I wore a facemask doing my shopping today...

[Justmuddlingalong]

Yes, I initially felt self conscious, slightly embarrassed and generally a bit of an arse. However, the sky didn't fall in, nobody pointed and laughed at me and after a few minutes I'd gotten over the initial discomfort.
I know it's not a rule to wear one, but on the list of embarrassing things I've done in my lifetime, it's very near the bottom. 😷

I don't have one. I've been going to hospital everyday and most people seem to be wearing them. I'm actually the odd one out 😔

I find them really useful. I always give anyone wearing a mask a really wide berth, way more than 2 metres, as I assume they’re infectious.

I'll probably get slated for saying this but as a Muslim woman I find it quite funny to see how everyone else is now covering their faces too!

Yes but tbf the reasons why are completely different.

It is only worth wearing one if you wear it properly. That means it needs to be clean on, if it is a reusable one it needs to be removed and washed after every outing to stop it becoming damp and hosting microbes. Don't poke your nose out of it or remove it to use your phone as that defeats the object. Remember to keep breathing through your nose too. That does half the job that a face mask does - it filters out large particle dirt and nitric oxide, which kills microbes, is synthesised in the sinuses. Nitric Oxide also dilates the blood vessels to improve oxygen absorption. It is currently being trialled as a treatment for coronavirus so it is worth using your own natural supply.

Where I live, in the US, it is required to wear one.

@Newdadtogirl those crappy surgical masks are the same ones us healthcare workers have been given to wear with all patients including covid+ not on high flow o2 or aerosol generated areas.

FFP3 are only in use for specific procedures or high risk areas like critical care. Certainly no big respirator masks like yours.

I don't mind people wearing masks of any type it may help or it may not. Not enough research yet but used properly and not to the detriment of others social distancing through a false sense of security.

Sick of gloves tho! People think they are magic and don't pick up germs touching everything with the same pair of gloves on .. just wash your hands .

Actually there are some credible arguments that if we all wore masks when out and about, we would each protect everyone else from ourself. So if we all did that, it could then allow a slower transmission rate, a lower number of deaths, and an earlier end to lockdown.

In the interim, each person who wears a mask is helping to make it more socially acceptable.

There are really only three ways out of this:

1. wait for a vaccine or an effective treatment to be widely available. Could take more than a year.
2. Allow everyone to get it and sacrifice a semi-random subset of the population, mainly older. Could be 1%, 3%, or 0.5%, we are not sure. But even 0.5% is 300,000 deaths in UK. 3% would be almost 2 million deaths. That is a lot of deaths, whatever the number.
3. Change our social behaviour so that people don't transmit it as quickly. Everyone wearing masks all of the time would be one very effective change in social behaviour.

Maybe #3 is the least bad solution.

I've been wearing one for about 3 weeks, and gloves, when shopping, and I feel safer and feel that I'm making other people safer too. The sooner it's compulsory the better.

I have bought some washable masks from Elle, the tights manufacturer. My DP, who doesn't know their provenance, thinks they look like knicker gussets and refuses to wear one. They don't, they look for all the world like the surgical stockings I had to wear for several weeks after an operation in 2001 so I felt a bit daft wearing one to the supermarket - but it's once a fortnight and I can cope with looking like a tit if it keeps us safe.

The only problem was that I had to collect a prescription and having a conversation with the pharmacist was tricky as I was muffled even when raising my voice.

Whoever called my post sanctimonious.. no fucks given. I didn't write it for a start. I wish I could come up with something that articulate.
Its not just coughing and sneezing though. Its speaking too that produces droplets.
As for mask wearers not observing social distancing there are people with and without masks who haven't got the hang of it or don't give a shit.
Fiddling with the mask or being on the phone doesn't matter either. Because its a TRANSMISSION protection not prevention strategy.

I’d quite like to see a version of that computer generated graphic of the cough in the supermarket aisle with a mask or scarf on the person.

Everyone wearing masks all of the time would be one very effective change in social behaviour.

There’s no evidence to support that statement.

I'm in Scotland and had a feeling they might be "recommended" so ordered some last week - just cloth ones. I'm going to the supermarket after I finish some calls at 4, so that will be my first mask experience. I'm not keen though!

