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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To Think We Should Still Be Wearing Masks

626 replies

TheShellBeach · 28/12/2022 23:28

Especially seeing the news coming out of China, and the lies they seem to be telling about the Covid situation there.

I never stopped wearing a mask when shopping anyway, even though we were told it was no longer necessary.

Yes, I know that most people have now been vaccinated.

OP posts:
HideTheCroissants · 29/12/2022 09:33

I am actually medically exempt because wearing a mask exacerbates a condition I have BUT I wear a mask when asked to. Wore one recently on a visit to an enclosed tourist attraction.

I always wore a mask when it was required and I caught Covid at work where we weren’t allowed to wear masks (primary school).

I still carry masks and will put one in if I feel “unsafe” but don’t see the need to wear them all the time.

silverclock222 · 29/12/2022 09:34

If you want to wear a mask wear one, it really is as simple as that.

SirMingeALot · 29/12/2022 09:35

ThaiDye · 29/12/2022 05:59

There's no question that masks help to reduce infection. Yes, you should wear them indoors and they should be mandatory in healthcare settings and public transport. It's absolutely insane that 39% of hospital admissions for COVID are from people catching COVID at hospital!

The health system is completely screwed and public health has completely given up on trying to maintain health. You need to do what you can to protect yourself and your family.

If masks were mandatory on public transport, lots of people still wouldn't wear them and any enforcement attempts would be half arsed at best. It would be a waste of time and resources.

The problem with those who want mask rules back is that they're unable to understand that having a rule and having a population who are willing and able to wear high quality masks properly are two very different things.

roselune · 29/12/2022 09:39

I wear an FFP2 mask on public transport because so many seem to have forgotten basic hygiene measures and just cough and sneeze without as much as covering their mouth or using a tissue. It's not just covid but all the other colds and bugs around.

I'm self employed and can't afford to lose income due to other people's disgusting habits. So far haven't caught anything this year.

Mycatsgoldtooth · 29/12/2022 09:45

@EllieRosesMammy best response on this thread.

eatdrinkandbemerry · 29/12/2022 09:53

I can't get worked up over a mask.
If I'm asked to wear one cool if I'm not that's cool too 🤷‍♀️.

ThaiDye · 29/12/2022 09:54

The Chinese gov missed a huge chance over the last 3 years to educate about airborne spread and implement mitigations like HEPA and ventilation. In China most are wearing surgical masks which are too baggy to offer sustained protection. We all need to be in N95s.

TheKeatingFive · 29/12/2022 10:01

The Chinese government deliberately refused the chance to vaccinate their population with a highly effective vaccine. An unforgivable decision.

Everything else is pissing in the wind.

BiasedBinding · 29/12/2022 10:06

“We all need to be in N95s.”

including in the home in order to stop my children giving me their colds?

SirMingeALot · 29/12/2022 10:07

TheKeatingFive · 29/12/2022 10:01

The Chinese government deliberately refused the chance to vaccinate their population with a highly effective vaccine. An unforgivable decision.

Everything else is pissing in the wind.

Indeed, although heaven knows they've made plenty of those in the last 3 years.

Vintagevixen · 29/12/2022 10:10

No no and no. They are completely ineffective anyway at controlling the spread of respiratory diseases so no I won't be wearing one.

Your choice to wear one, don't force me to wear a highly ineffective piece of cloth over my mouth thus worsening my rosacea and dry eye.

BellatrixLestrangesHeatedCurlers · 29/12/2022 10:23

I wear them in crowded places. I don't believe mask wearing should be enforced.

sleepwouldbenice · 29/12/2022 10:28

This reply has been deleted

Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Proudly a covid denier
Well done you

SirMingeALot · 29/12/2022 10:32

Can you be a covid denier if you're saying you've had covid? I disagree with much of that post, but I can't see how it involves any covid denial.

EdinaMonsoon · 29/12/2022 10:32

I don’t think it should need to be enforced but as others have mentioned on this thread, I’m constantly surprised & disgusted at the basic hygiene standards of others ie coughing/sneezing without covering their mouths or sanitising their hands afterwards. So I have continued to wear an FFP2/3 mask on public transport, health care settings or busy shops. I did wonder last week if others would assume that my wearing a mask suggests I actually had covid! I was the only person I saw in a very busy department store who was wearing one.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr · 29/12/2022 10:35

3 years on:

China ‘reopens’ global travel as their country battles an immense Covid wave with reports of possible new variants.

The media starts playing with the should we shouldn’t we be testing Chinese flights idea which will no doubt slowly ramp up to vilifying ‘Chinas mass spreading’ especially once the Lunar new year starts.

UK hospitals and GP surgeries have essentially started to collapse under the immense pressures of being unstaffed, strikes, Covid, Flu, Strep A, and other mounting health issues.

