Is mask wearing limiting your economic participation?

[byvirtue]

I knew mask wearing was mandatory in shops but I hadn’t heard about the new restrictions that have come out today www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-53702291

I had planned to head to a spa for a couple of days this month for my birthday and we were going to book a staycation in a hotel in September. We would have easily spent £2k on these trips.

Now it seems that masks are mandatory for spa treatments and in hotel public areas we won’t be going. I personally find face coverings unpleasant and they significantly reduce my enjoyment so I'd rather not bother.

We are fit and healthy with money to spend and were happy to get out and spend money prior to face coverings becoming mandatory. These new rules mean the opportunities for us to spend money have been notably reduced.

I’m curious are these extended face covering rules going to lead to you spending more or less now?

Exactly @missfliss nowhere in my original post did I state I refuse to wear a mask. I simply have made a personal choice that I don’t want to spend lots of money on leisure activities where I have to wear a mask. Wearing a face covering is a massive disincentive to me spending money and I’m clearly not the only one that feels this way.

The government will be monitoring footfall and sales in the industries where mask wearing has been made mandatory so it will eventually become evident whether mask wearing has had an economic impact of not.

@epythymy *
*
Those countries like South Africa which introduced masks at 5000 cases and now has 700,000?
^
You might want to check those numbers and do let us know when South Africa does reach 700,000 cases. Their numbers look pretty impressive to me. Vastly better than the UK's.^

I am like OP, hate wearing a mask, so just as people can choose to go to all the places mentioned with their lovely masks on, I can choose not too.

I find it scary that mask wearing has become law with not requirement for a review by the government at any point.

I will wear one to shop in supermarkets and travel on public transport, but will not be going out to mooch round shops, go to the cinema, museums etc.. All things were I would spend money, not because I have to, like buying food, but because I want to.

So yes definitely affecting my spending habits... My monthly credit card bill is down 60%

No, I rarely go shopping anyway. Apart from food shopping I can't remember the last time I went in a shop, probably when we got school shoes last summer.

The virtue signaling here is bizarre. It's like it's a competition to love masks!

It was the same earlier in the year when people weren't allowed to moan about hating lockdown. Because all the virtue signallers piled in to say how THEY hadn't left the house since Christmas, they were living on their stockpiled lentils, playing Monopoly by candle light and LOVING IT. Because stepping outside the door meant immediate death.

The whole of 2020 so far - apart from the first little bit - has been shit. It's OK to say that. It's OK to say that even though you're complying with the law, that you hate masks, don't like lockdown, miss doing all the things you did last year and can't now do.

I really hate the race to the bottom of "well at least you're not on a ventilator, be grateful for what you've got".

I'm exempt due to a medical condition and I've been going to fewer places purely because of the nasty comments and judgemental looks I've been getting. Yes I wear a lanyard but I might as well not bother considering most people don't seem to see it or know what it means.

I don't feel safer because other people are wearing them, either. The number of people I see constantly adjusting them, touching their faces, pulling them down to pick their nose in a few cases (and that's before you even acknowledge the fact that they're removed between shops and put back on) then touch every item in a shop, door handles, bus poles etc means I'm far more conscious of how they're spreading anything they've got everywhere.

So given everything, I'm staying a lot more than I otherwise would be.

@SockYarn absolutely. Great post.

@lljkk shit is that right? I need some new glasses (I'm short sighted) I wear them over 12 hours a day so my new glasses need trying on fire style but more importantly comfort.

So will I not be able to do that?

And we all benefit because there will be less transmission.

This. Wearing a mask protects other people from you. If we all think of ourselves as a risk to others, and act accordingly, then we're all safer.

I hate wearing a mask and think it's ridiculous. It should be personal choice. When you look at the stats the effect of Covid on the vast majority of the population is no worse than flu. People with no symptoms are testing positive yet these figures of positive test results are being used to enforce lock downs and mask wearing. The death rate is now very low.

Because of the new rules I will not be going to the cinema, museums, shopping for fun or anything else that involves wearing a mask for more than 10 minutes. You can sit inside a pub or restaurant for hours with no mask but can't pop into your local shop without one. The rules make no sense and the economy is being decimated.

I'll also admit to not wearing a mask in various shops whilst out uniform shopping last week. I had it with me but noticed other customers in the first shop (and the staff) were not wearing masks so I didn't bother. After that I kept it off and was not instructed by any store staff to wear it. In one small local shop I asked if they wanted me to wear it as I entered and was told not to bother.

Given 80% of the staff in the shops we went in were not wearing masks and that I was not instructed to put my mask on in any of the shops I'm doubtful stores are happy with the rules either.

@missfliss

Jesus some comments on here. Totally agree *@HeIenaDove*.

Saying that you don't enjoy wearing a mask and will avoid going to places where you must wear one is not the same thing as saying you won't wear one.

The virtue signaling here is bizarre. It's like it's a competition to love masks!

Correct. Far too many people don't understand the distinction. It's perfectly possible and entirely reasonable to agree with the regulations, but also not like the physical sensation of mask wearing and therefore keep it to a minimum.

In answer to the OP, it's limiting mine a bit. I didn't like shopping much anyway but I do like museums. I won't enjoy going, especially in warm weather, if I have to wear a mask and so I shall stay away. Which is even safer than me going with a mask on.

When you look at the stats the effect of Covid on the vast majority of the population is no worse than flu.

This is not accurate. 20% of people who are infected with the C-19 virus suffer very badly, and some of the side-effects seem to be lasting for months.

There is also the issue of people carrying the virus, thus able to infect others, but being asymptomatic themselves.

