they are genuine - even the government can't do that). They also need to be fit tested - where do you get that done?

So, yes I'd buy them for when I need them if I can get genuine, properly fitted ones - where sells them?

Sainsburys have slots for anyone for as little as 50p and for 2 weeks running, I've had a free last minute slot with ocado.

www.standard.co.uk/news/crime/clapham-junction-face-masks-row-man-knocked-out-a4528986.html

Shocking moment man knocked out at Clapham Junction station after row breaks out over face masks

"I often wonder why those in South Korea and elsewhere just got on with it. No exemptions."

Most countries have exemptions. The few that don't will have poor records regarding rights for disabled people. Some of them think disabled people shouldn't be out anyway. Is that a good thing? I don't think so.

@Hearhoovesthinkzebras

Outside work you can either fund it yourself and source it by spending time researching or you can accept you will encounter people without masks and you can maintain social distancing.

You can't always maintain SD though. If someone sits or stands next to me on a train, when I'm at work. It's not always possible

Then either ask them to move, or move yourself.

MMN123 it would be pretty much impossible for non medical personnel to get an N95 respirator mask fitting. Wearing an ill fitting mask won't protect them. The comorbidity of genuine inability to wear a mask and medical vulnerability are high.

Not everyone who is exempt legally can't wear a mask. Many who could claim exemption are able to wear masks and do because they are community minded and aware that having legal exemption doesn't mean that they shouldn't wear a mask if they can.

There seem to be plenty of MN posters granting themselves exception on other threads on the basis essentially of finding masks uncomfortable or hot, even someone arguing that parents shouldn't have to wear them because they might harm their children's communication skills or scare them (all parents, not parents of deaf children or anything specific) so they'd be the people wanting but not entitled to exemption. I've witnessed a group of people arguing with a security guard that they shouldn't have to wear masks because they're hot, not offering any other reason.

@Viviennemary

Every one needs to wear a mask. Of its all a waste of time. If people cant wear a mask they need to stay at home.

No, that isn’t true. That isn’t the law.

@PickAChew

People need to do whatever they can do and feel comfortable and safest with and then mind their own businesses about what strangers are doing.

Absolutely agree.

I work with someone highly vulnerable. She chooses to leave home early now and if she feels uncomfortable on a bus or train (she gets both) she gets off and waits for the next one. Inconvenient but she is taking action she feels appropriate to safeguard herself. She doesn’t like asking people not to encroach on her space but she recognises that’s her issue.

I actually just read a new thread about house arrest and I can now see the public opinion on the vulnerable very clearly. No wonder nobody in my area wears a mask.

You are right, the vulnerable need to sort themselves out or die.

"If people cant wear a mask they need to stay at home."

Is that the latest mumsnet rule? It's not what the law says.