Masks are coming back and I feel like an idiot!

[Rainbowheart1]

As the title, I can’t wear one as I can’t breath, they are really coming back into force where I live and I do tend to overthink things and I feel like a prat!

I had to go hospital recently and everyone, I mean everyone had a mask apart from me and I just look stupid! To look at me and not know me, I look young, fit and healthy, which makes it worst!

Am I doing overthinking this? Do you think people think I’m some sort of Covid rebel?

No, @LorenzoVonMatterhorn, the reason why I don’t care what other people think is nothing to do with entitlement, but because I am fed up of the out-and-out bullying by those who think they have the right to tell others what to do when they really do not. Even though there is no legal requirement to wear a mask, this thread is full of posters telling other to do so. Why is their opinion somehow more valid than the law or government guidance?

I am in Scotland and masks have never gone away. I use my lanyard all the time and nobody looks twice at me. You are overthinking.

Loads of people are exempt. I'd wager most of the people who are exempt don't "look ill".

Funny that the OP hasn't been back.

Almost like this is a wind up...

@mercybooth

Maybe it's through seeing sick and ventilated Covid patients in ITU or struggling to breath myself during asthma attacks, but really trying to take each breath for life isn't something to take for granted.

And 'struggling' to breathe in a mask is not quite comparable most of the time (obviously exceptions apply!) So I will make an effort without being a martyr.

Despite everything I have said, as most people don't wear masks now I don't judge or even care anymore OP. I can only make my own contribution.

We ALL have a responsibility to each other

But only when its Covid eh!!!

I wouldn't look at you if you were an idiot OP. However, I might look at you unintentionally looking nervous. As somebody who has shielded with their CEV partner I am very much for masks. I can't do that again and neither can my children. But I also don't want to take Covid home. It will be devastating for my family. Are you an idiot? No! But I hope you make extra effort not to be one of those people who believe they are exempt from Covid too. There are people (not saying you) but who are exempt and will happily come close to you and say 'oh I am ok I am exempt from a mask.'

Why can't you breathe with one? Medical issue or anxiety?

I think I have only looked at one person like an idiot regarding mask wearing. It was actually today!
I was struggling not to flip out at someone on bus!
He had a mask on, fantastic.
Then he lifts mask off face, sneezes twice, not covering his face even with hand. Then puts mask back on! The only thing he did was face his head downwards as he sneezed. I have now perfected my 'you are an idiot' eyes so you can tell what I am thinking whilst I wear my mask.

If you lived in the country I do I would think you were an anti mask type because in the year and a half(?) that we have been wearing masks here I haven't seen anyone not wear one where they are supposed to, the only people I have heard of not doing it here are covid deniers that preattle on about it on facebook. In the UK I gather it is different though.

I have family in Germany and you barely see anyone not wearing a mask. The compliance rate is massive. You still need them to go into shops and other public buildings and no mask = no admittance. Very few people claim exemption and I don’t imagine Germans have significantly lower rates of people with lung conditions, anxiety, panic attacks. I’m not sure why so many of us over here consider ourselves exempt.

I’ve worn one all the way through and like you OP, but in reverse, have been getting some funny looks over the summer and still now. I’m asthmatic with a dicky heart and it makes me feel more comfortable (and nicely takes the chill off cold morning air) and it’s fuck all of anyone else’s business. If you’re medically exempt then you’re medically exempt, end of story. If wearing a lanyard would make you feel more confident then wear one. Fuck anyone who wants to look.

Come on. you dont actually believe all the people who say they cannot wear a mask, actually cant. You cannot possibly look around you at and believe that. And then look to other countries with no exemptions and think wow we in the uk are a very, very poorly nation of serious ill health

This.

I spend time in another country where masks are mandatory indoors end of.
If you were to go into a supermarket without one, you would be escorted out, no excuses. I was in one the other day and was told to twist the straps round to make it tighter. I have not seen anyone without a mask in an indoor setting unless eating and drinking. I go for a run/walk in the mornings and everyone has one visible to put on if necessary.

I have full sympathy with anyone who, for genuine reasons, can't wear one. They are very few and far between.
#wearamask

I was worried about wearing one at work when it came into force last year. I used to get really claustrophobic and panicky. I just practiced wearing one at home. Keeping it on for longer and longer each time. I’m absolutely fine with wearing one now.

I'm abroad where they never went away and are compulsory in shops, public transport and busy areas. No mask, no do. Secondary kids wear them all day in school. Only on MN do I see so many people who "can't" wear one. It's a bit of paper. Unless really extreme PTSD or similar I cannot see why people cannot practice at home and get used to it. I actually saw on holiday someone with an oxygen cylinder on a trolley. She was wearing a mask.