But you just go on being your selfish self. Don't wear a mask, because oh dear, it's just not very comfortable. Show what respect you have for those around you.

I was on a thread recently and a poster came in to say that Everyone was refusing to wear masks on another thread and how dreadful it was

Id been lurking on that thread and apart form a handful of people saying they wouldn’t wear one the vast majority were just saying they didnt like them

Yes, there seem to be a significant group who read any comment about not liking masks as meaning people are refusing to wear them. That is very clearly not the case based on people's actual posts.

Totally agree with you @Fruityloopyloop

I hate wearing a mask but no, I'm not going to let it stop me living my life. I've been to the hairdresser, nail salon, shops, cinema, restaurants and used public transport.

I lip read. With everyone now wearing masks, it's lead to an interesting social dance whenever I meet a friend. I usually tap my hearing aids, gesture to outside and we find somewhere appropriately spaced to take off the masks.

Shop assistants get Google type pointed at them. It honestly feels more like a hostage experience than a shopping formality, some days.

@Sunshinegirl82

Yes, there seem to be a significant group who read any comment about not liking masks as meaning people are refusing to wear them. That is very clearly not the case based on people's actual posts.

Exactly this.

It's OK to not like masks. it's also OK to say that 2020 has been shit and that you wish things were as they were in 2019.

Some people equate those sorts of statements to being a refusenik, an extreme right winger or a covid-denier.

@fedupwiththeidots

FFS there are so many brain dead morons on here.

If you love masks and think they are magical talismans that protect you against viral disease then great, bully for you. You're wrong, but hey, you go off into your little dream world.

Meanwhile, back here in the real world where science SHOULD dictate policies on topics such as this, there is NO evidence that masks reduce infection.

Don't go banging on to me about "well, in Japan..." like nobody in a Japan ever catches a virus. They had a massive flu season in Japan in 2019, despite habitual mask wearing.

Viruses ALWAYS impact to varying degrees around the world. ALWAYS. With something like a Coronavirus it's going to be contingent on (1) how many people have been exposed to other coronaviruses in recent years and therefore have some form of residual immunity (2) how they treat diagnosed patients (clue: countries treating sooner rather than waiting until everyone is at deaths door have better death rates) (3) age and health profile of the population....and many other factors including climate etc

Here's something else. This virus does transmit presymptomaically (possibly not assymptomacially) so eradication is not a viable strategy. It's not going to happen. Anyone who thinks otherwise is barking mad.

And something else: >99pct of people will survive it. The average age of people who have died in the UK is HIGHER THAN AVERAGE LIFE EXPECTANCY. It's not the Black Death!!

I honestly don't get why people are so frightened. I bet you are all the sort who are too scared to drive on the motorway too. Probably rightly as that is infinitely more deadly for the under 40s.

100% this

@EleanorOalike

What? What studies are these? Links please to journals or IT IS BULLSHIT

royalsociety.org/-/media/policy/projects/set-c/set-c-facemasks.pdf?la=en-GB&hash=A22A87CB28F7D6AD9BD93BBCBFC2BB24

www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7191114/

www.cebm.net/covid-19/what-is-the-efficacy-of-standard-face-masks-compared-to-respirator-masks-in-preventing-covid-type-respiratory-illnesses-in-primary-care-staff/

wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/26/10/20-0948_article

aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/5.0016018

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468042720300117

academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa593/5866410

I mean, I’m a University Lecturer so I can go on all night if you’d like? I don’t wear a cloth mask, based on my Consultant Cardiologist’s suggestion as he feels I need more protection (I’ve been Shielded) and issued me with some PPE (surgical and N95 masks). However, I do fully support mask wearing, cloth or otherwise.

Interesting that you've included two studies which actually contradict each other; one suggesting cloth masks are just as good as N95 and one suggesting they're not. Also interesting that you've included the studies which reflect your viewpoint whilst completely ignoring the ones that found the opposite.

What do you lecture in? How to conform completely at a bottom ranked poly?

And I absolutely love the fact it is mandatory as all the whiny gobshites who refuse to wear one are confined to their thrones of self-righteousness in their mask-free homes.

And how we'll all laugh when it turns out they're useless and those that should have been shielding are dead. Oh wait, no we won't because most of us are not complete cunts.

@hotdoggone

Excluding medical reasons which literally prevent you wearing one, I can't understand why people are making such a fuss over this.

I didn't love wearing one for 3 hours in the hair salon, it was a hot day and I felt a bit dizzy at one point but I had more sympathy for my hair dresser who was wearing a visor and sweating her arse off, on her feet for hours.

I really don't see how they limit enjoyment. Try a different covering if you're uncomfortable.

It's such a minor thing. And who goes on holiday for the experience in the hotel lobby anyway? Surely you check in and get on with your life?

You've literally said you don't enjoy wearing one and then said you don't understand how they limit enjoyment?

Because, as you JUST SAID, they're hot and uncomfortable and those of us who still have some semblance of critical thinking left can see the evidence for them is, at best weak, potentially useless.

Yes and no - I'm buying everything from Amazon. If we ever have to physically head out for anything, we're in and out and no longer browse. That being said, we're eating out a lot more just to get out of the house while still avoiding the dreaded mask. Swings and roundabouts!

Totally agree @SockYarn

And I do wear them despite the fact I have very sensitive skin on my face and a predisposition to not only acne and cold sores but other nasty painful infections. I’ll put up with acne and cold sores but the minute I get another bout of impetigo (not had it for years) as another PP talks about they’ll be being sacked off. I’m not sure that my responsibility to protect others from a disease I 99.9% don’t have extends to me having to cope with another infectious as well painful and damaging to me skin condition