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AIBU?

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Original poster

Masks wearing outside ?

145 replies

jezmay · 28/09/2020 17:32

I keep seeing people wearing masks outside

Why are people walking around a big open park or field or just the streets ( they are on their own so not walking close contact with others ) wearing a mask?

Been seeing it loads lately . Loads of mask wearing outside , will this become mandatory?

OP posts:
NotExactlyHappyToHelp · 28/09/2020 22:01

The ones that tickle me are the folks who wear it when driving their cars alone. I know they might have dropped someone off or something but not all of them. Maybe they’re just training themselves into tolerating it for longer.

I really don’t care if people wear their masks 24/7 if it makes them feel better. We all cope in our own ways.

RuggerHug · 28/09/2020 22:04

Mine should have said can't climb wallsBlush

Grapesoda7 · 28/09/2020 22:09

I put mine on before I leave the house to go to the Post Office. Only because I kept struggling to hold all my parcels and get my mask out of my bag.

Florrieboo · 28/09/2020 22:12

Where I live they are mandatory at all times outside your home. I wear one walking 10km on a pretty empty beach. I don't even notice it anymore to be honest.

Dee1975 · 28/09/2020 22:14

I suspect because many other people do not social distance and it’s hard to walk around outside without people coming within 2m of you

foxtiger · 28/09/2020 22:15

I often keep one on between shops when I'm in town - the way I see it, it makes sense not to touch it more than you have to, and people aren't very careful about social distancing in town so I may be protecting someone who won't take steps to protect themself. Otherwise, the likeliest reason for me to keep one on for a while is if my hands aren't free. I came out of a suburban supermarket today with a heavy bag in each hand. I probably walked about 200 metres before I found somewhere suitable to put the bags down, and then I took off my face covering, but I wouldn't have minded leaving it on for longer if necessary. I know it's not fashionable to say so, but I don't find them particularly uncomfortable.

starshearts · 28/09/2020 22:36

I will look at my son think how perfect he is and then I am overcome with sadness knowing he will die one day it's horrible I hate that I was born into this cycle of never being happy as whenever I feel joy I remember something negative .

starshearts · 28/09/2020 22:38

Wrong thread Blush

caringcarer · 28/09/2020 22:46

I wear mine whenever I go outside, walking the dogs, walking up to outside of school to collect child, walking in the park. My dh is immunosuppressed so I wear a mask most of the time at home too. I have got so used to it now I forget I have it on. I have 6 of them. I don't see why it should bother anyone. I am far more concerned about the people who refuse to wear a mask or vizor.

Thurmanmurman · 28/09/2020 22:59

Whatever makes people feel comfortable OP. I wear it when mandatory and whip it off the moment I'm outside. Some people are more anxious than others and I don't judge them for that

TurquoiseDress · 28/09/2020 23:07

Honestly, I find mask wearing outside to be pretty pointless, it's not something I would do unless it was made mandatory and I had no choice in the matter.

However, I do understand why other people do it..to an extent

starshearts · 28/09/2020 23:09

I didn't think there was evidence they work though so what's the point in sticking a mask on outside . Isn't it better to have fresh air

TurquoiseDress · 28/09/2020 23:10

The one I don't get is when I see people driving in their car, all alone, no passengers and wearing a face mask. I'll admit that I REALLY don't get this one.

MadameBlobby · 28/09/2020 23:10

@TurquoiseDress

Honestly, I find mask wearing outside to be pretty pointless, it's not something I would do unless it was made mandatory and I had no choice in the matter.

However, I do understand why other people do it..to an extent

This really, although it’ll annoy me if it’s made compulsory because of people choosing to wear them because the governments appear to choose things for the sake of it
ProudAuntie76 · 28/09/2020 23:15

@TurquoiseDress

The one I don't get is when I see people driving in their car, all alone, no passengers and wearing a face mask. I'll admit that I REALLY don't get this one.
Really? There’s lots of valid reasons.

NameChange84 covered a lot of them earlier at 19:17 if you scroll back.