Where I live, in the US, it is required to wear one.

For everyone except your president and vice president?

We have been wearing a mask for weeks when out doing shopping.Plenty of people with masks around in London.@Deux just because people are wearing a mask doesn't meant they are infectious.Anyone with Covid symptoms should be in isolation .

Why would you be embarrassed? I've seen people wearing them for weeks. Some even in March . Even if there aren't many in your area, it is getting more common.

Enjoy your placebo effect

Sick of gloves tho! People think they are magic and don't pick up germs touching everything with the same pair of gloves on .. just wash your hands .
That's easily done if you're at home, but if you've been shopping, handling the shopping and the trolley etc, then you can't wash your hands till you get home. I like to put the shopping in the boot, take the gloves off and put them in a car bin I have then anti-bac the car doors, and keys, finally anti-bac hands before I drive. Then home to bleach everything. I know lots of people don't do this but then also lots of people have caught this nasty bug. Not saying it's the same people, but I'm not risking my health or anyone else's by waiting to find out! I still find it very odd that people slate others for being over-cautious when actually they are more protected by these people than the other morons who push past the 2m gap in the supermarket, maskless...

Actually I think that gloves can also reduce the spread of infection if worn properly and washed every time they are removed - especially in shops where people are picking up and handling things that they might leave for other people to buy.

I have then anti-bac the car doors, and keys, finally anti-bac hands before I drive

You mean hand sanitiser...

I went to Tesco today, and in the 40 minute queue, I sw ONE person in a mask. Last time I went, there were several, including proper GasMask type contraptions.

I won't be wearing one unless we are forced to - they are hot, don't let you breathe properly, (how do runners wear them ? ) and you can see or hear people talk. And I don't think they help much at all, unless properly fitted.

No thanks.

”There’s no evidence to support that statement”

But there is

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/apr/04/why-wear-a-mask-may-be-our-best-weapon-to-stop-coronavirus?CMP=fb_gu&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook#Echobox=1585992709

I seem to be seeing loads of people
Wearing them slung round their chins or necks !!! .. also when driving in their cars alone ... must be a psychological thing !!! Wearing them as a talisman !... I won't be wearing one unless it's compulsory either.

masks last a maximum of 30 minutes before useless and need to be washed at 60C most people can't remove either gloves or masks properly ie without touching mask or outside of glove in anyway at all
I'm a retired dentist and won't be wearing mask unless compulsory then I will still resent it as I know they are useless, even surgical procdedure masks like general dentists wear don't stop viruses moving they stop visual splatter, dentists wear them so the aerosol created from saliva, maybe blood and old fillings or decay doesn't actually hit their mouth, nose or eyes, they never were and are incapable of stopping any bacteria or viruses
the inside of mask getting wet from the water vapour we breathe out in less than 30 minutes, once wet masks are porous and all fabric masks the holes in the weave are large enough to allow actual splatter particles out so they are a false sense of security
so the average trip to supermarket takes over 30 minutes with queues so that is a minimum of two masks plus somewhere to put contaminated mask you need to wash hands after removing one mask before putting the other on
all the articles show is that evidence is patchy often contradictory and if any benefit at all which is arguable it is minimal
The advice is in my opinion just because they must be seen to do something; people keep asking people not believing that something can't be done and that evidence is patchy or inconclusive they assume there is some alterior motive for withholding advice when the correct advice is wear one if you want it probably achieves nothing but it might help a tiny tiny bit if you are actually infectious
They are a nightmare for asthmatics as they make it harder to breathe
it makes communication harder for the 16-20% of population that have some degree of hearling loss
When I was practising we were always taught that you must remove mask to talk to patient to make sure they understood as they might not hear properly otherwise and without seeing your face it is harder to judge meaning motive and emotion behind words
if it leads to social distancing being less it is actually counter - productive

@Asvan
I'll probably get slated for saying this but as a Muslim woman I find it quite funny to see how everyone else is now covering their faces too!

I noticed that too. Hopefully that'll encourage more acceptance and tolerance to some Muslims (but people are bigoted hypocrites so maybe not).