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?

There is the theory (which I have seen but not read detailed evidence about) that masks are not preventing transmission altogether but by lowering the viral load they are helping to reduce the risk of hospitalisation and death.

Well if the local beach was anything to go by thousands of people on it not wearing any kind of face covering and local pub, loads of people in there not wearing face coverings as they were eating, drinking and wandering about.
It's a people fail - I very much doubt anyone went to a nightclub with a facemask on.
Anti face mask rallies everywhere - no face masks worn, there was one near me led by the previous prime ministers brother, Summer Solstice on Glastonbury Tor - no face masks and faeces and urine all over the hill as no toilets and so on and so forth.
No doubt the same people will be out clapping like penguins on Thursday nights during the subsequent lock downs.
This is an extremely goady thread given peoples behaviour this summer and autumn.

Loads of people not social distancing.
People don't wear them properly
Spread in hospitality
Spread in homes
Schools/unis

Facemasks are just one of the lines of defence, although there seems to be a lot of inconsistency with wearing them anyway. I've stopped going in my local large supermarket because it was getting so bad I'd say 70 - 80% of people in there were not wearing them. They can't all be blinking exempt and if they deliberately choose not to wear a mask I assume they are not too bothered about following the other guidelines either.

Because people only wear masks in certain places and not all the time. Also schools uni's work and pubs etc are all back open.

The R rate is much lower than it was before lockdown when no one was wearing masks. That is partly due to mask use but it's not binary. So some of us wearing masks some of the time won't suddenly cut the R rate to zero.

I dont think a majority are - in most shops 50% are not - or are wearing under their nose.

Should be 100% mandatory - no excuses - then see if it works

Because people don't wear them in pubs and restaurants, and that's the source of a lot of infections

Students don't wear them in halls of residence

Because they're fucking pointless?

You are told to wear a mask in many situations where the risk is incredibly low. Such as walking round Asda. A mask in that situation reduces a minute, miniscule risk to an even more minute, miniscule risk by a neglible amount. People were not catching Covid in shops in April/May before they started insisting on the mask thing.

You do not have to wear a mask in situations where you are much more likely to catch it such as having meals, in your family home or in someone else's home.

The ONLY place I can see an argument for masks is on public transport where you are in an enclosed space with people you do not know, and where social distancing is hard.

Face masks are there to reduce transmission risk, but the more people are around other people in close proximity the more they are at risk to the virus. A face cloth won't change that.

Social distancing is far more important than a mask.

1. How do you know what rates would be like without masks? Could be way worse
2. Hopefully masks lowering viral dose leads to less severe infection
3. Nobody said they’re a silver bullet. They’re a tool to help along with others like distancing.
4. A vaccine will only be another tool not a silver bullet
5. There is no magic answer yet
6. Stop looking for magic

Well if the local beach was anything to go by thousands of people on it not wearing any kind of face covering

An indoor beach, was it? You do know that outside, masks are not required?

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

Evidence?
Here in Belgium masks were compulsory on every street until the beginning of October. In every building except when sitting at your desk/cafe table. And the numbers are very high and growing rapidly. Mask use has not helped here (unless you think it would be even worse without them, which is hard to believe).

@ZZGirl

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

But hospitalisations and deaths are also rising quite fast, so it's not just about testing.

"People were not catching Covid in shops in April/May"

Evidence for this?
I know someone who's sure he caught it in the supermarket.

@Ponoka7

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.

I'm in Liverpool too. Just got back from the shops and everyone i saw was wearing a mask.

I've got to be honest, I am beginning to wonder.

Because I have an absolute stinker of a cold. How did I catch it, and who from? I don't go anywhere apart from work where we are all quite a long way apart and there are no customers coming in and out. If I go to the shop, I'm wearing a mask and try to get in and out as quickly as possible. My family members have all been doing the same, yet three of us are down with the same bug.

(Before you ask, yes we have all been tested, and are awaiting results).

"The ONLY place I can see an argument for masks is on public transport where you are in an enclosed space with people you do not know, and where social distancing is hard."

Social distancing is hard on the pavements where I live and was also hard on the pavements where I lived before. Those are outside spaces, but if it can be caught outside (not very clear to me) then a mask should be worn in all densely populated areas.

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

Also it was all over the news that Paris, Nice, Marseille and several Spanish provinces made mask wearing compulsory everywhere. Inside and outside. And they're doing really well now, aren't they?

Incorrect use means that you may actually infect the mask so when you put it back on, having transferred the virus to your mask you then infect yourself. Masks should be single use, you should not remove them, handle them or put them onto a possibly contaminated surface ( table in pub or cafe) then put them back on.
In a clinical setting you would wash your hands then put a mask on, not remove it or handle it until you were ready to remove it, then it would go straight into a clinical waste bin, after which you wash your hands.
People wear the same mask or face covering, doffing and donning it multiple times a day. Touch the face and mask continuously potentially infecting mask since they are not hand washing or santitising before or after.
The studies there often quoted in theses threads have been carried out for clinical settings where the wearers have been fully trained in their effective use.

@Gwenhwyfar out of interest what is mask policy in schools there pls?

"I'm in Liverpool too. Just got back from the shops and everyone i saw was wearing a mask."

In many cities, compliance varies from area to area.

@BrazenlyDefying

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

Also it was all over the news that Paris, Nice, Marseille and several Spanish provinces made mask wearing compulsory everywhere. Inside and outside. And they're doing really well now, aren't they?

Exactly. I'm not an anti-masker, but they don't seem to be preventing the spread at all.

I'm vulnerable too and I work in a school. We wear them in communal areas in school

I don’t see many of the ‘young uns’ out partying in the streets when the pubs close wearing masks.