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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

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

661 replies

AngeloMysterioso · 05/07/2021 13:00

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.

OP posts:
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8
Theforest · 05/07/2021 13:35

Will it still be expected at GPs and hospitals?

ChainJane · 05/07/2021 13:35

Doubt I will. Maybe on public transport and perhaps in shops in the run up to Christmas when they are extra busy.

I'll probably go with the crowd though. Don't want to be the odd one out not wearing one, don't want to be the odd one out wearing them.

Stevearnottsbeard · 05/07/2021 13:35

I'm double jabbed but I work in retail and have children in school, I also live in a delta varient hot-spot so probably will continue to wear one in work as it protects my customers

colourchanginglipstick · 05/07/2021 13:36

Absolutely not, but I'm in Scotland and it looks like they will be here forever

Muscaria · 05/07/2021 13:36

Yes for this reason
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

SamW98 · 05/07/2021 13:37

Probably not but I will keep a few in the car and in my bag just in case there's a situation where it might be required

But generally just going out and about no I won't

SchrodingersImmigrant · 05/07/2021 13:39

Same. Depends on where. A busy place? Yes. A quiet place with proper distancing? Maybe not. Maybe yes.

I wonder what will undernose creatures do now🙈 Keep "wearing" them or ditch them

Starlightstarbright1 · 05/07/2021 13:39

No but i don't think anyone who wants to wear one is unreasonable. They have been reintroduced in our school this week.

BusySittingDown · 05/07/2021 13:40

Does the Pope shit in the woods?

GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin · 05/07/2021 13:40

The point about masks is the protection they offer others, not the wearer.

The masks that most people wear do, yes. However there are masks that protect the wearer (FFP3 and the like) so those who want to continue with mask wearing can do so but with the protection shifted onto them, and those who don't want to wear a mask are free to go without.

As for me, no I won't be wearing a mask any more. They've caused me a lot of problems and, while I've worn it because I have to, I will be perfectly happy to put them in the bin. If shops try to insist on them I think they'll be on a sticky wicket - they can't insist on them for everyone because some are, even under the current laws, legally exempt anyway (except on Mumsnet, where any protestation of exemption meets the usual can't you wear a visor/you'll like a ventilator less Hmm ). Trying to enforce the legally unenforceable against a large swathe of the population who didn't like wearing them in the first place is going to cost them customers.

CheerfulBunny · 05/07/2021 13:42

Nope, and shops that still insist on them won't be getting my custom. Can't wait to be rid of the fucking things and the entire stupid pantomime.

CyberGhost · 05/07/2021 13:42

I gave up wearing a mask when I vomited into it (have some awful HG at the moment). I won't be continuing.

Taswama · 05/07/2021 13:42

Nope.
Amazed by the split of votes, I've never seen such an even AIBu poll before!

Didiplanthis · 05/07/2021 13:43

Yes indoors if busy, not outside unless super busy, will carry on at work even if not mandatory as in health care with lots of vulnerable patients and I have children in primary school who could pick it up and share.

quizqueen · 05/07/2021 13:44

I will never wear a mask again unless it's the law and I have had the vaccine either. Bloody awful things and the litter on the ground of disposable ones is disgusting. I don't know who these people, who just throw them down, think they are.

PiddleOfPuppies · 05/07/2021 13:44

I'll burning mine. I have complied out of social conditioning but I have never believed a flowery bit of cloth over my nose had saved a single life. It's a visual reminder that we're meant to be thinking differently, that's all.
However, I won't be judging anyone who wants to continue as long as they don't judge me for stopping.

GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin · 05/07/2021 13:45

you’ve got people from SAGE and the BMA saying we should keep wearing them

I'd be surprised if they didn't say that, because they're always going to go with the most cautious approach. I have seen medical professionals saying they want to see mask wearing and social distancing permanently because it will reduce all infections but that's just not practical because it forgets about all the non-medical areas of life that are adversely affected. (It's also not very good for us to avoid all 'normal' illnesses but that's a different issue.) I get it, it's their job to look at things solely from a medical point of view, but it does mean that their field of vision is rather restricted.

I suspect there's also an element of arse-covering so that no-one can say "Well why didn't you SAY?" if there's further problems in the future.

quizqueen · 05/07/2021 13:45

haven't had vaccine

Pinkroseuk · 05/07/2021 13:45

Yes 100% inside

Pregnant and no vaccine yet so very worried about it spreading more easily with less people wearing them

PattyPan · 05/07/2021 13:45

I definitely will on transport and busier shops but probably not in shops where you’re the only one in there like the carpet shop we went to!

InTheNightWeWillWish · 05/07/2021 13:46

I’m also pregnant and struggle with the face mask since getting pregnant, it really enhances the nausea. Now, most of my nausea has passed but wearing a mask still brings it back. As such, I try to minimise when I’m wearing a mask anyway. Most of my activities are outside based anyway, so I tend to only wear them briefly in a shop if I’m picking something up.

I’m not double jabbed yet, I’m 6 weeks from the first one and the GP has sent the appointment for the second one yet. I think I will probably still wear it for hospital appointments and in busy places but not for things like walking to the table in a restaurant (I don’t really see how that reduces transmission anyway when you’re sat unmasked at your table).

SpaceRaiders · 05/07/2021 13:48

The weirdest place I have had to wear a mask is on a rollercoaster. It was outside!

We were at Thorpe park recently and I too found it completely bizarre. Although we did notice social distancing in queues around the park wasn’t really being adhered to.

I won’t be wearing one, unless I have a cold. It’s a completely pointless exercise unless you’re in a confined space.

Original poster
AngeloMysterioso · 05/07/2021 13:48

I won't wear them in shops or at work anymore, as I'm sick of not being able to see. Nothing I have tried has stopped my glasses fogging up so I end up taking them off, and just not being able to see properly, and the pressure of the elastic gives me migraines.

I have this problem as well. I get round it by wearing contacts sometimes but I have dry eyes so they’re not comfortable to wear for a long time. Otherwise I just have to make my peace with the world being blurry!

Not sure I’ll be chucking them out though, I expect they’ll still be mandatory for hospital and midwife appointments etc.

OP posts:
GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin · 05/07/2021 13:48

It's a visual reminder that we're meant to be thinking differently, that's all.

I think that's true to a degree - there seems to be a certain amount of 'pandemic theatre' which does serve a purpose but it can create an unnecessary obligation, not to mention arguments against those who are following the letter of the law and those who aren't. As an example, there is virtually no evidence of fomite/surface transmission. And yet the amount of sanitising and wiping of surfaces that goes on...

RandomKaren · 05/07/2021 13:50

Stevearnottsbeard

“I'm double jabbed but I work in retail and have children in school, I also live in a delta varient hot-spot so probably will continue to wear one in work as it protects my customers”

Such a shame many customers will not be showing you the same care and consideration.