Ditching my mask from today except for in hospital settings

[Frittataz]

Clearly this is fine legally speaking but AIBU to expect not to be asked to wear a mask from today onwards? I’ll wear one when attending hospital/doctors appointments but that’s it that’s were i draw the line. I shouldn’t be expected to explain myself right? I’ve wore a mask from the beginning and stuck to every rule. I won’t be rushing out to go to nightclubs as I didn’t do that before covid and i don’t suddenly feel the need to surround myself (closely) with lots of other people but I am looking forward to taking my daughter shopping and going to the cinema without having to wear a mask.

You need to wear one if the shop asks you to though. Same as wearing shoes, men wearing t shirts.
Let’s face it , if a nightclub can turn you away for wearing the wrong clothes , so can a shop for not wearing a mask.

Legal requirement just means you haven’t broken the law.

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop

YY *@Vintagevixen* I left the NHS in late 2018 in the midst of the flu pandemic, not long after having caught flu (and norovirus twice that year too) and I didn't get any lip service thanks or concern, but I DID get to sit in a meeting with two stony faced members of HR asking why the hell id been off sick three times that year and consider this the first warning

That sounds about right! I've caught so much stuff likely from work - staph chest infection, Noro several times and was exposed to open TB twice in my twenties.

No-one has ever been concerned about the other stuff caught as an HCP until Covid came along.

"Worn" a mask not "wore". Kinell.

No you right they are not comparable because flu disappeared remember? Or did you forget everything is now covid

YY @Vintagevixen it is such gaslighting nonsense.

I'm still in touch with old colleagues, who apparently got smiley face stickers and a generic "thank you" postcard through their letterbox last July. Nothing since.

I mean WOW. What a show of meaningful appreciation

I remember saying to sour faced HR twat "I've been ill because of viruses caught at work. You're very welcome by the way for me not coming in and I won't hold it against the Infection Prevention Team for it happening". But I still got a level 1 warning! Meaning if I had another instance of sickness in the next year I'd be in for a level 2 warning.

And they were surprised when I left

[quote FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop]@Bryonyshcmyony my sincere sympathies. I lost dad 9 years ago to chronic liver failure because of his 3 decade alcohol addiction. The NHS did bugger all, he relied on a charity instead that was stretched ridiculously thin and could only help so much. The volunteers who helped him attended his funeral and were devastated they couldn't do better but the meaningful support and resources simply don't exist or didn't back then. It's the hardest thing in the world to try and support an alcoholic [/quote]
Yes he has a key worker but the poor bloke can only contact him twice a week and really he needs daily support. He's telling us he's cutting down but obviously we can't believe him

@swimlyn

Good for you Hun!

You won't know who you infect/who you kill...

We need to stop with this paranoia. You can't go through life terrified of people who may or may not have a virus. I think the media have a lot to answer for here.

I copied this from an open letter written by 50 cancer charities they say it better than me.

Many of people will be looking forward to tomorrow as the day they get their “freedoms back”. But for many people with cancer, tomorrow will be a day when freedoms are taken away. This is because their cancer, or their treatment for cancer, means the vaccine, even after two doses, is less likely to protect them from serious illness from Covid than it is for the general public.
Over the last few months, many people with cancer have been starting to get back to normal, meeting up with their friends outdoors or sitting outside at cafes and restaurants.
They have felt able to do this because the people around them have been wearing masks and keeping their distance. The more people exercise their freedom to stop wearing masks and stop social distancing, the more people with cancer will feel they have to stop their normal activities, and will feel more worried when they have to do things like use public transport
We had hoped the Government would continue to insist people carry on wearing masks and social distancing in crowded places. But given the Government has decided not to do this, we are asking every person in England, knowing you already do so much for people with cancer through the financial support you give us, to do three things to help them further over the next few weeks:
Keep wearing masks in crowded places. There is good evidence they stop the spread, and for all you know, that person sitting a few seats down from you on the bus might be on their way to their chemotherapy appointment.
Keep your distance from people you don’t know. There is no way of knowing if someone has cancer and so might be vulnerable to the virus, so it’s best to assume everyone you come into contact with might be.
Get vaccinated if you haven’t done so already. Particularly for people with cancer who have a compromised immune system, the more people who are vaccinated, the safer they will be.
These three things are especially important in England, where the restrictions are being lifted first. But they are also things will help people with cancer in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, too.
Just one person doing these three things could make a real difference to someone with cancer. And the more of us who do them, the more we will help keep people with cancer safe, and send them a message of solidarity during the difficult weeks ahead.

