Making masks mandatory outdoors

[zen1]

I’ve seen this is happening in Italy and Germany. I’ve got an awful feeling this might be in the pipeline here (UK) in the not too distant future. What do other people think? I’m not convinced of the efficacy of masks actually doing much to stop the transmission (unless medical grade) and I can’t imagine having to do this.

@AlwaysLatte

I would be fine with it, I don't really understand the problem.

For me the problem is more and more restrictions with no evidence that they actually make any difference.

I won’t be complying with this. I doubt I’ll get fined either given no one else seems to be for not wearing them in shops etc.

Currently this is pointing towards the effectiveness of masks in lowering the viral dose and decreasing the severity of the virus, which is positive. I live in Spain. The death rate was higher at first, because the people who died were the elderly and people with preexisting health conditions. Many cases were from nursing homes. Like many other countries, the vast majority of people getting Covid now are much younger and are healthy. I know ten people in my area who’ve had a positive test and they’re all young and have been asymptomatic. They have been tested due to being in close proximity to another infected person. Wearing the masks outdoors has little bearing on the Covid cases in Spain. Family gatherings and the lack of social distancing are the reasons the virus continues to spread here. Part of the cause of the lack of social
distancing is due to wearing the masks outside. Spain has a street culture and people wear the ‘magic’ mask and stand on top of each other shouting, laughing, hugging, because they think their ‘one use’ mask that they’ve been wearing for three weeks protects them. There is no emphasis from the government about social distancing. It went out of the window with the mandatory wearing of masks at all times.

I can see the point of wearing a mask outside in a densely populated city, where it’s crowded and busy, but for those of us who live in areas where it’s more than possible to keep a safe social distance on the street, the masks aren’t doing anything, apart from giving us acne and making us feel suffocated in the hot weather. My daughter even has to wear a mask for PE. Last week the teacher had them running laps of the playground, flat out, wearing masks in 32 degree heat. They have one class with the space of the whole playground, so no problem being able to keep the distance. It’s just madness.

Part of the cause of the lack of social distancing is due to wearing the masks outside. Spain has a street culture and people wear the ‘magic’ mask and stand on top of each other shouting, laughing, hugging, because they think their ‘one use’ mask that they’ve been wearing for three weeks protects them.

This is what pisses me off about masks as well. Masks are an extra form of protection against the virus, but wearing a mask doesn't give you immunity.

Social distancing is more important than masks. If you socially distance (indoors and outdoors) then you won't need a mask. If social distancing is impossible then a mask give you a bit more protection but the more you're not social distancing and in close proximity to other people outside your immediate bubble then the more risk of getting the virus.

We got rid of the first wave, when people weren't really wearing masks at all in the wider population, because people were keeping their distance from others. It's common sense.

The government may have more success sticking to rules that are actually helpful and clarifying them, maybe enforcing them if people still aren’t complying.

There's zero possibility of the government being able to enforce a mandatory masks outside rule across the whole country. We have nowhere near the numbers of police and armed forces, nor the surveillance apparatus required, to pull that off. So it's a moot point about what might happen if they could enforce it, and we should not be making policy decisions on that basis.

This would be ludicrous given the typical weather in the U.K. in winter. Especially as the evidence suggests that wet face masks are a bad idea.
news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-face-masks-are-less-effective-in-the-rain-experts-warn-12091866

Hmm, good job we live in such a dry climate then!

I saw someone hiking in a mask yesterday! Nobody within at least mile of them, walking alone in a very rural area. I just thought that the person must be incredibly fearful

The trouble is that we are not supplied with evidence that the rules the government are making are actually working. Surely if they provide the evidence then compliance will be better. All thr armchair epidemiologists with their charts and graphs are cloudy the data. We need a central trustworthy source and we do not have that. We are being led by lies and people are fed up now.

Yes, the reduced trust levels in Johnson's leadership are a real problem. Post Cummings, he has lost a significant amount of moral authority.

@U8myufo

I saw someone hiking in a mask yesterday! Nobody within at least mile of them, walking alone in a very rural area. I just thought that the person must be incredibly fearful

It's the pointlessness of it. You get the virus from other people, if you're outdoors and nowhere near anyone else then it's practically impossible to contract Covid in that environment.

I am against all mandatory CV19 rules and have been from the start although I obey them. I certainly don't want masks when out on the streets here. I have a big garden so hopefully it would not apply there.

[quote HarryLimeFoxtrot]This would be ludicrous given the typical weather in the U.K. in winter. Especially as the evidence suggests that wet face masks are a bad idea.
news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-face-masks-are-less-effective-in-the-rain-experts-warn-12091866[/quote]
I'd suggest an umbrella.

I'd suggest not trying to make mask wearing compulsory outside.

Covering your face is totally normal when hiking or climbing. Scarf, buff, balaclava, mask, whatever. It's called keeping warm and surely no big deal to pull a scarf up if you come within close distance of someone else on a narrow path.

Maybe the guy in question was on his way to help someone, mountain rescue have been wearing face coverings.

The fuss some are making on this thread!

annabel85 Exactly! The rates of contagion are all the evidence that is needed to support this kind of thinking!

Actually Emily, I have a an Oxbridge science degree

😂😂

Love it when this sort of thing is wheeled out

Why is it the Brits and the Yanks are the biggest mask whingers

@Oaktree55 - I have no idea

In Madeira where masks are now compulsory outside (Madeira 90:cases, 0 deaths IIRC), there are exemptions for exercise, sunbathing etc. So if you go walking along a levada or are lying bu the pool, no need for a mask

@Lweji In the UK we have rainy WINDY winters. I could quote all the storms we have had since winter 2013. This is when winters started to get a lot windier. Unless they are going to start making super strength brollies that wont work.

@Lweji - have you tried pushing a pram and holding an umbrella? Or exercising (cycling/running) whilst holding an umbrella?

Umbrellas aren't great when it's windy either...

It's horrible, I would hate it and I would risk the fines some of the time and just take it off. I feel like I am suffocating in one.

I have complied with mask wearing indoors, but by the time I get out of the supermarket I am desperate to take the wretched thing off. If I had to wear it outside as well I think I would just have to stay at home.

No chance. I'm sick of it all. I'll comply to a point but it's getting ridiculous now.

@PinkSparklyPussyCat

Umbrellas aren't great when it's windy either...

Good job we don't live in a windy climate either lmao.