Does anyone think masks will become the new normal?

[Chaosreigns123]

Even after the virus is gone/there is a vaccine?

Once we go down this route of masks being widely used in public.

Already we're hearing more and more how if you don't wear a mask you're killing people, selfish, putting others at risk.

Ok right now I think most of us want to see the back of this virus, but I'm no longer sure where the government are going with this. Are we going for elimination in England? Even if we get a vaccine it's likely not everyone will be eligible, or it will be yearly and the virus will still be circulating.

Will people devise masks are a good idea to protect against other viruses?

Sunshine I very much agree.

@Sunshinegirl82 I completely agree. My 21 month old is starting nursery in September for one day a week and I’m pleased he’ll be exposed to more germs again. As strange as it sounds. As obviously no mask wearing or social distancing in a nursery.

I meant contact, not context. Don’t know what happened there!
Yes I’m worried about it too. It’s not normal for young children to be kept away from anything that will challenge their immune system.

I wouldn’t worry too much in respect of never catching anything. Masks are not a magic bullet, germs and sickness will still be transmitted just at a lower, slower rate. You won’t find any qualified professional saying that masks prevent all infections.

No, we need to build up healthy immune systems. Masks are not natural.

If wearing masks in winter will help lessen the spread of the bugs which kill thousands of vulnerable people every year, then it would be great if people would do it.

But, we know the general public are too selfish and care little for the vulnerable in the community so it will never happen.

@onedayinthefuture

No, we need to build up healthy immune systems. Masks are not natural.

Well no they’re not but seen as nature is currently trying to bump a fair few of us off in an unpleasant manner I’ll take a bit of human ingenuity thanks.

*seeing as

How is it a good idea to wear a mask when you have a cold? Gross.

The UK would do much better to increase the paltry levels of statutory sick pay (roughly £95 a week - among the lowest of developed economies - and nothing at all - that is, zero wages - for the first 3 days) so that people can afford not to come to work with a transmissible virus.

And we need to stamp on employers like deliveroo and yodel who deny that their workforce are workers at all - that’s no sick pay entitlement at all. Enjoy that delicious pizza or whatever delivered to your door with reassuring mask ...

@Figmentofmyimagination

How is it a good idea to wear a mask when you have a cold? Gross.

The UK would do much better to increase the paltry levels of statutory sick pay (roughly £95 a week - among the lowest of developed economies - and nothing at all - that is, zero wages - for the first 3 days) so that people can afford not to come to work with a transmissible virus.

And we need to stamp on employers like deliveroo and yodel who deny that their workforce are workers at all - that’s no sick pay entitlement at all. Enjoy that delicious pizza or whatever delivered to your door with reassuring mask ...

True. How do you blow your nose with a mask on? Or do you just let it drip down your face? You’re completely right re sick pay. And attendance pressure at school needs to be addressed too. Last year before Christmas one of my children had 2 days off for a sickness bug and 3 days off for scarlet fever. I got a letter telling me her attendance was ‘unacceptable’. I wrote back asking which of those two highly contagious illnesses I should have sent her in for, so I knew for future reference.

Perhaps in the winter months and particularly around Christmas when everywhere is busy and people won't want to catch anything to ruin Christmas?

Hopefully not long term in hairdressers though. Wearing one for 10 minutes in a shop is one thing - 2 hours while having highlights done doesn't fill me with glee.

I'm not spending the rest of my life wearing a mask, or making my children were one.

^*If wearing masks in winter will help lessen the spread of the bugs which kill thousands of vulnerable people every year, then it would be great if people would do it.

But, we know the general public are too selfish and care little for the vulnerable in the community so it will never happen.*^

I rest my case.

Selfish murderers, not wearing masks for the rest of your lives.

@MintyMabel

If wearing masks in winter will help lessen the spread of the bugs which kill thousands of vulnerable people every year, then it would be great if people would do it.

But, we know the general public are too selfish and care little for the vulnerable in the community so it will never happen.

So where does it stop? If no one ever had contact with anyone presumably no one would ever catch anything? Is it selfish to want any human contact? Is it ok to go to work but not the cinema in case you spread infection for a "non essential" activity?

I suspect a Government U-turn on this when they realise that actually masks are going to make people go out even less. They will not be flocking to the shops etc with a mask on. The economy will suffer even more.

Actually, I think the reason they held out so long in making them mandatory compared to other countries is partly because they know that once they've done it, undoing it will be hard. There must be stats on other countries who've implemented masks and what it's done to shopping?

Oh I bloody hope not.

@cologne4711 DH and i have informed relatives that we wont be shopping for Christmas presents for adults or kids this year. Too stressful with

a. everything else that has gone on.
b. with things as they are
Kids will get money in a card. The End

If wearing masks in winter will help lessen the spread of the bugs which kill thousands of vulnerable people every year, then it would be great if people would do it. But, we know the general public are too selfish and care little for the vulnerable in the community so it will never happen

While there’s been a lot of discussion about the ‘Covidiots’ who are kicking up an almighty fuss about wearing masks in any situation, there’s clearly another subset of ultra-militant mask evangelists who rarely wish to leave the house and seem to regard everyone else as filthy, germ-ridden and selfish for wanting to resume any kind of normal human contact. There’s an awful lot of misanthropy out there.

"General sickness rates being lower is not necessarily desirable. The human immune system needs to encounter viruses in order to work effectively. If we weren’t exposed to ‘harmless’ virus’s, we would be far more at risk if/when we encountered something more serious."

How about you meet the families of the doctors and nurses that have died of covid already and tell them that? Because if anyone gets a healthy exposure to viruses and bacteria it's a nurse

"No, we need to build up healthy immune systems. Masks are not natural."

So you eat your meat raw and sleep in a tree @onedayinthefuture?

The moaners/whiners who won't wear masks are more vociferous than those who aren't bothered and I think the percentage of non-compliers is quite low.

I don't agree with this at all, but I guess it depends where you live and what social media you use. My FB (and MN) is filled with very vociferous people campaigning for masks to be used and shaming those who do not, but when I go into town (South East England) I see hardly anybody wearing a mask. Yesterday there was nobody at all in a very long queue in Wilco's wearing one, and hardly anybody in Debenhams or Waterstones. I do think that compulsory mask wearing in shops may cut down the number of people shopping - but I don't think we can know until it happens. I also think that a lot of people will be putting them on as they go into shops, pulling them down again or shoving them in their bags as they come out, putting them on again to go into the next shop, pulling them down when they bump into someone they know and want a chat....they will then be touching the mask they have just been breathing into, touching other things with those same hands, and if they have Covid merrily spreading it to all the surfaces they touch from then on.

@DameFanny

The point is that we have to co exist with the various viruses that are around us. Our collective lack of immunity to Covid is the entire problem with Covid. Covid in and of itself is not the issue.

We don't want to create a generation who are as susceptible to every illness as the world currently is to Covid. Immune systems need challenge.

Living in a sterile environment would result in us having much poorer immune responses.

In the winter yes going forward you'll see more masks.

I think how much Covid has had the country terrified and the media will whip up hysteria about flu viruses in winter in future.

Good post Sunshine

ultra-militant mask evangelists who rarely wish to leave the house and seem to regard everyone else as filthy, germ-ridden and selfish for wanting to resume any kind of normal human contact. There’s an awful lot of misanthropy out there.
I think this has been the most shocking thing to see - the bitter hostility displayed by the mask Stasi trying get us all to comply with their hatred of human interaction. I sorry for children who are being taught that other people are dangerous and will surely kill them with Covid unless they wear a mask and keep 2m away🙁