I agree @MostlyMaple

I can't believe what it has turned people into. Terrified wrecks, convinced Joe Random is out to kill them. It's not healthy

@MercyBooth

If this shit is going to carry on i will cancel my vaccine appointment. Im at risk of clots and have been psyching myself up to go. If im willing to take this risk for the "greater good" but im still going to be made to sweat my guts out (which i get quite enough of at home in my HA sauna) in a mask why on earth should i take a risk with the AZ to be treated like this,

Totally get you. I got my second Pfizer the other week and beginning to think what's the point?

At our local shops today, every single member of staff I saw was wearing a mask. DH and I were too, and, unexpectedly, so were most of the shoppers, even the tourists. The few who were not wearing masks were all tourists, though. (Yes we can tell.)

Social distancing was not practised well, but most people tried, more or less successfully, for 1m, or seemed to.

'You do you and I'll do me' is not meaningful in the context of talking about choices around a contagious disease.

Ever had a needle injury? I was an NP doing endoscopy mainly upper GI on alcoholics. Twice under Blair when he was lobbing money at the NHS I put a biopsy punch in a sharps bin which was over filled and got a pick injury and they certainly didn't think that was a part of my job. We also used to have to buy pillows from the 24 hour Tesco on our way to work but it was OK, we had essence of care matron on 60k walking round the unit.

@FrangipaniDeLaSqueegeeMop

I agree *@MostlyMaple*

I can't believe what it has turned people into. Terrified wrecks, convinced Joe Random is out to kill them. It's not healthy

Frankly, it is quite scary that as a nation we have turned very paranoid. It isn't healthy at all, I agree.

We need to take back control, and if by ditching the mask is part of that then so be it!

@Getyourjab

The average gaps in the weave of the fabric of a mask are 500,000 times larger than a virus

I'd query how that average is worked out. My masks have three layers of material and a pocket into which I put a further filter. Those bugs will have to find their way through the gaps in around 6 layers.

@Getyourjab

The average gaps in the weave of the fabric of a mask are 500,000 times larger than a virus

That would be a very relevant piece of information if the virus was floating around in the air on its own rather than being carried in much larger droplets of human bodily fluids.

Shops can make up their own rules, doesn’t matter if you “gently remind them” they can legally refuse to serve you.
Our local shop has a big sign up saying no mask no entry
And will be there for the forcible, also as our town has a high rate our pubs are sticking with the no mask no entry rule.

@Doodlebug71 Yep, everyone vulnerable has been offered both jabs now, I've been jabbed so yeah that's it for me. The vulnerable we've been protecting have shown everywhere that they don't have the good graces to be grateful for what everyone has give up for them and are instead screaming that everyone is selfish and expecting us all to sacrifice our own lives forever for them, which is incredibly selfish in its own right by the way. I've had enough, time for them to grow up and start protecting themselves. They don't care about us and people's mental health/jobs/lives etc, tell me again why we should care about them? Empathy goes both ways and they have none.

@IntermittentParps

'You do you and I'll do me' is not meaningful in the context of talking about choices around a contagious disease.

We have to learn to live with it now. Just be careful and keep your distance if you're worried 🤷‍♀️

I think that it's in everyone's interests to wear masks to protect those in customer facing roles that have no choice about maintaining a distance. Already supermarkets, restaurants, summer attractions etc are having to close or limit hours due to people having to isolate or being off unwell. I see mask wearing as a small sacrifice in the grand scheme of things, especially as you can take them off when seated in a restaurant or at the cinema. I'd much rather wear one into the cinema for a few minutes, then take it off and enjoy the film rather than risk the cinema having to shut its doors.

@Thewinterofdiscontent

You need to wear one if the shop asks you to though. Same as wearing shoes, men wearing t shirts. Let’s face it , if a nightclub can turn you away for wearing the wrong clothes , so can a shop for not wearing a mask.

Legal requirement just means you haven’t broken the law.

nightclubs have proper bouncers to turn away unwanted clientele, the rest of retail have got what?

I've now been to Lidl, Morrisons, Poundland and a petrol station without my mask, it was so great to actually be able to talk to my Mum (we're both as jabbed as possible currently FYI) as we went round and not sweating or steaming up was ace too, we were chatting, smiling and laughing like normal again. I recommend it if you're on the fence. Also weirdly and unexpectedly, all the staff that served us were more friendly and chatty than normal, could be a coincidence but not the stony faces (sorry eyes mostly) I expected and I was a bit apprehensive of poor reactions so wasn't overly friendly myself until they started up.

www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jul/18/masks-hugs-and-hand-washing-18-new-rules-for-protecting-yourself-and-others

Not that the OP cares, I guess; or birds of similar feather.

Cinema tomorrow to see The Forever Purge, I'll let you know what the reaction is to my WHOLE, ENTIRE FACE and also whether the film reflects the current Sodom and Gomorrah that some mumsnetters imagine is the great outdoors at the moment.

I went to the bank and super market today without one. Not a word said.

80% still wearing I think where I went. But more people wearing outside than there was!