Why are people not wearing masks?

[FergusComeLately]

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!

England seems to have current highest rate of death / 1 m population in the world

The UK death rate per 1m population is lower than that of Belgium, Spain & Italy, so it would be very surprising if the death rate for England is the highest in the world

Is 35,341+++ < or > than 263+4+768+22+7 ?

@skel look at England, not UK

and it said current death rate not historic

Sorry canigooutyet it is just an article about big droplets and small droplets. Not everyone has academic access, doh.
Here's a physically accessible one from this year www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2007800

Have we overtaken Sweden and the US?

Hard when they all use different systems. So much easier if nations worked together from the beginning.

(Still slowly going through the links,)

The first two I have read so far, seem really interesting. Especially the Singapore study. I find all this stuff fascinating, even the fake stuff because of the humour.

And thanks for a working link.

Coronavirus is spread by these droplets, they float around in the air for a while, hence the 2m rule.

Its not 2m in all countries though. The "droplets" don't orbit around people at 2m. That's a random distance pulled out of someone's arse.

They're uncomfortable. They make my glasses steam up. I have very sensitive skin on my face and they itch so I end up touching my face more than if I wasn't wearing on at all.

@Dinosauratemydaffodils

that's really helpful ,thank you .And I'm so sorry for what has happened to you in the past and that things are tough for you right now

I've ordered one as well company.playmobil.com/Company/en-GB/Playmobil-mask

Anger comes from a sense of fear and anxiety, perhaps of being out of control. An alternative is to accept the situation. This brings calm.

I wore a mask as my DD insisted the other day that I should start to wear one since lockdown is being eased. It was awful. My glasses steamed up, it made me feel like I was suffocating and claustaphobic. I won't be wearing one again and I was in the minority as well wearing one.

I wear one, it's a £600 fine if you don't wear it properly, never mind go out without one.

I am asthmatic, have psoriasis and sensitive skin, it's going to be 37C today and i wear glasses. But i am apparently made of some kind of superhero stuff as i don't instantly die of CO2 poisoning/ crash my car/ break out in hives,/ walk into things - i just crack on. The hefty fine, focusses the mind somewhat

How are your glasses steaming up? You know the top of the mask needs to be completely flush against your nose/cheeks? If your breath is able to steam up your glasses, it means your germs are seeping out as well - so your mask is essentially useless.

I wore a mask with sunglasses briefly yesterday, it was ridiculously hot and the sun was blinding (I looked ridiculous too) but my glasses did not steam up.

I've never had an issue with sunglasses steaming up. Do they even do that? My normal glasses are a different matter. Wonder why that is?

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/may/21/face-mask-rules-more-political-than-scientific-says-expert

And today's article on the subject

Incidentally I was very disappointed to read that the much vaunted study on hamsters did not involve them wearing teeny tiny masks.

it was ridiculously hot and the sun was blinding (I looked ridiculous too) but my glasses did not steam up.

Glasses steam up, or rather steam down, because they are colder than your breath.
The air that comes out of our lungs is well above room temperature and full of water vapour.
In the sun, sun glasses get hot. So water vapour, or steam, doesn't condense.

By being dark, sun glasses absorb some light and hence they heat up. Normal glasses are transparent and stay cooler.

In other circumstances you may not notice because the sun glasses already don't let you see that well.

But it's still a problem for snow glasses. (Google)

The ones I bought make my glasses steam up and then I end up touching my face more...

Anger comes from a sense of fear and anxiety, perhaps of being out of control. An alternative is to accept the situation. This brings calm.

Exactly.

Are people adjusting their masks properly around the nose?
Tips by health professionals include taping the top of the mask.
You can also coat your glasses with soap and not wash them. Like for car windows.

Medical tape on your face can help - can't help with the grim feeling of having to do it, though - as can resting your specs on the top of the mask. Again, grim but if you are going to, those are ideas. Preferably combined.

Personal experience.
Because everyone is wearing a mask, going to the supermarket actually seems less like a trip to a snake pit. We're all containing most of our droplets and it feels safer. Not 100% risk free, but safer.

That was interesting about the sunglasses, thank you

I've never been remotely bothered about going to the supermarket etc, that's an interesting difference in attitude. I can see actually how this must be difficult for people who are anxious: if you are worried and your belief is that other people wearing masks protects you, it must be difficult to come to terms with others' free choice to not wear them. The people not wearing them are presumably often not worried (excluding those who can't wear them), so of course they don't recognise or appreciate your own gesture of what you consider to be courtesy towards others. I'm not changing my behaviour on this to help others deal with their anxiety though.

We are not required by law to wear them and it will not really make much difference and can increase risk if you do so the more people who don't wear them the better for civil liberties, the greater good, medical reasons and all sorts. However I support the right of individuals to wear them if they so choose.

NoHardSell, i agree with you.