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Original poster

Face masks proof of exemption

200 replies

PumpkinP · 21/07/2020 14:05

I am exempt from wearing face masks due to asthma , I just was expecting to show my asthma pump but today my mum was on the bus and she said the police got on and was demanding proof from people and saying that they needed to see a drs letter. Do I need a doctors letter? As I haven’t heard that you do till now.

OP posts:
Hearwego · 21/07/2020 23:36

So how exactly are the Police going to fine people £100 if they don’t have to prove anything? What’s the point in the police enforcing it?... not that I think they have the resources to anyway.

HeIenaDove · 21/07/2020 23:36

During lockdown I was fined by police for sorting out a hypo because the officer decided I was having a picnic, I was fined another day for not having proof of going to get meds. So those saying just explain, will depend on where you live if the police accept that or not

I've had abuse for not wearing one and I'm in Wales, not mandetory here

Angry
Passmethecrisps · 21/07/2020 23:39

I find this all very perplexing. As an otherwise healthy, chronic asthmatic I find wearing a mask gives me some emotional security. As the daughter of someone who has chronic asthma and lifelong complex lung issues I am enormously grateful to those who wear masks for the benefit of others.

However, as I have not walked a mile in the shoes of anyone else I would not find it my business to challenge anyone not wearing a mask. With cleanliness and social distancing well observed The mask is probably neither here or there.

We are not in a police state. We shouldn’t need to be justifying ourselves to strangers. But we also need to trust everyone around us to be making sensible decisions

HeIenaDove · 21/07/2020 23:40

@Hearwego You would fucking see it if they were waiting in A and E in front of you in the queue. So youd have to wait longer
I bet youd see it then.

Becca19962014 · 21/07/2020 23:40

I've had on my FB timeline a post from public health England telling people categorically NOT to ask for a GP letter and just to explain if asked. My GP surgery website states under no circumstances will they give a letter regarding face masks and patients are not to ask. Said the same for sheilders in March and they kept to it as well.

I certainly don't want to have to explain to people my PTSD given how easily it's triggered these days.

Hearwego · 21/07/2020 23:41

Taking to a bus driver relative of mine. He said they have to politely remind people about face masks but that’s all they can do.
But other people have ( passengers) were ringing the bus company up to complain that the drivers were not enforcing it, even though some people are exempt!
This kind of thing really brings out a nasty side side of people , it putting people like bus drivers under more pressure and makes people who are exempt feel awkward.

Hearwego · 21/07/2020 23:43

@Hearwego You would fucking see it if they were waiting in A and E in front of you in the queue. So youd have to wait longer
I bet youd see it then.**

What the heck are you on about?

SengaStrawberry · 21/07/2020 23:44

I’d say either everyone does it or no one. It’s a half hearted token gesture otherwise.

So if there are 10 people with the virus out and about, 9 of them wear masks so they don’t spread it. 1 doesn’t so does spread it. Still less people have got infected than if no one had the masks on? What you have said makes no sense.

PickAChew · 21/07/2020 23:45

Our gp surgery sent out a mass text to say they do not provide exemption letters and the exemption cards should be enough.

SengaStrawberry · 21/07/2020 23:45

Plus not everyone who can’t wear masks cannot do so due to a physical reason. Sometimes it’s a mental health reason or learning disability for example.

HeIenaDove · 21/07/2020 23:46

Because if everyone with breathing conditions took your "advice" @Hearwego that is the likely place they would end up.

Hearwego · 21/07/2020 23:49

So if there are 10 people with the virus out and about, 9 of them wear masks so they don’t spread it. 1 doesn’t so does spread it. Still less people have got infected than if no one had the masks on? What you have said makes no sense.**

Because on a bus for example, people see other people not wearing a mask who are exempt. But the public decide to cause shit for the driver and complain saying that the staff are not enforcing the rules. Even though that person could be exempt. Or the person exempt gets shit from other passengers who stick their noses in.
Some people’s attitudes will be, why should I wear a mask, he’s not...

Hearwego · 21/07/2020 23:52

Because if everyone with breathing conditions took your "advice" @Hearwego that is the likely place they would end up.**

Then if they a breathing condition aren’t they more vulnerable to covid?? How do they know they haven’t got it and unknowingly pass it on?

Spikeyball · 21/07/2020 23:55

Some people/the public need to grow up then and not act like 5 year olds. You would have to be very unlucky to get that many idiots on one bus - and I would be quite happy to tell any of them to shut the fuck up.

