What a surprise "wear face coverings"

[BruceAndNosh]

As above

Totally agree california.

I don't fancy feeling like a surgeon while doing my shopping That sounds like the kind of flimsy excuses people came up with when they made seat belts compulsory.

"but it will crease my clothes" was one.

people wearing them think they are safe and take more risks - I don't agree. I think people wearing them are actually more cautious - wearing the mask is a constant reminder to be alert (!).

My uncle is a retired scientist. He is a professor and worked for the WHO for several years. He is angry about the government promoting making face coverings made from material - they do not work. They have holes in which will let germs in and out. If the government are asking you to wear face masks then the only ones that really work are the green/blue disposable ones that dentists wear or obviously the more heavy duty surgical ones. However there aren't enough masks to go round so the easy strategy is to mislead the public into making their own therefore making the public think they are protected when in fact they aren't. Himself and some other retired colleagues are going to the press to try and get this fact out to the public.

Okay we're standing face to face on the tube and I'm about to cough/sneeze. Would you still angry if my face were covered?

What's wrong with catch it, bin it, kill it.

You've just sneezed into your face mask and now you're carrying the virus all over your face. You're gonna have to take your mask off to dry your face, so now it's on your hands, then all over the rails and whatever else you touch.

Oh and now your mask is wet, it no longer offers protection.

"I wonder how many people shouting for mandatory face masks also complain about Muslim women wearing the full face vial" don't embarrass yourself, Just stick to "I don wanna!" and try to squeeze out a martyrish sob.

@cola2019 can he tell all of the other countries that are also experiencing shortages of the medical masks and so have advised on the use of fabric masks please? Sounds like all of these scientists globally just don't have a clue, I'm sure they'll be grateful.

People pleasing there are as many negatives are there are positive
false sense of security, infecting yourself , mask ill fitting and ineffective and taking supplies away from NHS .
If you want to wear a mask wear one if you don't you don't

and here
www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-review-of-evidence-on-face-masks-and-face-coverings-by-the-royal-society-delve-initiative/

I think the use of face covering should be a matter of individual choice. So many of our freedoms have been lost and the evidence for using face coverings is so weak, it is difficult to see how this can be mandatory

there's no excuse for the majority of us not to do this simple easy inexpensive thing.

If you have a scarf, sock or any old fabric at all, you can make one. There are now hundreds of suggestions and patterns online.

If you can do basic sewing, you can make one.

As with the distancing and lockdown, it's not about you, it's about protecting the whole population. That means not unwittingly passing it on to some other healthy looking person who passes it on to their immunocompromised partner, for example.

It's such a small thing we are being asked to do - just STFU and do it.

(For the sewers, I've been using and recommend good housekeeping's pattern, but with two bands of elastic instead of ties. It calls for two layers of non woven fabric in the middle - my 'genius' idea was to use J-cloths. be careful if using vacuum cleaner bags as filters, many of them are made of tiny glass particles and you don't want to be inhaling those.)

@LillianGish
Take it you haven't read my earlier post about the staff member in the supermarket standing 6 inches away from her friend talking, then removing her mask with her hands so that she could talk better with said friend.

smartairfilters.com/en/blog/do-pollution-masks-work/

Found it.
Obviously a "cotton" mask is the least effective, but blocks 28% of particles. I would assume they block roughly the same amount going out as coming in- so reducing the chance of an asymptomatic person infecting others by around 30%. Of course, that's my own conclusion, with no evidence backing it up. And there are other studies that show lower effectiveness.

Really, wear one if you want to. Don't if you don't want to or can't.

It's not exactly a loss of freedom to wear a face mask or scarf over your mouth and nose when in a busy public area now is it I think it should be optional too - if you don't want to do it, stay at home and enjoy your freedom from mouth covering somewhere you're not breathing over people who do wish everybody wore them.

if you don't want to do it, stay at home and enjoy your freedom from mouth covering somewhere you're not breathing over people who do wish everybody wore them.

Breathing all over people from 2m away?

@cola2019
I'm afraid to say the dental masks aren't any good at infection control either ... my dentist told me in Feb they were rubbish at this

if you don't want to do it, stay at home and enjoy your freedom from mouth covering somewhere you're not breathing over people who do wish everybody wore them.

Well as surely they'd only be worn for public transport or shopping then there's no need to stay at home is there, just avoid places where you'd need to wear a mask

And yet here (Channel Islands) masks are haphazardly worn (I'd say, at best by about 30% of people I see) and yet per head of population our rates are far lower than the UK's.

