Will you continue to wear a mask when they’re no longer compulsory?

[AngeloMysterioso]

I can’t really decide how I feel about it- as a pregnant woman with a tendency to get a bit sweaty in the face on warm days, I would like not to have to wear one whenever I’m inside a building that isn’t my own home. And I’m double jabbed so not at much risk. But then you’ve got people from SAGE and the BMA saying we should keep wearing them, and I’d imagine they know a bit better than Sajid Javid whose background is in finance.

What do you think?

YABU- I’ll continue to wear a mask
YANBU - I won’t be wearing a mask anymore.

I will - on public transport, shops and other public indoor places. I think it will be really important to as we move into autumn and winter, as much to protect people getting any bugs I've got, as protecting me from anything anyone else has.

Do you really think it's the best idea to go with what 'Bozza' says over scientists/medical professionals say? Really?

Most people in my area have had both vaccine doses. Cases have gone up, but hospitalisation and death rates are low. Looking at the graph for my area of the NW of England, throughout the whole pandemic the death rate only went above the normal range for the previous 5 years in late March 2020 and October/November 2020. People will be outside a lot because it's summer. Schools will be closed.

If we didn't have the highest levels of covid in the whole of europe I'd be happy ditching my mask, but it seems a bit odd to be doing so at the very point where the chances of catching covid are higher than ever and there are still so many vulnerable people in the community including those who can't be vaccinated effectively.

I also don't understand how they can be so certain that this is irrevocable. Even if the vaccination reduces hospitalisations, if levels keep rising there is presumably still going to be a point where you get the same number of hospitalisations from a very small proportion of a large number of infected people, as you did from a larger proportion of a much smaller infected group IYSWIM?

I want this to be over, but I'm not sure I can mentally cope with another round of 'back to normal by Christmas', we know that ended.

There is plenty of research to show that masks limit transmission. One example of many here: science.sciencemag.org/content/372/6549/1439
Covid May mutate to become less deadly further down the line, who knows, but for now it has mutated several times to give more severe outcomes: Kent, South Africa, Brazil P1 and now India have more severe outcomes than the Wuhan variant. The Spanish flu mutated to become more deadly in the second wave.
A good summary here:
www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/nov/19/coronavirus-evolving-deadlier-evidence-social-distancing-covid-19
Uncontrolled spread means there’s no evolutionary pressure on the virus to become milder.

Even if the vaccination reduces hospitalisations, if levels keep rising there is presumably still going to be a point where you get the same number of hospitalisations from a very small proportion of a large number of infected people, as you did from a larger proportion of a much smaller infected group IYSWIM?

No because the people who would have got ill enough to be admitted to hospital are vaccinated so will have a mild illness if they’re infected.

Also, the viruses with evolutionary advantage are those that are less deadly, like the common cold and flu.

I'm not sure this is right. The virus which infects the most people who live long enough to spread it has evolutionary advantage, and in this area the covid virus is very effective already. I think it's more the case that viruses that are immediately deadly run out of subjects very quickly because their hosts die before they can pass the virus on. A virus that kills you after a couple of weeks of you transmitting it is going to be successful enough.

Absolutely not ever.

blossomtoes

If the absolute number in hospital is the problem, then a huge number of people catching covid, of whom even a tiny number end up in hospital, still could be alot of hospitalisations.

If previously you had, say, a 10%* chance of hospitalisation 1,000 infected people meant 100 hospitalisations.

If now you have a 0.1%* chance of hospitalisation, then if 100,000 are infected you still have 100 people in hospital.

*Not the real % but to make point about a small proportion of a big number still being alot of people.

The idea of normalising a society where we are expected to cover our faces frightens me. Where enough people do it so that even without a law in place, people will be shunned by people or excluded from places for not covering up. So I won’t be wearing one in the summer and will not go to shops insisting on one.

However, it makes sense to continue to do so in winter. Before Covid, tens of thousands of people died each year of other respiratory illnesses during the winter. We just accepted over 25000 extra deaths from flu in 2015 and nobody took extra precautions!! That seems a bit crazy now. So I’ll happily wear one in shops and crowded places each winter for the sake of vulnerable people. The rest of the year..nope.

