face masks becoming the norm when people have common colds

[MereDintofPandiculation]

Prof Peter Piot, director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said today that Britain would have to undergo a cultural shift, with face masks becoming the norm when people have common colds.

How does this work in practice? Keep taking the mask off to sneeze into a tissue or blow your nose? Sneeze into the mask through about 60 disposable masks a day? Countries that do this, what do they actually do?

Are we going to have another cultural shift, whereby it becomes acceptable to take a sick day if you have a cold?

I have cough variant asthma and have a very difficult time making masks work with my glasses. This brave new world sounds more and more like one without much place for me.

I'm sick of catching other people's bugs from their poor hygiene and carelessness. I hope many of the measures stick going forward.

I can't imagine having to snot and sneeze into a mask. I'm all for the extra handfasting continuing though.

This brave new world sounds more and more like one without much place for me.

Me too. I currently can't access shops (not a big issue, haven't been in one since march), public transport or medical support. The more I read, the more it feels like my life is over.

This would be madness. People need to strengthen their immune system. We already have a generation of allergy and asthma sufferers as children are too 'clean'.

Kitty Yes, that's how I feel too. But how do nations manage who do routinely wear masks when they have a cold? I suppose if we're all wearing masks, there will be fewer colds doing the rounds. But even so, there'll be some unfortunates who do get a cold, and what is the way of coping when your nose is streaming? This isn't a grumble, it's a purely practical question.

Never mind masks, I hope it ends presenteeism in workplaces and boss' expectations that people need to be at work unless pretty much dead. It's revolting being surrounded by sniffing people every winter. But masks would also be a very welcome step.

To those who will struggle, I'm curious as to how you already know this? I'm honestly not having a go, it's just until this pandemic, I can't think I'd ever had to wear one. I'm not finding in particularly pleasant but I'm hoping I'll get used to it. I'm genuinely surprised by the number of people who already know this will be a problem. You have my sympathies; asthma alone is tough to manage sometime without added challenges.

I'm with you@Lochroy.

I'd rather scrap school attendance awards and sending your kids into school/nursery with a temperature.

or the future might be that people with coughs and colds stay home to recover.

I have always wished that mask wearing was more common. I cant drive and I hate it when someone is coughing their guts up on the bus.
I dont mean to sound unsympathetic but I catch everything that's going around. I'd be more than happy to wear a mask if I had a cough.

To those who will struggle, I'm curious as to how you already know this? I'm honestly not having a go, it's just until this pandemic, I can't think I'd ever had to wear one. I'm not finding in particularly pleasant but I'm hoping I'll get used to it.

PTSD from trauma involving suffocation. Plus I'm in Scotland, they are already mandatory and my attempts at desensitization have not exactly gone well.

I'm sick of catching other people's bugs from their poor hygiene and carelessness. I hope many of the measures stick going forward.

Me too! When I used to work I got every virus going. I've even have people coughing all over my desk, saying that they had the flu and were going home but wanted to give me some infected papers first. And when I said something I was being dramatic (no you nincompoop, vulnerable people have jobs too). It shouldn't be normal to cough all over your colleagues, or refuse to wash your hands after using a toilet.

I've been to Japan a couple of times. I seem to remember it's considered rude to blow your nose on public transport and I definitely witnessed a few japanese people on trains snorting their snot back up to avoid this.

Also if the representation in their cartoons are anything to go by, they treat a cold really seriously and go to bed straight away and take the day off school/work

The culture of pressuring parents to keep their children's school attendance as high as possible has now become life threateningly dangerous. It is well established that there are far more symptoms associated with Covid-19 than the UK government's official list of cough, fever and loss of taste/smell. Mild cold type symptoms in a child may indicate Covid-19.

I dont mean to sound unsympathetic but I catch everything that's going around. I'd be more than happy to wear a mask if I had a cough. Yeah, but what if you were sneezing snot several times daily or just had a really runny nose?

happysunr1se thanks for giving the Japan situation. Maybe we'll emulate the staying at home with a cold - but that will mean a huge culture change. Not sure I want to emulate the snorting snot back up.

Not sure how well masks will help without better education on them. I saw a woman pull hers down to cough into her hand the other day

I've wondered this, I think I'll have to take off when I really need to blow my nose, but have to accept droplets from coughing are contained. Having said this, if we're all still SD and being very careful with hygiene, there should be a lot less bugs going around this winter.

I wear a shield at work, but I don''t touch it unless I've washed or santized my hands, so I've found twice I haven't been able to get it off quick enough to sneeze. Obviously it's not in close contact with my face, but it's amazing how many water droplets are contained.

Surely we are capable of designing better more comfortable masks?

@Dinosauratemydaffodils I'm very sorry to hear that, thank you for answering my question.

@happysunr1se Yes! I've been to Japan and was warned not to blow my nose. The snot snorting takes some getting use to!

@IdblowJonSnow

I'm sick of catching other people's bugs from their poor hygiene and carelessness. I hope many of the measures stick going forward.

Hopefully.

My husband joked that soon, men who wear suits and ties will be expected to have matching masks. My son, who hates everything about school uniform already, moaned, 'don't be giving the headteachers any ideas!' at which I jumped up to pull one out of the multicolored set that just got delivered which exactly matches his school tie, and awarded it to him. (his response was to go in and take all the black ones while grumbling he will only wear black ones. No color. No pattern. we might have a baby goth hatching here. )

I tell you, the family togetherness part of lockdown has been just wonderful.

Mild cold type symptoms in a child may indicate Covid-19

may being the operative word. A mild cold is far more likely.

So is the general thought that - if you have a cold -

• you need to isolate just in case, and get a covid test?

And if the test is negative -

if you go out, you need to keep sniffing hard and swallowing. What if you're sneezing?

The easy option of staying at home until you have the sneezes and snot under control isn't going to work under today's emplyment sickness policies.