To think snotty, coughing people should wear masks?

[RiderofRohan]

On the train or other forms of public transport. In waiting rooms etc. People coughing with half-hearted hands held up to their mouths. Blowing their noses with abandon. None of them wearing masks, just shedding their viruses into closed spaces.

Isn't it just common decency, after we went through a global pandemic, to try to protect those around you? It's super normal to wear a mask in parts of Asia if you are unwell to reduce the risk of your germs spreading to your fellow humans.

The covid enquiry has said masks did not help prevent the spread of viruses. I have one hell of a cold at the moment and have a chronic respiratory illness and immune suppressed- I am finding it hard to breathe, how do you think I'm going to wear a mask? Especially when people with my condition are excluded from wearing one. I'm on antibiotics as its turned into pneumonia but you can't spend the whole of winter locked in your house, I still have to go to appointments, work, shop, arrends etc.

Why don't you wear a mask and disinfect your hands to prevent catching anything rather then expecting the world to cater to you.

I think since the pandemic there's been a switch in focus to put the responsibility for your health on other people. My parents are always berating people for going out the house with colds. But it's them that are taking the risk. You don't want get a cold/ cough then you take the responsibility for that and stay in. Cold/ coughs are part of life. Not great but not going to kill you in the main part and good for society to have more immunity for this stuff.

As a life-long sufferer of tonsillitis what I learned is that when my immunity has no exposure, it suffers. Due to limited socialisation during pandemic I was tonsillitis-fee for three years. As soon as life went back to normal, I got tonsillitis on average once every two months. I would like to give my immune system a chance to develop resistance to mild viruses and that means normal levels of exposure.
You see it in children. They catch every cold going as soon as they start nursery, then get progressively less frequently ill each year.
I don't want someone else's virus but I also can't live in a sterile environment. Some exposure is unavoidable and necessary and pre-pandemic people seemed to have a little more common sense in that regard.

@MiddleagedBeachbum

So are you the nasty little man who told me that it was my own fault that I got cancer because I was wearing a mask when I was at work in a shop?????????????

You are absolutely pathetic. I presume that if you get cancer then you'll be squarely placing the blame on masks and not on anything else like genes or just bad luck. Twat.
I wear a mask at work (and on the bus/train if it's crowded) BECAUSE my immune system is fucked after chemo and my life saving treatment has left me with a lung condition which will eventually kill me. I also wear a mask because I deal with a lot of customers who are fresh off the cruise ships carrying flu/norovirus/covid etc and it protects me to wear a mask and I also hand sanitise every time I touch cash. I also wear close weave tri ply cotton masks so not the blue medical ones anyway.

I'm completely with you @RiderofRohan. I get the train to work which is very busy and the number of other passengers coughing and spluttering without even covering their mouths is disgusting! I've had a number of coughs and colds since October (probably as a result of having a 2 year old who gets everything) and every time I wear a mask on the train and in work. I just see it as a common courtesy to others. I'm also pregnant and when I do get a cold, I feel even more rotten so try to minimise my spread of it to others.

They already probably can't breathe, don't be stupid

I wear a mask now if I've got a cold and have to be around people, e.g. at work. I think it's polite.
And here's a recent source for the effectiveness of masking: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0271517

I've always felt the same. Can't stand people spreading germs about, I don't really want to pick up people's germs if I can avoid it.

It is just common decency OP - but not many have that anymore. The Japanese are amongst the people who have been doing this for many many years (pre covid).

No previous exposure in older adults leads to a milder disease course when they are more vulnerable. That's before you even consider the hygiene hypothesis in kids, it's normal to get ill we need to stop pretending we can prevent or even should prevent every illness

www.reuters.com/article/us-flu-immunity-idUSTRE59D5QF20091014/

It’s amazing that we’ve come through a global pandemic and people still cannot cover their mouths properly when they cough or sneeze.

I actually think people are worse now. They got used to coughing and sneezing behind a mask, or at home alone, and have got lazy about covering their mouths effectively.

@Catza

i think they should mask before pandemic

who wants to be around people blowing their snot all over?! Gross

Jesus Christ- just stay home then, don't interact with anyone and anything, barricade yourself in, wear mask nonstop and stop bossing people around!

well, i think people should be more sensible about how they behave in public. So coughing into their elbow (which has been A Thing German children have been taught for at least 2 decades) and wash their hands more often.

And everyone should probably wash their hands more often and not touch their faces.

People have quickly 'forgotten' the lessons from covid. The number of customers who openly sneeze or cough (a lot!) over items in our shop is huge. One person who obviously had a really bad cold even wiped their nose on shirt hung up for sale. Obviously we had to bin it and take the loss financially. Customers have also got into the habit of not carrying tissues so sneeze into their hands and then touch stuff immediately merrily spreading their germs and viruses about to everyone else.

Lots seem to have forgotten the basic premise of ‘catch it, bin it’. Even basic hand washing after going to the loo seems to have got out of the window.

i always carry small hand sanitizer now as basic hygiene standards seem to have slipped somewhat

@Cornflakes44

or maybe people could just properly cover their mouths and noses when they cough and sneeze?

grown adults should be capable of this, ffs

I think the research shows that for the mask wearer it makes things worse and for people around them the benefits are negligible.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8072811/

What kind of mask? The paper disposable ones that were Ill fitting and people didn’t put their noses in? Or the material ones that people didnt wash after single use, had them on and off all the time (which in itself was pretty unhygienic). Or maybe the ffp3 masks which actually work properly but are so tight and restricting that nhs staff could only tolerate them for very short periods? Who pays for them? People adhered to it initially and paid for masks because the understanding was always that it was a temporary measure. Very few people want to be stuck wearing masks long term - or paying for them.

People thinking they get to say whether others should cover their faces or not is a bad thing generally.

I'd settle for people just putting their hand over their mouth when they cough.

I've been coughing for 2 years since I had Covid. It's hit my lungs. Masks make it worse for me.

@wutheringkites

they should cough /sneeze into their elbow not their hands which they will then use to touch stuff other people will touch

I work in a pharmacy, full of sick people all day every day. We just turn away til people stop coughing - luckily we still have plexiglass to catch the spatter (I point it out to them too, I have no shame). But what has started again is people licking their finger to separate prescription pages or even note money. Disgusting before, Disgusting now.

Op, just accept that widespread mask-wearing is never coming back.

Obviously people should cover their nose and mouth when they cough/sneeze

But how can you avoid blowing your nose? Just let it run down your face?