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?

Get a mask with a filter in it. They're 100% easier to breathe in

@Clocktopus

This is the model.

Masks are useless as a stand alone measure, they need the other measures for them to be effective enough to be worthwhile. The flip side of this also is that if someone can't do any of the layers (e.g., mask exempt) then carrying out the other layers still contributes to their protection (and that of others).

Aggregation of marginal gains. It's a thing.

@Wizzbangfizz

Masks were retained in Scotland and Wales and their cases are same if not worse than ours??

You can't look at it like that! Mask wearing is only one mitigation, there are many other factors

Vaccinations
Social distancing
Hand washing
Schools

Age of population
Industry
Poverty

And on it goes....

Aggregation of marginal gains. It's a thing

The way I see it is that someone who is vaccinated, washes their hands, stays home when sick, and keeps their distance where possible but is not a wearing mask is not that big of a risk to me and the minimal risk they do present is one I am comfortable with because they are doing what they can. That is all anyone should be doing - what they can - and the self-appointed policing of who is or isn't doing enough does no one any favours.

@MercyBooth

why was someone i am close to told to remove his reusable mask at his hospital appointment and given a disposable one. Hardly fits with the "well surgeons manage" rhetoric does it. It proves that its not the same.

Yep, in some extra-careful facilities (e.g. my parent's care home) visitors are given a compulsory fresh disposable mask on arrival. What's not the same?

Where's the OP gone?

they are doing what they can. That is all anyone should be doing - what they can but they aren’t doing a very easy thing “they can” are they?

but they aren’t doing a very easy thing “they can” are they?

Wearing a mask isn't easy for some people though and it's not for you or I to say whether they should just suck it up, especially when masks aren't even a legal requirement now. I have PTSD, sometimes I wear a mask and sometimes I don't, it depends on the individual situation and on how I'm feeling. If my PTSD is triggered then no, it's not an "easy thing" to wear a mask and I wouldn't force myself to wear it for the sake of appeasing others.

OP has gone. Never to return. Just a wee stir of the pot to get people worked up I reckon.

I have the opposite issue where I live. I wear a mask in shops and on public transport and honestly get looked at like I have two heads. I’m one of maybe five people in an entire supermarket wearing one and yesterday I saw one other person wearing a mask on what was a packed bus.

@NotAnotherPylon

OP has gone. Never to return. Just a wee stir of the pot to get people worked up I reckon.

If all you can think of is yet another mask thread then that's a bit unimaginative. Shows zero dedication to stirring in my opinion.

We went on a bus for the first time in years last weekend and only one couple on a crowded bus WASN'T wearing a mask. This was on the Oxford park and ride.

@knittingaddict

We went on a bus for the first time in years last weekend and only one couple on a crowded bus WASN'T wearing a mask. This was on the Oxford park and ride.

Don't go on TFL. Loads not wearing them.

OP's gone......hopefully to buy a mask

Op's got form for this and about a zillion name changes.

Wearing masks is still required in my area of the UK.
I prefer to anyway.

Why can't you breathe in a mask? Have you tried different sorts? I struggle through the material ones so wear surgical disposable blue ones and they are fine. Or you could wear a face shield.

my trick is to swap them out for a fresh one regularly, i've usually got about 4 masks stuffed in my bag and i will switch them as soon as i start to feel like i can't breathe.. its a 'warm air' response related to my asthma, i get the same if i have scarves over my mouth or if i'm under the bed covers...etc.

But yeah.. switching the mask for a new one every 30 mins or so works wonders for me :)

Try wearing a mesh one. There are lots of variations, here's an example
www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rhinestone-Face-Mask-Crystal-Decor-Breathable-Mesh-Net-Fashionable-Mask-UK-/224364353305
They're highly "breathable". They don't stop droplets, but if your main concern is not being seen to be without a face covering then they're really good.

@MurielSpriggs

Try wearing a mesh one. There are lots of variations, here's an example www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rhinestone-Face-Mask-Crystal-Decor-Breathable-Mesh-Net-Fashionable-Mask-UK-/224364353305 They're highly "breathable". They don't stop droplets, but if your main concern is not being seen to be without a face covering then they're really good.

Jesus, why?! Just wear a bloody real one, like the rest of us have to. Nobody actually likes wearing them. Claiming you can't breathe whilst wearing one (of course you can) doesn't make you exempt.

@MurielSpriggs

Try wearing a mesh one. There are lots of variations, here's an example www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rhinestone-Face-Mask-Crystal-Decor-Breathable-Mesh-Net-Fashionable-Mask-UK-/224364353305 They're highly "breathable". They don't stop droplets, but if your main concern is not being seen to be without a face covering then they're really good.

That is stupid.

@MurielSpriggs

Try wearing a mesh one. There are lots of variations, here's an example www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rhinestone-Face-Mask-Crystal-Decor-Breathable-Mesh-Net-Fashionable-Mask-UK-/224364353305 They're highly "breathable". They don't stop droplets, but if your main concern is not being seen to be without a face covering then they're really good.

If your main concern is not being seen to be without a face covering then you should be ashamed of yourself.

A mask full of holes? No thanks.

The opinion of ECV people of not wanting to die due to others selfishness....

I would think this is important...

@MurielSpriggs

Try wearing a mesh one. There are lots of variations, here's an example www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Rhinestone-Face-Mask-Crystal-Decor-Breathable-Mesh-Net-Fashionable-Mask-UK-/224364353305 They're highly "breathable". They don't stop droplets, but if your main concern is not being seen to be without a face covering then they're really good.

so in other words as useful as a chocolates teapot

how utterly stupid

Yes; people do think you are a covid rebel. It's a reasonable inference.

If you have the appearance of good health, strangers cannot be expected to know if you have hidden disabilities or conditions. They're called "hidden" for a reason; people cannot see them. Wear a sunflower lanyard if you want to let us know. Or, accept that your fellow humans will make reasonable assumptions based on visual analysis.