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Why are people not wearing masks?

778 replies

FergusComeLately · 16/05/2020 17:51

I’m queuing inside my local supermarket, I’ve see one other person wearing a mask.

Does it not make sense to just TRY to protect other people and try and keep infection rates down. Even a scarf wound round your face?!

I think they should be compulsory when you are inside. Is it the PPE shortage which is preventing Boris from making it so?

Talk to me about masks!

OP posts:
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acatcalledjohn · 19/05/2020 12:01

@canigooutyet In my local supermarkets they've been without masks for the majority of the lockdown. I mean, we can't force them but it just seems odd that you see more shoppers than employees with masks.

EmotionallyIncontinent · 19/05/2020 12:06

Sainsburys yesterday, the Co op today and still I'm the only person wearing one.
Starting to feel like a paranoid neurotic 😂 am I being silly wearing one?
Or kind to the shop workers and customers?

Xenia · 19/05/2020 12:17

The Government does not require us to wear masks and I do not support the wearing of masks.

Whataloadofshite · 19/05/2020 12:28

Unless wearing one will actually kill you, or put you at risk of death, then bloody wear one.

You'd probably have refused to wear a gas mask as well. 🙄

Whataloadofshite · 19/05/2020 12:29

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rhubarbfizzy · 19/05/2020 12:37

@Xen how do you reconcile that masks are essential in hospital to protect from covid but useless when 20cm from someone’s breathing on the tube or in a high traffic enclosed place like a shop

rhubarbfizzy · 19/05/2020 12:38

...when this is invisible and you can’t know when someone is infectious ? Once they have strong visible symptoms they are sick and home or hospital.

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 19/05/2020 12:38

Unless wearing one will actually kill you, or put you at risk of death, then bloody wear one.

Is suicide because of how traumatic you find it an acceptable reason? People like you are the reason I'm so terrified that masks will become mandatory. The last thing I need is some officious nosy person demanding to know why I'm not wearing one especially if I'm out with my kids.

morethanmeetstheeye · 19/05/2020 12:41

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SpooniesAreGo · 19/05/2020 12:42

rhubarbfizzy masks are essential in hospitals because NHS staff are coming into close, sustained contact over a long period of time with people who are confirmed to have the virus, are actively shedding the virus via constant coughing, and because these facts hugely increase the viral load staff are exposed to.

The potential of being exposed to any virus at all from briefly being in the same air space as a person who is not sick, hasn’t been diagnosed with anything, and is not coughing, is tiny by comparison.

SudokuBook · 19/05/2020 12:43

Unless wearing one will actually kill you, or put you at risk of death, then bloody wear one.

You telling people to wear one won’t make them do it. No matter how charmingly you put it. I am not sure how I can make any clearer that if other people don’t wear them to protect me, I don’t care about protecting them.

SudokuBook · 19/05/2020 12:44

@morethanmeetstheeye I basically don’t care and all the ranting and raving about it won’t make it any different.

SudokuBook · 19/05/2020 12:47

I mean I don’t want people to die, but if they do it’s the virus that’s done it, that’s what it does. I won’t be risking anyone’s lives if I don’t have it, whether I wear a mask or not. But you carry on blaming individuals for the death toll, not the virus itself or the government’s initial response.

I am actually now more opposed to wearing one than I was before, thanks to this thread. I had actually bought the supplies to make some, but I won’t now. Well done to the ranting virtue signallers.

Lweji · 19/05/2020 12:55

I am not sure how I can make any clearer that if other people don’t wear them to protect me, I don’t care about protecting them.

Someone has to start. Wink

But this is exactly why governments need to make masks mandatory. At least in some circumstances, like public transport and enclosed spaces.

rhubarbfizzy · 19/05/2020 13:01

@spoon 246,400 people already caught covid in this country and that discounts all those many thousands who were denied tests so your logic does not make sense because they were not all nhs medical staff yet they caught it too

Lweji · 19/05/2020 13:02

But you carry on blaming individuals for the death toll, not the virus itself or the government’s initial response.

