Firstly, I will say that I am very emotionally triggered by this subject. My DH and I have had one family member very rapidly and unexpectedly die after contracting covid. I have watched my previously vibrant, extremely healthy and fit brother who contracted covid in March become an absolute shell of himself. He now suffers from a debilitating, cronic fatigue and is still experiencing bizarre symptoms almost 4 months on. My mum is immuno-compromised, with COPD in her lungs. Shingles nearly killed her a couple of years ago. Prior to this we didn't visit her if we even had a cold. So you can imagine our anxiety now.
It feels personal when people argue against wearing masks because it is personal. Masks save lives. The lives of peoples loved ones.
It has now been repeatedly scientifically proven that masks help slow and even prevent the transmission of the virus. A virus which has already had a devastating impact on those I love. This virus is more than capable of doing the same to your own family. Your excuses just don't cut it and they often aren't even grounded in anything concrete.
So I'd also like to address some of the comments I've read. "I believe I am at low risk of the illness as I actively try to be healthy."
Facemasks prevent you from SPREADING the virus. You might be asymptomatic. You might be 'fine' if you get the virus but an immuno-compromised person is 12 times more likely to die. There are lots of immuno-compromised people who are young and you wouldn't know that their immune system was compromised just by looking at them.
"Plus the fact I personally believe masks will not reduce the spread of transmission."
"I feel that compulsory mask-wearing is being introduced more as a sop to the fearful than for any convincing scientific purpose"
Places where masks weren't recommended saw a 55% weekly increase in coronavirus deaths per capita after their first case was reported, compared with 7% in countries with cultures or guidelines supporting mask wearing. A model from the University of Washington predicted that the US could prevent at least 45,000 coronavirus deaths by November if 95% of the population were to wear face masks in public.
"I also don't think there is any benefit - at this stage of the pandemic when there are so few people circulating with the illness"
As many as 80% of people with COVID-19 are unaware they have the virus. Facemasks prevent you from spreading the virus. You might be asymptomatic. This virus spread quickly and a second wave is capable of hitting us just as quickly as the first.
"Think its a bit ridiculous to introduce now and not at the beginning." so does everyone, but there are still millions of vulnerable people out there and it has been scientifically proven that masks help to prevent transmission.
"I worry about the implications of widespread mask-wearing for communication" Masks with clear panels are available.
"Personally I don’t want to live in a society based on uncritical compliance to ‘The Rules’, no matter how arbitrary those rules are. I like the messy, sometimes chaotic nature of UK society, it’s creativity and questioning of rules, it’s openness and embracing of difference. So many of the measures surrounding Covid seem to require us to deny our own flawed humanity and behave like automatons, and mask wearing exemplifies this for me." This isn't a society based on 'uncritical compliance' to the rules. This is a reaction based on Scientific research and fact. I'd like my parents to hang around for at least another 15 years thanks. If mask wearing prevents people from dying prematurely we should be wearing masks, despite your wish for a 'messy', 'chaotic' society. Masks don't need to equal autonomy or compliance.
For me, masks equal a society which cares for one another and is trying to protect one another. It's a sorry state of affairs when people are complaining THIS much about having to make such a small sacrifice for the benefit of others.