SengaStrawberry · 21/07/2020 23:56

But some people can’t wear them. There have been multiple reasons why explained on MN. So by your reckoning then either no one should wear them, so Society gets no benefit at all from the reduction in virus spread wearing the mask helps with, or everyone wears them, meaning some people can’t use public transport or go shopping.

You might get some arseholes on buses etc but most people don’t act like 2 year olds. I don’t use public transport but there’s been a few people in supermarkets not wearing them and it really doesn’t lead to people who are wearing them pulling theirs off and having a strop. Most people do actually follow rules.

Dinosauratemydaffodils · 21/07/2020 23:57

Surely people that have heath conditions that say that they cannot wear a mask are more vulnerable to covid?

I have ptsd from trauma involving suffocation. As a healthy fit woman in my early 40s, I'm not particularly vulnerable to covid. The fear of masks becoming mandatory nearly got me sectioned earlier in lockdown however.

I hasten to add I'm not going anywhere which requires a mask (already mandatory here) including accessing healthcare.

HeIenaDove · 21/07/2020 23:59

Friday outside our local Tesco will be interesting. Loads of ppl donning face masks to go in while the three pubs ajacent to the store will have people in and out , no social distancing with no face masks.

PickAChew · 22/07/2020 00:01

@Poppiesway1

I work in a hospital and we will not see anyone without a mask on. We have the backing of the managers to not see anyone whose not wearing a mask. I have severe asthma (1 set of steroids away from being shielded unfortunately) and I have to wear a mask (have worn a mask for past 26years without them causing issues to my asthma). However I am not willing to put myself at further risk by scanning a patient without a mask on. Whilst I have not had to directly scan any “yellow / red” patients I am in contact with colleagues who do. Surely 30 mins of wearing a mask to see a dr / be treated is better than potentially passing on or increasing your risk of becoming an infected by a staff member who may be asymptotic and then seeing you and multiple other people.
So would you refuse to see an autistic patient who has hated having their head and face touched from birth, is freaked out at the sight of people in masks and is so set in their ways that they have worn the exact same shoes forever, in any weather and has to be forced to swap a knackered old pair for a fresh, intact pair?

Would you refuse to see a patient with dementia who isn't readily going to tolerate a thing put in their face?

What sort of health are are you providing if you refuse it to the most vulnerable members of society?

Haenow · 22/07/2020 00:01

@NoMoreJunk

My doctors surgery you HAVE to wear a mask, as well as all hospitals, if you are there for an appointment or seeing someone you HAVE to wear one.

There is exceptions but not for things like asthma as it doesn't effect your oxygen levels, ofcourse it doesn't feel nice and comfy, but nor will a ventilator !

They might find themselves on an unpleasant end of a medical negligence claim to be honest....
Hearwego · 22/07/2020 00:04

The news tonight said covid will be around for a very long time , sadly the wearing of masks too I fear.
Reference buses,I have worked in public transport and yes lots of idiots who do stick their noses in. By all means tell people to fuck off if they do.

PickAChew · 22/07/2020 00:05

@NoMoreJunk

My doctors surgery you HAVE to wear a mask, as well as all hospitals, if you are there for an appointment or seeing someone you HAVE to wear one.

There is exceptions but not for things like asthma as it doesn't effect your oxygen levels, ofcourse it doesn't feel nice and comfy, but nor will a ventilator !

Fuck sake. No one is on a ventilator without some serious ventilation. It's not the witty little stinger that so many people seem to think it is.
PickAChew · 22/07/2020 00:06

Serious sedation.

I need some serious shut-eye.

Hearwego · 22/07/2020 00:08

Would you refuse to see a patient with dementia who isn't readily going to tolerate a thing put in their face?

What sort of health are are you providing if you refuse it to the most vulnerable members of society?**

Maybe the poster would yes, if they believe it poses a threat to their life.

NoMoreJunk · 22/07/2020 00:13

@HeIenaDove

Well yes, ofcourse your on a ventilator, I'm not stupid !

But you WILL feel the after effects of a ventilator for a LONG time afterwards!

Spikeyball · 22/07/2020 00:13

"Maybe the poster would yes, if they believe it poses a threat to their life."

That individual may refuse and that is between them and their manager but someone would have to treat the patient. My sister has been working for 4 months with diagnosed covid patients so it must be possible to treat patients who very likely don't have it.