[quote Waxonwaxoff0]**@RuggerHug the only reason I wear one because it's a legal requirement so I'm not bothered what the scientists are saying.[/quote]
@Waxonwaxoff0 my thoughts exactly.

@RuggerHug there was no need for your rudeness. I respect people who are going to carry on wearing masks. I expect the same back.

I'm already not wearing masks, don't care anymore.

The idea of normalising a society where we are expected to cover our faces frightens me

I agree. It’s so strange that a society that outlawed people wearing hoods indoors not many years ago is now advocating covered faces.

The evidence isn’t in your favour @Baystard. Rising cases aren’t translating into increased hospital admissions - or deaths.

I didn't mean to be rude, just asking a sincere question. Apologies if I did offend anyone asking though, just trying to see what reasoning someone would have outside of medical exemption to get my head around. I'm not having a go or glaring or judging anyone I see not wearing them.

Yes I will be wearing masks in shops and in crowded places. I don’t use public transport or I would be wearing a mask then.

@RuggerHug

I didn't mean to be rude, just asking a sincere question. Apologies if I did offend anyone asking though, just trying to see what reasoning someone would have outside of medical exemption to get my head around. I'm not having a go or glaring or judging anyone I see not wearing them.

This is the problem with posts/text - words can be misconstrued. Apologies for taking offence! The only reason I currently wear a mask is because it is the rules and we are told to wear them. I absolutely hate wearing them (I'm a glasses wearer and the steam can be very annoying and irritating!) But I have worn one since we were told to, I've abided by the rules as much as I can. I just can't wait to be rid of them!

Yes, but only in shops, crowded public transport etc. Sat in my huge office with seating for 50 but only 6 people in, no way.

blossomtoes but rising cases are seeing increase in hospitalisations, just not at anything like the rate it was previously.

At current levels these aren't problematical, but if cases continue to rise (and in the absence of restrictions why wouldn't they be?) then at some stage this starts to become alot of beds occupied.

My point is that the rate of hospitalisation can be tiny, but if there is a big enough number of people involved it can still be a significant number overall.

@Blossomtoes there are rising hospitalisations and deaths. The coronavirus update has just said as much. Nowhere near as many as the other waves, but increasing.

No because the people who would have got ill enough to be admitted to hospital are vaccinated so will have a mild illness if they’re infected. @Blossomtoes must be wonderful living in your world of ignorance and naivety!

Interesting. In this state we ditched the masks in May and there were similar threads on local Facebook groups, etc. At the time it was announced that they would be no longer required it was a pretty even split between those who were going to throw the rags away and those who felt the need to continue wearing a bit of old cloth on their face despite being vaccinated. The first week or so of the new mask-free time I was the only one in the grocery store with no mask. DH went to a hardware store and it was the same - he was the only one with no mask.

Now two months on you don’t see a mask anywhere. Gradually people, even those who said they would still wear it, realized that the is no need.

Yes if I absolutely have to go into a crowded indoor space, did my best to avoid these situations pre covid however. And yes at work for meetings as they tend to go now forever and I can then discreetly yawn 🥱

*go on forever

@BritWifeInUSA

Interesting. In this state we ditched the masks in May and there were similar threads on local Facebook groups, etc. At the time it was announced that they would be no longer required it was a pretty even split between those who were going to throw the rags away and those who felt the need to continue wearing a bit of old cloth on their face despite being vaccinated. The first week or so of the new mask-free time I was the only one in the grocery store with no mask. DH went to a hardware store and it was the same - he was the only one with no mask.

Now two months on you don’t see a mask anywhere. Gradually people, even those who said they would still wear it, realized that the is no need.

Oh yeah, let's follow America's lead. They've done so well.

Never

@MyDcAreMarvel

No because the people who would have got ill enough to be admitted to hospital are vaccinated so will have a mild illness if they’re infected. *@Blossomtoes* must be wonderful living in your world of ignorance and naivety!

It is, particularly as it’s supported by evidence, data and facts.