Why do you care what anyone else thinks? You can't wear one and you certainly don't need to wear a sign around your neck explaining why for the benefit of all the mask monitors out there.

"Even though there is no legal requirement to wear a mask, this thread is full of posters telling other to do so. Why is their opinion somehow more valid than the law or government guidance?"

It's not about law or government guidance. It's about facts and it's about consideration for other people.
The facts are that a mask will stop your germs spreading as far and in as big a quantity. That's undisputed. Some, or most will get trapped in or slowed down by the mask. Yes, some will still escape, but for the person catching Covid it really matters how big an amount they take in, how much their immune system has to handle at once.

You're also protecting yourself from getting it. Not as much as you're protecting others, but again, even if you do get it, a mask will stop you getting such a heavy dose of the virus. So you're less likely to need hospital care, and that means less likely to take a bed and medical professionals away from dealing with patients with other illnesses.

Your choices aren't just your own (unless you live in a really isolated place). Your choices directly impact other people. So there is a moral right and wrong here.

They are pointless and don’t help to protect others in anyway. If I see someone where a face shield I always think its a pretty good sign that they don’t understand the risks

I agree. Ive had someone in a face shield stand so close I could feel their breath on me from the side of their shield. They are for eye protection, what makes wearers think they are suitable to wear without a mask is beyond me.

@MrsTerryPratchett

That’s the exact reason why all those grubby ones that most of us keep screwed up in our pockets are so pointless and ineffective anyway.

If you wear clean knickers every day, you can walk masks. I wear a clean one every time.

I totally agree - but how many actually bother?

(Washing their mask daily, not their knickers! 😂)

So there is a moral right and wrong here

But only with Covid

@Natty13

I bet my entire house that you somehow would manage to breathe with an oxygen mask on if you had severe covid.

I am yet to meet a single "mask exempt" person who wasn't just being precious.

This.

[quote TravelLost]@Squeezita so you only do things because they are imposed on you rather than because you know they are the sensible thing to do then?

Eg if someone decided that seat belts are not compulsory anymore, you wouldn’t wear one?
If smoking indoors was ok again, you would do that because you can?

I’ve always found that strange tbh.[/quote]
No, I don’t wear masks because the inconvenience outweighs the ambiguous benefits. I do wear wear them where I’m required to (e.g. public transport).

It’s very patronising of you to assume I haven’t risk assessed not wearing a mask.

It's not about law or government guidance. It's about facts and it's about consideration for other people.

This makes no difference whatsoever. It is still not for anyone to tell anyone else what they should or shouldn’t be doing, especially when they don’t know that person’s circumstances.

Would you wear a face mask for an operation? Or go on a ventilator if needed? They aren’t comfortable and they make me hot and bothered - but better I wear one then I give someone Covid. I’m ECV and I can’t shield as there isn’t a list anymore.

If you really can’t - panic attacks or something due to trauma or whatever get a lanyard.

@hellywelly3

I was worried about wearing one at work when it came into force last year. I used to get really claustrophobic and panicky. I just practiced wearing one at home. Keeping it on for longer and longer each time. I’m absolutely fine with wearing one now.

I was the same. I still can't wear one for more than about 15 minutes at a time.

The mask goes on when I get to the shop door and off again the second I come out. I know you're not supposed to touch them but I don't really care.

No sign of OP then?

Looks like it's a pile of poo.

Work colleague claims she can't breathe wearing a mask so she exempts herself. Load of old bollocks. Asthma Society confirms masks do not reduce oxygen, nor increases carbon dioxide.

Deniers come in all shapes and sizes, and with all sorts of gossamer-thin excuses.

YABU, and a nuisance.

You can wear one. Where I live there are no exemptions. At all. If you can't wear one you stay in.
No excuses or reasons why.
And my country is hot
You get used to it

@GrannyWeatherwaxsHatpin

No, *@LorenzoVonMatterhorn*, the reason why I don’t care what other people think is nothing to do with entitlement, but because I am fed up of the out-and-out bullying by those who think they have the right to tell others what to do when they really do not. Even though there is no legal requirement to wear a mask, this thread is full of posters telling other to do so. Why is their opinion somehow more valid than the law or government guidance?

It's like going back in time to last year.

Yes I think the majority of people who don’t wear masks look like idiots and are self-absorbed too.
If you genuinely ‘can’t breathe’ when wearing a mask because of a physical condition I do hope you are seeking out medical support, if it is an anxiety disorder you have my sympathy.
Wear a lanyard so others don’t judge you.