... to ask why people are still wearing masks?

[KatyKopykat]

I've seen several people wearing a mask in shopping centres and on buses and trains.

If masks worked there would have been no need for all those rules about how many people could be in a room together, or meet up. "Non essential shops" need not have closed. People could have been allowed to go into the office and all other workplaces and travel between towns and villages.

The government would have said, meet whoever you want, go wherever you want, just wear a bit of flimsy paper over your gob.

Explain that, @DisquietintheRanks

Apply a bit of logic, please.

Me and Dh wear them in indoor settings like shops or supermarkets. No one in our house has had covid yet and we test when we feel unwell so think we would have known.

Us wearing masks doesn't affect anyone but us.

I’ve been wearing a mask throughout winter on the train here in Melbourne. It’s mind boggling how many people cough and sneeze without covering their mouths or using a tissue.

It's a silly question. The answer is totally obvious!

Where are you all buying your tests from and how much?

Ours are all out of date I'm sure

100% the people who are against wearing masks when they’re poorly, are the same ones spreading STIs around.

They must believe that HIV and chlamydia don’t exist or are just used as a way of the government brainwashing us all into wearing condoms.

I just personally avoid people wearing them! I exercise my own judgement just as those judged me when I went out not wearing one due to being exempt. I live with someone who works in full face, fit tested masks with filters so I am aware of there uses and limitations. As long as it's kept as personal choice then that's fine. Whatever makes you feel more secure it's your own preference.

It's funny because everyone was oh it's just a cold now, it's everywhere, you'll be fine, don't isolate yourself
Then I caught covid because I listened to people and at Christmas went for a meal with family
Then it was well you can't expect people with covid to stay in, you have to protect yourself so best you stay home
Can't win. When I caught it i was positive for 18 days with antivirals and on the covid at home ward

People don't get it until it happens, I was fine and went for a blood test. That night I got a call from the doctor asking where I was and telling me to go to hospital. Walking into haematology to everyone masked and gowned (this is way before covid) was petrifying. One minute you're fine, the next you're not

Are they batman?

What is your expertise here?

Most super markets sell them @OnAMidnightTrainToGeorgia - mine are from Morrisons not sure of the cost £5-7 for 5 - I visit care homes for my job (children's) and I wouldn;t go out if I had it - I'd self isolate until I tested positive

I lost my beloved SIL to Covid in unimaginable circumstances - I do everything I can to protect others

Negative!

Perhaps the whole Covid experience has simply made people more prepared to wear masks than was previously the case. I just had my first cold in years and wore a mask, something I never did before Covid (which I haven't had). Plus of course as PP have said, Covid is still around and there are plenty of people whose immune systems are compromised, or who are just being cautious, or have it and don't want to spread it. I still see some people wearing them here in regional Australia, and we weren't hit as hard as Britain and Europe.

Didn't you just say that you weren't judging anyone?

So many sneering responses. I genuinely ask how it affects you. You might not think it does any good but the key question is does it harm you?

I so let wear a mask

Lol - I bet @tonystarksrighthand is busy with that hand

Wtf do you care? This is as pointless as me asking why does nobody wear them? Why do people not wash their hands properly? Why does nobody seem to use sanitizer anymore?

it’s personal choice! I wear one in certain places because Covid and RSV is on the rise again, people showed how selfish they can be in the last pandemic/I don’t trust people to not go out when sick and I’m high risk with a high risk child. Why don’t you wear one?

I do it because it makes people avoid me. Which means when they cough or sneeze without covering their mouth - which a staggering number of grim adults do on buses and trains - they aren't usually sat next to me.

Vulnerable people get them free , they just have to order them .

Agree. I see people cough into their bare hands. Obviously some people didn’t learn anything.

I didn't know that - thanks!

Why would you avoid people wearing them? That seems strange. Of course, if you want to avoid me simply for trying to do all I can to protect a vulnerable family member even if it might only be very limited in success, it's a win for me.

People's hygiene has got worse imo. It's something I've been aware of since before covid because my DD is very vulnerable, usually a cold is a hospital stay and the flu had her in ICU.

It's definitely worse - I think a lot of people got out of the way of covering their mouths when they were in their own homes all the time and wearing a mask while out so now they cough and sneeze everywhere. It's grim.

Well, I am profoundly deaf and need to lip read. Everyone wearing masks was a nightmare for me; I was basically cut off. I couldn't go out anywhere with anyone, family and friends, and have a casual conversation. I couldn't ask for assistance anywhere without having to request over and over that people lower their masks to speak to me. I had to explain myself all the time, why I couldn't follow what they were saying. Without even thinking about it I take cues from people's facial expressions to confirm what my brain thinks they have said - I can't do that when people are wearing masks. I do not want to go back to a time when everyone's faces are covered up as a matter of course.

People wear them for reasons of their own.
Having COVID themselves, being autoimmune suppressed, not wanting to risk someone close who is autoimmune suppressed or elderly, not wanting to catch COVID themselves because they can't afford time off work.
It's a long list.