Paraphrasing Dr Fauci and other experts, the virus doesn't walk around by itself. People carry it.
If you allow your car to go forward without control, and the car kills someone, you're responsible. If you send a bomb to someone, the bomb does the killing, but you're still responsible.

We simply don't know if we are infected and infectious. So, our duty is to protect each other.

If you go out and about without taking as many measures to protect other people, then you're responsible if those people get infected.

Ps- you may notice him wearing a mask in recent press appearances in a group.

Lweji · 19/05/2020 13:04

Well done to the ranting virtue signallers.

You won't be wearing masks just to spite pps on this thread, really?

How childish is that?
Think about it.

MarginalGain · 19/05/2020 13:29

'Because I don't want to'

Anyone who has put that as an answer needs to take a long hard look at themselves.

You selfish selfish arseholes.

You could be carrying it and pass it onto someone who may be less healthy than you and therefore die as a result.

You ignorant, selfish people are the reason this thing will continue to spread and cause unnecessary deaths.

Selfish attitudes like that absolute disgust me.

---

For humans to simply exist (unless they're off the grid, I suppose) is an inherently 'selfish' act, as you describe it.

They are continuously spreading germs (coronavirus and others) that directly cause death,, consuming products having toxic by-products that directly cause death, moving around in ways that directly cause accidents that cause death, burning fossil fuels that directly cause death, eating foods grown unsustainably that directly cause food shortages, causing death, and so on.

We could all do more to mitigate the damaging effects of our behaviour; wearing masks doesn't even scratch the surface.

Which is why this is hysterically detached from proportionality.

MarginalGain · 19/05/2020 13:34

Oh, I forgot one. Locking down countries, disrupting supply chains and directly causing death.

Xenia · 19/05/2020 13:38

The UK has not made it a requirement because the science is not behind wearing masks and the greater good is not served by wearing one. I don't actually go out on the daily walk - i have once in 9 weeks only (I have a big garden and I have to work full time to pay the wages of nurses through my taxes) and I do have a mask in my pocket in case I choose to wear it in a food shop but I don't support mandatory lock down, school closure or mask wearing.

We do more harm than good with masks.

Lweji · 19/05/2020 13:39

Wearing masks in confined spaces is like wearing a condom with new partners.

People didn't like it in the early 80s and still aren't keen.
What do you think of a new partner who refuses to wear a condom because they don't want to?

It shouldn't be everywhere, and it won't be forever.
It may save people's jobs.

Lweji · 19/05/2020 13:40

The UK has not made it a requirement because the science is not behind wearing masks and the greater good is not served by wearing one

Or because there aren't enough to make them mandatory...

Much better to encourage people into crowded buses. Sure.

wildcherries · 19/05/2020 13:41

The benefits of wearing masks to protect the public against covid19 are completely insufficient to warrant this kind of dramatic cultural degradation

This is among my worries as well. In fact, I like your posts.

acatcalledjohn · 19/05/2020 13:52

You selfish selfish arseholes.

You could be carrying it and pass it onto someone who may be less healthy than you and therefore die as a result.

You ignorant, selfish people are the reason this thing will continue to spread and cause unnecessary deaths.

It's pointless when those people exposed to the virus all the time don't wear them. My wearing a mask in Tesco makes fuck all difference when none of the staff wear them. They are exposed to people every day. I'm exposed to some people for about 5-20 mins no more than twice a week. So although I'm at risk of being infected by a Tesco employee because they choose not to wear one, I'm selfish for also choosing not to wear one? I have one in case it becomes mandatory. Until that time the mast stays at home and I will only shop at quiet times (late evening), keep two metres distance, disinfect my hands both upon entering and leaving the shop, and wash my hands properly when I get home.

I've managed to not get ill for over 8 weeks now by following the advice.

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