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!

[YounghillKang]

CorianderLord There are still places that have some, I bought some for a family member a few days ago from Hype, if you buy three they donate an NHS standard one to the NHS (they make masks for them too).

There’s also Vistaprint (bit pricy); Ebay and Etsy just do a search for face masks better for finding more affordable ones; can also look at outdoor clothing shops, they sell decent face coverings such as the ones made by Buff, look at places like Go Outdoors. I know some friends say these are more comfy than the ones with elastic round the ears. Lulu & Nat do some quite pretty ones. Both Lulu and Nat and Hype do adult and kids’ masks.

[Worstyear2020]

Anything cover your face will prevent spreading, if everyone is doing the same, we probably out of this lockdown sooner.

[Headunderthecovers]

ragged I think the advice from the BMJ In conclusion, in the face of a pandemic the search for perfect evidence may be the enemy of good policy. As with parachutes for jumping out of aeroplanes,38 it is time to act without waiting for randomised controlled trial evidence.39 A recently posted preprint of a systematic review came to the same conclusion.40

is the best to follow unless you can point to any specific evidence to the contrary.

[blablablablablablabla]

Which countries governments are providing masks @middleager?

I am in a country where masks are required and the government didn't provide them.

[BarbaraBeez]

@ragged

The Lancet
‪www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)30918-1/fulltext#.XsAr6JZcMV0.twitter‬

“Social distancing and handwashing are of prime importance in the current lockdown. We suggest mask wearing would complement these measures by controlling the harm at source. Mass masking would be of particular importance for the protection of essential workers who cannot stay at home. As people return to work, mass masking might help to reduce a likely increase in transmission. South Korea and Hong Kong have managed to limit their COVID-19 outbreaks without lockdown.17, 18 It is difficult to apportion the contribution of various measures, including extensive testing, rigorous contact tracing, and strict isolation, but use of masks in public is universally practised in these two places. We encourage consideration of mass masking during the coming phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, which are expected to occur in the absence of an effective COVID-19 vaccine. Finally, this practice could also be useful for control of future influenza epidemics.
Mass masking for source control is in our view a useful and low-cost adjunct to social distancing and hand hygiene during the COVID-19 pandemic. This measure shifts the focus from self-protection to altruism, actively involves every citizen, and is a symbol of social solidarity in the global response to the pandemic.“

[SouthWestmom]

Because it's a huge change in behaviour and people are processing the situation at different paces. We know change management is a thing that people study - to expect everyone to wake up and stick masks on is really unrealistic. There will be many reasons for this.

[WhiteChocTwix]

I'm pro wearing a mask. Obviously they need to be worn properly and should be used alongside excellent hygiene and social distancing. If it offers even a modicum of extra protection it's worth doing to be able to restart society in my view. I felt like a bit of a prat walking around town in one last week when I had to go to the bank, but actually lots of others where I live were also wearing them in town, and no one bats an eyelid at the supermarket now!

[ragged]

But none of those is a study that shows that wearing a mask is mostly about stopping a person from shedding a virus on others, rather than a person stopping virus getting shed on them.

Is that too much to ask?

Right now I think any protection must be about equal, so MNers are wrong to say things like

[masks] are worn to protect others, not the wearer.

[DML13]

My sister works in a common supermarket pharmacy chain: 6 people behind a counter no longer than a kitchen counter top and no way is there 2m between them or customers. Anyway, she and a friend bought themselves masks, the others didn't (PPE not provided by supermarket chain because all they care about is profit). The ones that didn't wear masks caught symptoms of Covid and carried on working (mild cough and fever)....as they're desperate for their minimum wage. Needless to say they have less elderly now in the queue for their prescriptions as they've been killed off. Wear a mask if you go to a pharmacy!

[YounghillKang]

please the idea of ending lockdown is to allow us to catch the virus now that it’s proven remarkable of killing so few people and build immunity (of course don’t expect this to be disclosed on the BBC)

Slight problem with that, if loads of people catch it in the same timeframe then more people will die, because at the moment a significant percentage of people who don't die only live because they got hospital treatment. If there are too many of those people then the death rate will go up because the hospitals will be too overwhelmed to treat those so-called 'milder' cases. And those deaths won't 'just' be in the elderly or vulnerable categories that so many of you are keen to write off.

