A visor is not a face covering

[Oneliner]

Just that, AIBU?

This is the reason I don't go to my hairstylist anymore.

I don’t usually perform open surgery on strangers when buying a pint of milk

YANBU. Until fairly recently I had the choice of wearing a visor or a face covering at work, and I always chose the face covering. A visor might protect me a bit, but it doesn't protect my customers from me, and they are almost all older and less healthy than me. I think the only reason I would ever wear a visor would be for some reason completely unrelated to CV - I can imagine it being quite useful when bleaching a ceiling, for instance.

If you fire a water pistol at a mask some moisture will get through. If you fire it at a full face visor it won’t. Coughs and sneezes would be the same.
I have bad asthma and can’t breathe easily in a mask. I also carry a mask in case anyone really objects. I feel safer in a visor . I am 76.

I'd ask those who don't wear them, what can be done to help you wear them, at least some of the time?

Find a cure for Tourette’s?

My daughter has Tourette’s and masks make her tics go crazy. Her tics mainly involve her hitting, scratching and slapping herself, or hitting herself with various objects so she doesn’t wear one

She has a visor as a) it’s better than nothing and b) the amount of abuse she got for not wearing one (despite having a hidden disabilities lanyard) also set her tics off. Her visor shuts up the worst of the mask police

I do wear a mask and I get the importance but I’m deaf in one ear so I struggle to hear people and rely on lip reading- I’ve given up going places (anywhere where I would have to speak to someone) as I can’t understand a thing someone says to me in a mask majority of the time, it’s given me proper anxiety 😐

A friend of mine is deaf, as is his wife so they are both exempt from wearing a mask as each of them needs their lips visible for the other to lip read. They both wear a visor as they find it reduces the number of people who challenge them in shops.

Any thread on here about mask wearing gets bogged down in 'wear a visor then' comments, even if an OP has explained why they can't wear a visor (e.g. trigeminal neuralgia).

Seems people who are mask exempt are damned if they wear a visor and damned if they don't.

If you fire a water pistol at a mask some moisture will get through. If you fire it at a full face visor it won’t. Coughs and sneezes would be the same

Some droplets will stick to the visor but the rest will just be deflected out to the sides.

It's actually surprising how much does get caught by the visor. I have to clean the inside of mine after a couple of hours use.

I was wondering this. So many people use visors without masks. Probably better than nothing but can’t see what a visor does to be honest. If you sneeze or cough it’ll still go everywhere! I guess it’s more to protect the person wearing it than others.

In some circumstances it just isn't appropriate or practical to wear a mask so surely a visor is better than nothing.

I have to wear a face covering all day, I work in a busy call centre and have to go over to other people's desk to help them on calls all the time. My usual mask style is been wearing prior to this change just kept slipping down through the day and I'd forget to put it back on when I got up from my desk.

I tried a visor but the reflections on the visor itself from the harsh lighting gave me a migraine. So I went on Etsy and got some handmade masks that were made to measure for my head. I've got a small head, but bigger than a child. Some people just need to try a few different styles and options to find the right ones for them.

@thegreylady

If you fire a water pistol at a mask some moisture will get through. If you fire it at a full face visor it won’t. Coughs and sneezes would be the same. I have bad asthma and can’t breathe easily in a mask. I also carry a mask in case anyone really objects. I feel safer in a visor . I am 76.

Masks aren't worn to protect you, they are to protect others, so your analogy doesn't work.

Try imagining the moisture droplets coming from your nose and mouth to the outside world. Imagine you are the water pistol and where the water would go if you're just wearing a visor. It will go up, down and around the visor and do next to nothing. A mask which fits snugly is going to obviously prevent more droplets spreading.

If as many people as possible wear a mask there will be less virus circulating in the air and hopefully less viral load. It's not perfect, but it helps everyone.

“I complained to my hairdresser that they were all wearing visors , and that i did not feel safe in there”.
Why get your hair cut then, it’s hardly essential if you’re that worried about your safety 🙄

So I went on Etsy and got some handmade masks that were made to measure for my head. I've got a small head, but bigger than a child. Some people just need to try a few different styles and options to find the right ones for them.

I agree that the size and quality of the mask makes a difference.

