If Facemasks work why is the infection rate rising so rapidly?

[Bbq1]

Just that really. Facemasks have been mandatory for a couple of months now and the majority of us are wearing them. However, if they are so effective why haven't they cut the infection rate massively? Instead, we're now expericing a second wave. Even if the amount of people currently wearing Facemasks was halved, you would still expect some reduction in infection, not an increase. Surely then, this all points to the fact that Facemasks just don't work?

Unless you have a non mask control group you'll never know I guess. Maybe without masks it would be rising 20x faster.

Certainly in countries with strict mask rules and better adherence they've got lower numbers.

Schools. That's why 🤷🏽‍♀️

They've always said that social distancing and staying home with symptoms were the most effective measures. Too many people stopped, or had to stop (schools) doing exactly that, causing a rise in cases.

Because there are lots of places masks aren't worn

I don't think the majority of people are wearing them? Certainly not in the majority of situations.

Yes, quite a lot of people wear masks in shops etc, but much less in offices or when socialising etc. Lots of schools only require that kids wear them in the corridors etc. It seems to me that we are only wearing them for a fraction of the time, and generally not even in the highest risk situations.

The virus is spreading because people are not taking sufficient precautions.

Schools, universities opening, people going to pubs. None wearing masks.
Social distancing out the window when masks are on.

Not everyone wears masks or face coverings correctly. (Be that their nose poking out, or constantly adjusting it and then not washing their hands before touching their face/eyes etc.) Then some who do wear them correctly think they don’t have to try and keep 2m away from other people still. I totally understand why they didn’t tell people to wear masks back in March!

I thought the issue was household spreading (where you don't wear a face mask) and universities/ schools.

Schools, visiting people in private spaces, sitting down for food/drinks with people not in your household, incorrect mask use, hospitals, care homes, sports, children... Lots of places where covid can spread where masks aren't used. Also most of the surgical/cloth masks reduce transmission but don't eliminate the risk entirely.

Maybe because a lot of cases are happening when extended families are meeting in homes where masks aren't required.

Lots of people aren't wearing them when mandatory i.e on public transport and in shops or aren't wearing them properly (leaving nose uncovered).

Plus, in schools, restaurants, cafés, bars, when socialising etc you don't need to wear one

Schools, universities, people in pubs, the fact that just like social distancing it's helpful in reducing transmission, but is by no means a 100% preventative.

I've yet to see many people wearing their face masks properly.

If you're taking it on and off constantly, as we've been instructed to do now in pubs, restaurants, etc, you're potentially contaminating the mask.

I've seen scrunched up masks being pulled out of pockets and handbags and put on.

And the majority of the masks I've seen people wearing, even if stored and worn properly, are ineffective masks anyway.

Watching experts on the TV, including one on the Andrew Marr show this morning, they seem to say that the numbers in the North never got down low enough.

Then we had, eat out to help out and full pubs. People started to get complacent and mix. Gyms opened. Places like nail bars etc, none who insist on masks. So numbers went up. According to them schools aren't spreading it anymore than workplaces, especially factories.

I'm in Liverpool, people aren't wearing masks, you have to ask people to stand back from you. Compliance isn't happening. There's local shops I can no longer use because they aren't safe and I'm vulnerable.

Also people are still coughing into the air in shops and on buses.

Face masks, social distancing, hand washing etc were never meant to eradicate any risk. Each of those things brings down the R rate, which is naturally around 3 I think, to a more manageable level.

@AlexaShutUp

I don't think the majority of people are wearing them? Certainly not in the majority of situations.

Yes, quite a lot of people wear masks in shops etc, but much less in offices or when socialising etc. Lots of schools only require that kids wear them in the corridors etc. It seems to me that we are only wearing them for a fraction of the time, and generally not even in the highest risk situations.

The virus is spreading because people are not taking sufficient precautions.

Lots of schools aren’t requiring people to wear them at all.

Masks were supposed to be worn correctly (a lot of people don’t wear correctly), and in conjunction with social distancing. People seem to think masks are magic and we can through social distancing out of the window if wearing one.
Controlling the spread mean a multi-faceted approach

Many still aren’t wearing masks. I was on the tube Friday I reckon about 50% had no mask on, do we really believe they all have a genuine exemption? All of them ?

Some people don’t wear a mask properly, they have the nose poking out, they pull it down to smoke etc etc

We have allowed people to travel to other countries, many won’t be bothering with quarantine when home. What good are masks when we allow free travel?

I think many people are also visiting friends/family in the home. Won’t be any mask wearing, distancing involved.

Masks weren’t ever said to rid us of Covid anyway, they weren’t meant to help us keep the numbers down. Has that worked? Well we don’t know what the numbers without masks would of been so we will never know.

DR Harries explained back in March why mask wearing may in fact increase infection rate due to most people being unaware of how to use masks correctly ( google her being interviewed re the question).
There has been very little public information regarding the correct use of masks, so mask wearing may we’ll be a factor in the increasing infection rate.

I'm not convinced masks are the answer, millions of people wearing something over the mouth and nose which in a lot of cases really don't fit properly meaning they are useless. We are designed NOT to have our airways covered up so it's little wonder people find them uncomfortable and don't wear them properly or at all. Even in workplaces with strict mask wearing, colleagues are still catching up on breaks without masks. The government have nothing else right now hence the mask wearing looking as though they are doing something.

Every bugger I see has their nose hanging out of their mask round here. It drives me nuts!

The problem seems to be people's houses where no one wears a mask.

Lots of schools aren’t requiring people to wear them at all
That’s because schools were told not to do that. They were explicitly told not to require it. And people on here had a complete conniption at the idea their child might have to wear one in school, which is why the government didn’t mandate it - the public had a hissy fit and, as usual, the government(s) caved to pressure.
This is why it’s all gone tits up.

People forget there's tons more testing now compared to when we were in lockdown. The number then would have been a lot lot higher but there wasn't enough tests