I really don’t get why people can’t think of reasons why people might need or choose to keep a mask on in their car!

starshearts · 28/09/2020 23:33

@MadameBlobby that's what worries me it's ok people saying oh let people carry on ... but it's not evidence based and government might say to wear outside just because the public like to and then we will all have to do it just because me some people going ott

NYMM · 28/09/2020 23:45

I had my car serviced today and when the driver came to collect it, and when it was returned later in the day, he was wearing a mask and latex gloves.

I presume he kept the mask on all the while he was in my car.

BetsyBigNose · 29/09/2020 00:54

I'm one of those weirdos who wear a mask from the moment I step out of my front door until I'm either safely in my car, or back home!

I'm (very, very) vulnerable due to serious lung and kidney conditions and have spent the vast majority of 2020 shielding at home. The only time I have left the house since mid-March, has been to visit my GP practice or the hospital.

Despite my own incredibly careful (terror-fuelled) behaviour, I was unlucky enough to be hospitalised last week for 3 days (not Covid-related), only to discover that another lady in the same bay as me tested positive for Covid, so I'm now isolating (in fear, frequently checking my temperature) at home for the next week and a half.

For me, wearing a mask makes the very real threat to my life just slightly less likely, which helps to calm the anxiety that I've come to feel every moment I'm outside of my home. I realise I look a bit bonkers; I know that people will be thinking I'm paranoid (I am!) and that they're probably thinking I'm overreacting. I'd honestly put up with whatever judgement people might have of me for wearing my mask if it means that no one is going to have to tell my daughters that their Mum has died of Covid - what a shame she didn't take more precautions.

emilyfrost · 29/09/2020 04:37

YABU. You’ve been given an entire thread full of reasons why, yet still seem to want people to stop doing it just because it makes you “worried”.

Don’t try to place the blame of your anxiety onto others.

TurquoiseDress · 29/09/2020 10:05

Yes I totally get it if you have a vulnerable passenger in the car with you as the pp referred to, that is a totally understandable...but it's the wearing of a mask when the car is in entirely empty apart from the driver.

But it's a free world and people can choose to do this if this they wish.

ProudAuntie76 · 29/09/2020 10:22

She didn’t just post about a vulnerable person in the back though did she? She gave many reasons.

It is better in terms of infection control it’s best practice to ensure you don’t handle your mask frequently. If a person is going in and out of shops or homes or has a job where they have to deliver parcels, prescriptions, food from household to household etc it makes absolute sense to keep the mask on when travelling from one destination to another. There are no wash hand basins in cars and the mask could well be contaminated with Covid. It is easier and safer for the mask to remain on.

You have no way of knowing the individual car driver’s reasons and they are most likely very sensible. It’s not at all strange.

Livelovebehappy · 29/09/2020 10:34

This post seems to be a dig from someone who is against wearing masks generally. I would rather see people wearing masks everywhere than not wear masks at all. The obvious reason being that if they wear masks all the time they’re not putting anyone at risk, but the people who are on a crusade to not wear masks at all, inside or out, are putting people at risk. I don’t wear a mask outside unless in and out of shops which are in close proximity, but can’t understand people giving so much headspace to those that do. It doesn’t affect your life, you don’t know them, and if that’s the only issue you feel you need to focus on currently, then you’re very lucky. You do what you do OP, and let others do their thing.

RuggerHug · 29/09/2020 10:43

Also, how many cars are driven by just one person?

BikerChick91 · 29/09/2020 10:50

I’ve worn a mask in the car a lot and had people point and laugh and beep horns at me etc. It’s them that are idiots not me.

I was dropping food and medication parcels to people who were Shielding as a volunteer and as part of the role I had to agree to wear PPE. If you are visiting 8 doorsteps per hour why on earth would you keep taking off your mask and putting it back on?

Also they might be on their way to pick someone from another household up. The spores of the Coronavirus can stay in the air for up to 3 hours. It makes sense to put a mask on prior to picking up the other passenger...you are breathing and perhaps coughing/clearing throat/talking into the air in a confined space. No point in waiting until the last possible moment!

starshearts · 29/09/2020 11:00

@emilyfrost frosty

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