Lots of people getting repeatedly infected with bad colds flus and other illnesses on a monthly basis after reverting back to precovid behaviours. Nasty symptoms start showing up like shooting ear pain, a tight chest, nausea, loss of smell and taste, fatigue, weird headaches and sky high fevers.

Schools and businesses have made zero improvements to air filtration and ventilation, after the Christmas break numbers of sick people will rise even more.

People have now started going in to work with colds, Covid and other sickness bugs spreading them further as employers lose patience with multiple absences. It’s seemingly acceptable to now cough and sneeze all day long as though nothing is wrong.

Vaccination protection wanes across huge numbers of the population as they opt out of boosters. Deaths and excess deaths slowly start creeping up.

Face mask use now negligible, the majority are now resigned to risk catching ‘mild Covid’ which incidentally can floor you for days and wreck your immune system for a few months.

The economy is in the shitter.

Yet one could argue that we haven’t learned a thing as the cycle looks to be repeating itself once again.

SirMingeALot · 29/12/2022 10:36

I wouldn't assume a person in a mask had covid, there are lots of reasons why people would choose to wear one. None of which are my business anyway.

sst1234 · 29/12/2022 10:37

Mycatsgoldtooth · 29/12/2022 07:36

In China people have to wear masks nearly all the time, obviously they are stopping the spread there.

Obviously they are. Unless you’ve been following the news.

MrsPelligrinoPetrichor · 29/12/2022 10:40

LlynTegid · 29/12/2022 07:34

I think we should in hospitals, GP surgeries and other medical settings. I would also welcome things such as one-way systems in shops.

There should also be testing requirements from anyone coming from China.

We have to in our GP surgery, won't see us otherwise.

Weirdly at a hospital appt recently the consultant said I could remove my mask and she removed hers.

sst1234 · 29/12/2022 10:40

Brrrrrrrrrrrr · 29/12/2022 10:35

3 years on:

China ‘reopens’ global travel as their country battles an immense Covid wave with reports of possible new variants.

The media starts playing with the should we shouldn’t we be testing Chinese flights idea which will no doubt slowly ramp up to vilifying ‘Chinas mass spreading’ especially once the Lunar new year starts.

UK hospitals and GP surgeries have essentially started to collapse under the immense pressures of being unstaffed, strikes, Covid, Flu, Strep A, and other mounting health issues.

Lots of people getting repeatedly infected with bad colds flus and other illnesses on a monthly basis after reverting back to precovid behaviours. Nasty symptoms start showing up like shooting ear pain, a tight chest, nausea, loss of smell and taste, fatigue, weird headaches and sky high fevers.

Schools and businesses have made zero improvements to air filtration and ventilation, after the Christmas break numbers of sick people will rise even more.

People have now started going in to work with colds, Covid and other sickness bugs spreading them further as employers lose patience with multiple absences. It’s seemingly acceptable to now cough and sneeze all day long as though nothing is wrong.

Vaccination protection wanes across huge numbers of the population as they opt out of boosters. Deaths and excess deaths slowly start creeping up.

Face mask use now negligible, the majority are now resigned to risk catching ‘mild Covid’ which incidentally can floor you for days and wreck your immune system for a few months.

The economy is in the shitter.

Yet one could argue that we haven’t learned a thing as the cycle looks to be repeating itself once again.

Right. Who knew mask wearing could pull us out of inflation, reverse the double digit inflation, bring down energy prices and save the NHS.

Vintagevixen · 29/12/2022 10:47

Our hospital mandates masks in consulting rooms/clinical areas but not corridors or general areas. If a patient comes into clinic not wearing one I don't bring it up though.

As soon as I am out my clinic door into a corridor my mask comes off anyway.

Hospital is currently struggling with huge outbreaks of Flu in the wards/staff anyway similar to the 2018 flu season.

JustDanceAddict · 29/12/2022 10:50

No! Unless you’re out and have covid as it will offer some protection to others.
wearing a mask protects others from you, not so much you from others.
Barely anyone masks up now unless in a healthcare setting so it defeats the object.
I hated wearing one so will only do so if mandatory in a hospital or wherever.

Xer · 29/12/2022 10:51

I'm on Day 6 of having influenza A (husband was tested in hospital due to low oxygen and other serious side effects) and it's kicking our arses in this house. More than covid ever did. My cousin is currently hospitalised with it. My husbands work colleagues are all dropping like flies. Two drivers hospitalised. All with flu.

Jourdain11 · 29/12/2022 10:52

Nasty symptoms start showing up like shooting ear pain, a tight chest, nausea, loss of smell and taste, fatigue, weird headaches and sky high fevers.

Aren't these just viral symptoms that people get from viruses? Not saying I want to have them. But I remember getting plenty such symptoms with viral illnesses pre-2020!

Oblomov22 · 29/12/2022 10:53

@Brrrrrrrrrrrr
Has summarised it well.