Why is that? I'm not scientist, but I've got to surmise closing our borders at the start has a lot to do with it, plus (through simple geography) we don't have any large, open spaces for people to try and 'sneak into' (like Snowdonia) and we still have enough public spirit left over from the German occupation which means we didn't go out of our way to break the lockdown when it came (after the mainland).

We had a brief 'spike' in positive cases, but that was largely down to a delay in getting results from the UK (we now test on-island) and we've had what sounds like a large number of deaths, but again per head it's only 0.02% of our population compared to 0.05% of the UK's, and only 0.27 of our island's population has tested positive for Covid at all (according to official testing figures) compared to 2.25 of the population of the mainland (according to current official testing figures.

We've had most lockdown measures in line with the mainland (although time out of the home was limited to 2 hours a day, then 4 hours a day from last week, and from today 6 hours) but we've had full access to take way services from any food outlets who wanted to run them, and we've been able to swim in the sea, go surfing, paddle boarding etc, as well as go running, cycling and walking as we choose within those time guidelines as long as it's with people we live with.

So it's the borders being closed that's made the difference. With no virus now coming in, and unable to come in for the last 7 weeks, our figures have gone down and down until we've had a grand total of 1 new case over the last 10 days.

Now we have a dilemma - in order to keep these figures now, we need to keep the island closed. Can we do that? Should we? No idea, but the upshot is that so far the need for wearing a 'face covering' hasn't made the difference here. Some wear them, have always worn them, but more haven't, and have no intention of doing so. Not wearing one doesn't seem to have made an impact on our numbers in a negative way, quite the opposite. What did make the difference was shutting out the virus. That's what the UK should have done at the start, but for whatever reason they didn't. We still have around 100 islanders stuck abroad (many are uni students on their year in another country to practise, and work using the language) but there they stay for the time being. The UK just said "Keep coming back, no worries - just disappear into the population when you do". Yeah, that worked well. [umm]

Okay we're standing face to face on the tube and I'm about to cough/sneeze. Would you still angry if my face were covered?

Yes, unless you were wearing a medical grade mask I still wouldn't be happy if you coughed and sneezed over me!

Breathing all over people from 2m away?

The evidence for water droplets containing virus only travelling up to 2m is arbitrary at best.

The (entirely empirical) evidence for men, joggers and cyclists anybody staying actually 2m away from me in an empty street, or even attempting to cover their mouths when coughing walking towards me 😷 is that people are really fkn useless at keeping 2m away. So over all, I'd rather masks were compulsory if anybody is going to be anywhere near me.

Let germs in???? Ye gods!

They have limited use and it is mainly to stop the wearer infecting the person stood close to them. A scarf is a barrier to your spittle flying in their face.

Limited use. And they make you feel like you are doing something. Or make you complacent, whichever you happen to want to believe.

@BruceAndNosh
Mine are boring cream percale cotton, accompanied by Radio 4
Mine are boring blue pillowcase material, accompanied by Classic FM

Really, wear one if you want to. Don't if you don't want to or can't.

This is my opinion. But, we already have so much division, people appointing themselves as covid police, reporting naighbours, shouting at others in shops and in the street.

There is contradictory evidence in regards to face masks. Yet I fear there will be public pressure and a mob mentality against those who don't want to wear them - even though it is perfectly reasonable to not want to wear one.

I think the gov needs to be open in saying there is contradictory evidence, but if wearing one makes you feel safer then do so.

Can’t see the point. Even if you don’t think you will touch the mask, or your face, you will, which makes them useless. Any gaps around the edges also allows the germs out. Horrible things, just keep your distance.

The Government has overstated every risk to create a climate of fear and subdue the population. I'd say probably 50% of the population are now so scared that they don't want to go to work / send kids to school etc until there is a magic cure and the virus goes away. It won't.

The Government are now going to have to get the message across to those people that they have to re-engage in society. 'Sorry we scared you so much; things are better now; you can go out again and earn a living (because we are not paying you any longer)'.

Face coverings are a part of that strategy. It is (yet more) bullshit. But for the scared ones - it might just make them feel safer.

What has this country come to - in a few short weeks??

People wearing masks feel complacent and take risks.

I don't feel complacent.
I didn't wear a mask until mandated to do so.
Wearing a mask makes me feel very aware of potential risks, it also highlights to me if I am touching my face.