Even if, the highly dubious rewriting of the concept of herd immunity - which relates to vaccines not letting a disease spread like wildfire -- were to be followed, it's still really crucial to slow the spread. Not to mention that slowing the spread allows time for better treatment protocols and drugs that speed up recovery to be developed and distributed.

[whenwillthemadnessend]

I wear one.

[middleager]

I believe France have been handing out free face masks

www.thelocal.fr/20200507/town-halls-tabacs-and-supermarkets-how-to-get-your-hands-on-a-mask-in-france

[randomsabreuse]

I've tried various options and ended up taking them off (or them falling down) every bloody time.

They either fall down or come off my ears or get in my eyes!

[Redolent]

To be honest I think scientific advisors have a lot to blame. For months they perpetuated the idea that masks aren’t helpful because they wanted to avoid PPE shortages. That includes WHO, which prior to January recommended face masks in the event of an epidemic.

[SudokuBook]

I actually did when the FM announced it but no other fucker bothered so I didn’t see why I should.

[middleager]

Japan and Singapore have also given out masks
www.bbc.com/news/world-52015486

[TempsPerdu]

Because I don’t want to. I don’t want my two year old developing a complex around germs, and the vast majority of people I’ve seen wearing them so far have been doing so incorrectly - fiddling with them, pulling them up or down, frequently taking them off to chat/smoke... My favourite so far was yesterday, when a man walking on the opposite side of the road pulled down his mask, sneezed, wiped his nose on the back of his hand and pulled his mask back up again! I also think they can give wearers a false sense of security which undoes any marginal benefit from wearing them.

[Redolent]

@randomsabreuse

I bought my masks from here:

www.thereformation.com/products/5-masks?color=Assorted&utm_source=TnL5HPStwNw&utm_medium=10&utm_campaign=LinkShare&sid=LS298X102&ranMID=40090&ranEAID=2116208&ranSiteID=TnL5HPStwNw-TVmVNE.OyG8MM7a_zP70NA

They’re fairly comfortable and reasonably priced at five for £28. They arrived in 3 days from the US.

[iamapixie]

There are a number of reasons for not wearing masks, which some probably feel outweigh any good reason to wear them. There are 2 reasons to wear them which are firstly that they might reduce the possibility of infecting someone through expulsion of droplets containing the virus; and secondly to provide a calming panacea for those who are very anxious.
Some of the reasons not to wear them are that whilst they might reduce transmission via droplets, they might also increase transmission through touching; that they encourage people to buy masks which should be used only by those on the 'frontline'; that some people find them hard to wear due to physical or mental issues; that some find them unpalatable in a socio-political sense, etc.

[SudokuBook]

I also found it made me more likely to touch my face than not wearing one.

[Maggie90]

I am a nurse and I can tell you categorically that every single nurse will be wearing a mask.

I have no idea why the government has been suggesting that they do not help, they do!

I have worked in an infectious diseases ward for years and never caught anything because we wear masks!

I honestly believe that the guidance was given because there was a shortage and frontline staff needed them more.

The government are now suggesting it wouldn’t hurt to wear them.. that is because they bloody work!!

They might not 100% protect thou but they will help lower the viral load you pick up.

Nobody wants to wear a mask, I feel like an absolute idiot when I wear one at the supermarket but I will continue to do so because I am not going to be that person who cares more about what they look like than the health of not only myself but others.

A video has just been released showing how quickly a virus can spread from one person.

www.businessinsider.com/video-japan-nhk-uv-light-how-virus-spread-restaurant-2020-5?r=US&IR=T

[Bubblebee7]

The main reason will be due to the shortage of masks and the cost. Also if you wear a mask you must realise that if you walk around outside with a mask & gloves on and then enter your home you have then potentially brought COVID in your home. Masks only last so long (basic blue ones). It’s complex I wonder if people dispose of them in their outside bin before going home when I see people wearing them.

[Redolent]

To be honest though, I don’t blame people. There has been no public information campaign about the merits of wearing face masks particularly for asymptomatic carriers. nothing like the importance of hand washing and social distancing, so why would we expect people to comply?

[Whataloadofshite]

@SpringBlossomIsBeautiful

Yes you are.

[Northernsoullover]

@ragged I posted the sodding link earlier FFS explaining they are not to protect the wearer but here it is again www.bmj.com/company/newsroom/time-to-encourage-people-to-wear-face-masks-as-a-precaution-say-experts/