there should be a government campaign to make your own masks...

[jobhunter7]

Surely this would help if as many people as possible were wearing masks... and understandably perhaps the government want to make sure medics have them first...

Keeping your distance isn't always so easy on a bus or a train.

It could be if they released people steadily to go back and staggered work hours. More transport would be needed to prevent over-crowding. It couldn’t be a free for all.

DH is a doctor on a COVID ward and only wears a mask in the hospital.

Seen as though wearing cloth masks protects others, him wearing one would benefit others.

We need to keep our distance

Yes. Although this may not always be so easy in some situations. At shops... supermarkets are often quite big... but what about when smaller shops open...

Not go out if we are a bit ill and sneeze (I rarely sneeze)

Yes.

And wash our hands as much as we possibly can.

Yes.

Runmybathforme: you are spot on. Making useless masks is just a diversion from all the safety first tactics we should be adopting. We need to keep our distance, not go out if we are a bit ill and sneeze (I rarely sneeze) and wash our hands as much as we possibly can.

A mask doesn't claim to negate the need to do any of those. Who is saying that if you wear a mask you don't need to do any of those? No one! The issue is a lot of people are (apparently) asymptomatic, therefore of course you should stay in if you have symptoms, but not everyone does.

My nurse friend was diagnosed with it last week. She had been shopping the day before feeling rough. She feels terrible about it but she didn't know. As the Czech public health advert says 'I protect you, you protect me'.

My nurse friend was diagnosed with it last week. She had been shopping the day before feeling rough. She feels terrible about it but she didn't know. As the Czech public health advert says 'I protect you, you protect me'.

Yes of course people won't necessarily know they have it. It's for the safety of other people also.

I get hayfever from march til September. I think it's a bit unreasonable to say I shouldn't leave the house (assuming lockdown is lifted at some point) the whole time. I don't have coronovirus symptoms but I do sneeze a lot and could well my asymptomatic. I'll be wearing a mask. Reduces the risk to others and does no harm to me, I'll still be carrying on with social distancing, hand washing etc obviously, It's just an extra layer.

I have a load of masks, If I can buy them so can you?

Because they’re out of stock everywhere. DH was trying to get a mask as he’s going to be cutting concrete slabs but can’t get one.

As someone who can’t sew a button on I wing be making my own masks! If they become compulsory I doubt I’ll go out anywhere as I can’t bear anything on my face.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

www.maskmesafe.com/collections/masks

You all have been asked not to buy up masks!!! What is wrong with you.? They are for people who need them. Not the worried well. If you are sneezing stay in!!! By all means wear a mask if you must but I don’t sneeze or cough when I’m out and if I did I wouldn’t go out!!!! Stay at home. Mask or no mask.

@BubblesBuddy

Let's get people to start making one. As the video shows homemade masks will capture 95-100% of droplets.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZtEX2-n2Hc

In the Czech Republic, they managed to rustle up 10million masks in 3 days.

We are not the Czech Republic, everyone seems to want lock down to last until an effective vaccine is found.
We'll rather a lot of people are still working, including me and DH. If we all stayed in, there would be no food for the hysterical strawberry bleachers and old people would go without.
Lots of people have to go out, they are the ones who need masks.

Well, I wear one and I make them for others. This is my choice and if people want to buy them I won’t stop them.

We are not the Czech Republic, everyone seems to want lock down to last until an effective vaccine is found.
We'll rather a lot of people are still working, including me and DH. If we all stayed in, there would be no food for the hysterical strawberry bleachers and old people would go without.
Lots of people have to go out, they are the ones who need masks.

Well I am not sure the national psyche is so different in that country but surely you would be safer if you and all the people you worked around were wearing masks.

In the Czech Republic people go out and clear snow off the pavement, not just because it is law but because it is the right thing to do. They seem to have a sense of community that we have lost, the psyche is different.

I wear masks, I also provide them free to local carers and special needs schools. DS has ASD and DD has been furloughed, so we set up a production line. As a country we probably have the skills to magic up sufficient masks in less than a week. However, we seem to have become a very selfish nation without any desire to support our communities. It has all got a bit "me, me, me..."

Well we don't know if we don't try? Why doesn't Bojo get on the tv/radio tonight or tomorrow morning and ask people to do this? It can't hurt surely...

Well I’ve knocked up another 15 this evening. They’ll be sold for a nominal price which will allow me to buy more materials and after a few hundred more get my poor machine serviced.

great stuff - in the czech republic, they actually set up a website for people to trade them with people in walking distance... i hope somebody with the tech brain does that in the uk and other places...

'The government hasn't told us hence it's not the right thing to do' -- other countries are telling their citizens it helps. (Parts of the US, many Asian countries, Czech republic, parts of Germany) There is no 100% conclusive evidence either way but you don't know if the UK gov't is giving the wrong advice.

"The WHO is 'against it'" -- the WHO also said it's not a pandemic for a good while...

'If you're ill just stay home' -- Increasing studies say many carriers are asymptomatic and could be walking around spreading the virus.

"Social distancing and hand washing are more effective" - How do you distance on the Tube to work if lockdown is eased? It's not either distancing or wear masks, you can do both to up the protection surely? Just do it all to increase the effectiveness.

Personally I was sceptical for a long time but eventually came around and bought fabric reusable ones on etsy. I think it's clear that the debate on masks has shifted over the past few months and now many more are saying some face covering is better than nothing.

@glueandstick can I ask what pattern you are using please? I have tried a few from YouTube tutorials but still looking for 'the one'.

Masks do help.

"The scientists said their research highlighted the importance of wearing face masks — since none of the passengers in both buses who were wearing masks became infected."

nypost.com/2020/03/09/coronavirus-can-travel-much-farther-than-previously-thought-study-finds/

The Chief Medical Officer wants social distancing for the foreseeable future. This means the whole of the hospitality and sport sector will be decimated. It’s a bigger industry than most in this country. It’s likely most smaller companies won’t come through this. There could be 2 million unemployed. So you might find there’s no work to go back to. Mask or no mask.

I feel we should be trying to do what we can - and just making a home made mask seems such an easy and doable solution... most of us don't have the scientific know how to develop vaccines, but many of us can knock up a cheap home made mask (or face covering) or just wear one when we go to the shops or on the bus.