However, there are aspects of my job where a mask just isn't practical. I can't deliver a lecture wearing a mask. The students can't hear me. All my lectures are recorded for those unable to attend in person so sound quality is really important. In this circumstance surely a visor is better than nothing?

I'd ask those who don't wear them, what can be done to help you wear them, at least some of the time?

Be more understanding and supportive of people who can't. Seriously. I've always had massive issues with having my nose and mouth covered due to a serious sexual and violent assault. I struggle at the best of times. The more additional stress I'm under, the more likely I am to have a full blown panic attack.

Feeling like I can't try wearing one for a bit and take it off if I start to panic, getting looks, people making comments, nothing being good enough - not a visor, not a lanyard - have just massively contributed to my associating masks with being trapped and attacked. I used to be able to wear a mask long enough to get around a shop, but not for more than half an hour or so. Now on many days I just can't, and I also struggle to leave the house because I'm scared of being attacked for not wearing a mask. My flashbacks are worse than they have been in years. I'm genuinely sure some days that I won't survive this winter. Turns out my rapist did win after all.

Let's be blunt, if you have Covid, in a visor you're offering others no protection.

For all those that say about lip reading

I’m deaf. Not completely but pretty much

I can’t hear people with a mask on

However. Most deaf people sign. Most hearing people do not. There are basic signs that we’ve coped with for many years with the hearing world. Yes masks have made it harder. But it was hard anyway as the Majority of people do not sign

So not wearing a mask so that deaf people can lip read.

Every single deaf person signs to some degree. Might not be BSL or ASL. But basic signs. That don’t care whether you’re wearing a mask or not. Can still be done. Yes. No. This way. Over here. Etc. This comes to £5.

The other option. Which people did way before masks and Covid. Is to write anyway.

Not wearing a mask so you can talk to a deaf person. Anyone can speak to a deaf person. Regardless of a mask.

Masks as most people wear them tend to horrify anyone taught the kinds of masking discipline nurses use. They might say "a fabric mask that people take on and off as they go about there business isn't a real protection, is it? And you could say yes with some truth.

The vast majority of people I have seen using shields are working in places where I suspect covering the mouth causes problems with people understanding them speaking. To some extent people like speech paths or language teachers, but mostly waiters and waitresses, or people on counter at markets. I can understand it too, having given up going to the market as I found I was almost entirely unable to communicate with the people working the stalls in masks the combination of ambient noise and not seeing their mouths proved impossible (and my hearing is fine.)

However. I don’t really care if people wear W visor or a mask

I generally can’t get upset about it and I’m at risk of dying. I used too. But nope

So do whatever feels good for you! Good luck all!

@MaxNormal

What are all the sanctimonious whingers going to do with their ire when all this is over? Parking? Dog shit?

Oooooh!

Parking please!

I work in a shop behind a perspex screen. There is one customer at a time. I stay behind my screen. We do not have to wear a face covering. I wear a visor as it is easy to work in... but mainly because it stops people whinging at me.

Totally agree, my local sainsbos is full of selfish fuckers wearing these.

So wearing a visor = selfish fucker now? Is that how far we’ve descended into this hysterical, paranoid madness?

It's the same as drink driving.

Nope, that’s how far.

Jesus H. Christ.

Never mind Angel. Another year or so and we'll be back to parking and dog poo.

It's not covering your arse is it?

@Happyheartlovelife

For all those that say about lip reading

I’m deaf. Not completely but pretty much

I can’t hear people with a mask on

However. Most deaf people sign. Most hearing people do not. There are basic signs that we’ve coped with for many years with the hearing world. Yes masks have made it harder. But it was hard anyway as the Majority of people do not sign

So not wearing a mask so that deaf people can lip read.

Every single deaf person signs to some degree. Might not be BSL or ASL. But basic signs. That don’t care whether you’re wearing a mask or not. Can still be done. Yes. No. This way. Over here. Etc. This comes to £5.

The other option. Which people did way before masks and Covid. Is to write anyway.

Not wearing a mask so you can talk to a deaf person. Anyone can speak to a deaf person. Regardless of a mask.

I work with SEN profoundly deaf adults, some of whom have poor reading and writing skills. Part of communicating in sign is facial expressions, nobody uses sign alone when having a full blown conversation. Just because it's doable for you it doesn't mean it is for everybody.