If face masks are made mandatory...

[CathyandHeathcliff]

How long do people suspect they will be needed / kept mandatory?

If they become mandatory, I'll start online shopping until we don't have to wear them any more. I've seen too much unsanitary mask wearing behaviour to think that they are at helpful.

@Dotinthecity

If they become mandatory, I'll start online shopping until we don't have to wear them any more. I've seen too much unsanitary mask wearing behaviour to think that they are at helpful.

Me too. I'm pretty much only online shopping anyway

They're considering making the wearing of masks compulsory in shops yet in my children's school masks are forbidden. It makes no sense. In September they'll be in a bubble of at least 120. Fine that children generally have a mild infection but they still catch it and spread it very easily. Get ready for mass disruption in Autumn.

You might find that masks may become mandatory in secondary schools, still some time to go before we get to September.

My Facebook is full of people in pubs/restaurants today, all sitting next to each other, from different households. This is all too late.
We should have done this in March. Lockdown much faster and much harder.

I am predicting some kind of mandate in schools, and even more importantly, the kids will need covers for transport.

I saw someone selling cloth ones for £2 each. I am going to try to go buy some tomorrow.

It's the continual contradictory guidance that pisses me off. The latest government guidance issued to schools was that masks are not necessary. Schools therefore could decide whether to allow and many chose to say no. Why couldn't the government instead have said wearing of masks is a personal choice and should be accommodated. Teachers and students could then decide.

Back in April there were cases of healthcare professionals who were disciplined for wearing their own personal face masks because 'management' deemed they were not necessary in their role. Now fast forward and it is mandatory to wear a mask for all entering a hospital. Why are we always one step behind?

I've written to my MP asking why he voted against regular testing of all NHS staff as in my mind this is a proactive simple step to help avoid outbreaks. He sent back the usual party response that they are being guided by the science blah blah blah. Why don't they instead follow the Korea or Japan model as this appears to work?

But if you want to claim an exemption why would it be wrong to have to prove it?

Because how can you prove it?

Most disabled parking require a blue badge. If you can claim free bus journeys you need to have a bus pass, be it an OAP one or student.

Yes. These things exist to prove status. Nothing exists to prove exemption. The strain and financial burden on the NHS would be immense if 'proving' became necessary.

If wearing a mask is mandatory then you would be claiming an exemption not to wear it.

How can you prove it?

Can't you use the sunflower lanyard?

I don’t think the general public have a clue what that sunflower lanyard is all about,

Then it needs to be publicised more. Maybe everyone on here who uses other forms of social media like Facebook could post a link. That would cover quite a few people.

Again there are many community Facebook pages etc, get them to post a link

To be fair I only heard about it on here.

How can you prove it?

My consultant psychiatrist wrote a letter. Unfortunately it gives far too much detail for me to be comfortable using it locally.

Dh went to Sainsburys today (in Scotland). He said whilst they were checking for masks on the door, loads of people had them on their chins in store which rather defeats the point.

@TheMurk

I read something about promoting “cultural mask wearing” and how the Far East populations are so comfortable with this it’s now a standard way of life. And that Brits just had to embrace it.

And another little piece of me withered and died.

Me too.

I'd like to see masks more widespread every winter.

It would help control the amount of nasty viruses doing the rounds all winter. You can't get on a train without being coughed and spluttered all over and then the office is the same because everyone is terrified of having a sick day.

I honestly would like to understand why is it 'from the devil' to wear a mask.
It's not for the rest of your life, it's a few month, maybe a year or so.
But if everyone would comply properly (not on chin, nose out,...) it could be shorter time period.
If people understood basic biology concepts and acted as if they did we would be in a much better place already. Until people en masse are idiots we'll struggle with this virus and the economy is going to suffer more than necessary.
But, hey, "we're the british empire" will save everyone, right?

@Srictlybakeoff

We use the synthetic control method to analyze the effect of face masks on the spread of Covid-19 in Germany. Our identification approach exploits regional variation in the point in time when face masks became compulsory. Depending on the region we analyse, we find that face masks reduced the cumulative number of registered Covid-19 cases between 2.3% and 13% over a period of 10 days after they became compulsory. Assessing the credibility of the various estimates, we conclude that face masks reduce the daily growth rate of reported infections by around 40%. ftp.iza.org/dp13319.pdf Study showing how masks can help. There are no studies showing masks cause any harm

That's interesting Srictly Thankyou for sharing it.

A 40% reduction in infections is huge , most drug companies would jump at that level of effectiveness for developing a new treatment.

Can't you use the sunflower lanyard?

Yes. It doesn't 'prove' any exemptions though. It's just a lanyard that at anyone can get.

How can you prove it

My consultant psychiatrist wrote a letter.

Realistically though, the NHS doesn't have the time, money or manpower for every single person who is exempt to be given a letter. Hence no need to prove.

@PurpleDaisies Everyone wearing masks is a massive problem for people who rely on lip reading for communication because they have lower levels of hearing. That’s 12 million or 1 in 6 people in the U.K. who are very rarely mentioned as suffering when these discussions come up.

Statistically this is incorrect, it’s not 12m with a hearing impairment as the figure is 1 in 6 adults, it’s closer to 9m. Of those, 2m have hearing aids. However, despite the inaccuracies a not insignificant number have hearing problems but it doesn’t mean that they are dependent on lip readings to the extent that it’s better to let Covid run free than wear masks? In the Far East (having lived there many years) mask wearing is not considered to be to the detriment of people hard of grading.

I’m genuinely surprised how strongly people feel about not wearing masks. Please can anyone explain why you feel it would be so awful and potentially worse than spreading the virus? Again, issues around wearing with glasses upsstcare overcome in other countries.

Sorry typos!

Completely agree with the analogy of people complaining about wearing masks being like those who complain about wearing seatbelts.
It's really a minor inconvenience to wear a mask. It's just something we need to get used to.

Interestingly I heard today about clear face masks which have been brought into my friend's workplace to aid deaf members of staff so they can lip read.

@ConiferGate there's no pony giving my reasons as they will just be dismissed 🤷‍♀️

Realistically if masks are required in public spaces then I will limit my activities only to those that I absolutely cannot avoid. I won't browse the shops with a mask on because it's hot and uncomfortable and I don't like it. It won't be a pleasurable experience so I won't do it. Plus DS2 gets upset not being able to see my face and tries to pull the mask off!

I understand the logic behind it and it may well be necessary but I think it very likely it will have a pretty detrimental effect on our high streets (which weren't exactly flying high before all this).