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.

Not a chance!

Germs are good for children within reason - how about letting ebola or small pox run wild through the population?

*”
Today 23:26 FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop

For crying out loud, we tell our children that germs are good for them. I certainly won't be avoiding germs. It worked before for almost 40 years”*

@ MrsSkylerWhite

The medical professionals said masks offered no protection. Surely you can’t be suggesting our publicly funded medical professionals were lying to the public to protect the supply chain???

And if I were to have surgery, I would expect the surgeon to follow whatever the rules are because it’s a risk based assessment. So if the rules don’t demand a mask, then no - I won’t care if they don’t wear one.

@SuperSleepyBaby except coughs, colds and flu viruses including COVID are not comparable to small POx and Ebola.

This sensationalising has to stop. It's not normal

In busy shops yes and hospital.

I will wear a mask when asked to but on the whole I'll be ditching the mask when the day comes.
As a sometimes glasses wearer I've not minded so much wearing a mask in the warm weather but it was a pain in winter going from cold outdoors to warm indoors and not having wipers on my glasses.

All these people talking about how great it is that they’ve not had a cold due to mask wearing- don’t you realise we need illnesses like the common cold to build up our immune systems?

Yes, I'll continue wearing a mask anywhere outside my own home; staying 2 metres away from people and sterilising my hands every time I touch a keypad or shop trolley. Just being double jabbed doesn't mean you can't catch Covid, or transmit it. Plus I've just been reading a scary new variant which has been found to arrived in the UK, the Lambda variant.

(One very preliminary study finds that the specific mutations in the Lambda variant’s spike protein, the biological tool it uses to latch on to your cells, can increase both its infectiousness and help it evade your body’s immune system, making ongoing vaccination campaigns critical even if not every vaccine is completely effective against every coronavirus strain.)

It seems utter madness to me to go back to pre-Covid life when the cases are rising dramatically all over the country. In fact in my area, Raigmore hospital is at 'code black' as NHS Highland struggles with rising cases.

Basically, the Westminster government have in my opinion become too afraid of losing popularity by keeping safety measures in place, to give a F*ck about the bodies piling high, so they've shuffled the responsibility onto the public, many of whom have already demonstrated they have all the sense of responsibility of a dead squirrel.

There aren't "bodies piling high" though. This over dramatic language has to stop, it just eats into this fear culture. Why are people acting like everyone who gets the virus is going to die? It's not anywhere close to the Spanish flu and deaths are extremely low.

What do people actually want? Cases to be 0 before they stop wearing masks? That will never happen. Yet you likely will never have given a thought to other deadly viruses you could spread. Difference is you haven't been told to be scared of those viruses. You fallen hook line and sinker for the COVIS scaremongering though.

Also you can't transmit COVID through touching the same shopping trolley as someone. We know this now. Stop fucking with your immune system

@AngeloMysterioso

All these people talking about how great it is that they’ve not had a cold due to mask wearing- don’t you realise we need illnesses like the common cold to build up our immune systems?

I know I'm actually the opposite and worried that I will feel the effects of illnesses more having basically been on hiding for a year. It's not normal to do this to ourselves and I can't quite believe that people don't want this nonsense to end

God no! I can’t wait to go out shopping without one. I rarely go anywhere at the moment because I hate them so much. If a place insists on them still I just wouldn’t go in.

There aren't "bodies piling high" though. This over dramatic language has to stop, it just eats into this fear culture. Why are people acting like everyone who gets the virus is going to die?

I think that was a reference to an alleged Borisism, tbf.

All those people jumping at throwing the masks away likely really don’t know how the masks work

Granted they can be a nuisance but that does not mean you can deny their usefulness lol

It’s weird they will be made optional so soon when medical authorities think they should be continued but hey ho

@AngeloMysterioso

All these people talking about how great it is that they’ve not had a cold due to mask wearing- don’t you realise we need illnesses like the common cold to build up our immune systems?

Indeed!

I wish people would stop acting although perma-masking was the traditional norm in East Asia. I live here, and no, it never has been. People have often worn them if they actually have a cold, and a few people put them on anyway for public transport etc. , but no it has never been the norm here to constantly have a mask on.

I'm not wearing them out of doors any more, and I'm not even vaccinated. I suspect social pressure will make me wear one in public indoor spaces for a while yet. I don't think this should be going on for ever, though.

And yes, I suspect the ever-maskers are going to get hellishly ill when they eventually do catch something (which they inevitably will).

@Fatredwitch

I shall wear one. It isn't a huge sacrifice to make and if it protects other people - and me to some degree, I hope - it's worth it. People in other countries, such as Japan, have been wearing them for years and haven't made a fuss about it. I don't know why it's so difficult for people here to do such a small thing that could help to keep down the infection rate.

No they haven't. They wear them when they are ill (when you could argue they should stay at home). They don't wear them routinely.

Yes, I will. They are proven to help reduce the spread of diseases, I'm rapidly losing patience with the "I don't think they make a difference" fuckwits.

Anyone worries about cat hing everything now. I found that miltivitamins with vitamind D on top are magic when it comes to this. And some exercise. But the vitamins really do help even though I have a healthy diet you just can't catch them all 🙈 Especially the vit d makes difference (also psychologically, interestingly)

All those people jumping at throwing the masks away likely really don’t know how the masks work.

Cobblers. We've assessed the risk and decided not to wear them, just as others are free to decide to carry on wearing them.

@Kokeshi123

I wish people would stop acting although perma-masking was the traditional norm in East Asia. I live here, and no, it never has been. People have often worn them if they actually have a cold, and a few people put them on anyway for public transport etc. , but no it has never been the norm here to constantly have a mask on.

I'm not wearing them out of doors any more, and I'm not even vaccinated. I suspect social pressure will make me wear one in public indoor spaces for a while yet. I don't think this should be going on for ever, though.

Yes, the 'Asian cultures (whatever they are) wear masks all the time because they care about people' is an MN trope. Google any picture of the Tokyo or Seoul metros, for example, and you'll see hardly anyone wearing masks pre Covid.

I think it's part of the usual MN philosophy whereby 'other countries' are perfect places full of responsible governments and civic minded citizens. Only Britain is the exception. Or so they think.

@MarvellousMonsters

Yes, I will. They are proven to help reduce the spread of diseases, I'm rapidly losing patience with the "I don't think they make a difference" fuckwits.

It doesn't really matter whether or not you're 'losing patience'. After July 19th, masks won't be legally required in England, so your anger makes no odds one way or the other.

I'm just hoping it stops all the bloody whinging.

Yes I will, in medical situations/locations, in crowded areas and on public transport. 🌹

Would the people who think masks make no difference mind if they were operated on by people not wearing masks?

I'm genuinely curious. I'm not scientifically minded at all, and tend to place my faith in people who are like Chris Whitty or Rachel Clarke.