AIBU for thinking people wearing masks are the ones spreading the virus?

[Georgeoftheinternet]

I was at the supermarket today and no one was following the 2 metre social distancing guidelines. Masks give people a false sense of security and people become lax.

Putting a bit of gel on your hands doesn’t remove all the germs, your mask isn’t PPE (check out HSE website) and neither are gloves.

If this virus was so bad, why aren’t supermarket workers who see hundreds of people a day most at risk of dying.

Masks protect other people more than you but obviously if we all collectively wear them it offers protection for everyone. You should still distance yourself and sanitise.

Yabu. I social distance when shopping or on a walk while wearing my mask. Look at the success from Asian countries especially Taiwan.
I understand many people are fed up there isn't time to be complacent now.

YANBU. It's distance works a bit; hand washing works a bit and hand washing works a bit and no protracted socialising/ household mixing works a bit. But humans can't seem to sustain the concentration to do all those things as much as possible.

@Believehope I don’t find it normal to walk around in the street with a mask on, same for shopping.

I have a feeling that when the masks came in the supermarkets stopped with their policing and queues, so people became complacent.

*38Giganticshark

As masks are not worn correctly I do believe they spread the virus. People reuse dirty ones, drop them on floor, pop them in their pockets, touch them with dirty hands etc.

I work in a supermarket and not a single one of us has been off sick yet (100+ staff).
There are so many filty points that are never wiped down (handles, buttons, doors) plus we carry handsets and phones which and touch our masks. I do wonder why we aren't dropping like flies*

I work in a superstore and that is a daily conversation with my colleagues " why have only 3 people contracted in our store when we are constantly breathed on, touched, handle goods that have been discarded by customers etc etc." I'm presuming it's because we have been exposed to it constantly.

It's so strange. In the first few weeks people wearing masks were actually the worst for social distancing. Now it seems people are carrying on as normal and don't worry about social distancing as they are wearing a magic mask.

A couple of weeks ago I had a customer suddenly hug me as she was so pleased that I had a found a product for her.. I wasn't wearing a mask at the time as I am exempt but do wear one when I can. After the hug she said "you'll be fine, I've been shielding as I have cancer".

Why would you hug someone you don't know who isn't wearing a mask and working in a covid riddled environment when you are so vulnerable?

The social distancing message should not have changed. Government statements have muddied the waters. People now stand barely any further apart than we did in 2019, masks or no masks.

I think it's true to some extent that people use masks to allow closer distancing. But that's largely because distancing all the time isn't actually very practical, and people also find it unnatural.

So maybe in a perfect world there would be perfect 2m distancing, but since that has real downsides masks allow us to be less anal about that.

I do think we should be willing to ask questions about masks and not act as if doing so is some kind of crazy talk. I think they have some significant downsides as well, and may be more useful in some settings than others. I have a lot of doubts about their utility in schools, for example.

People who are complacent are complacent because they’re fucking stupid, not because of masks! YABU. As for the flu comment...

@Giganticshark same here. Over 250 staff and a handful of people have been told to self isolate but we've had no positive cases in our store. It does make you think because even if you don't take into account the customers we are sharing pda's, computers, jumping on and off tills etc and there are so many reasons why we should be getting outbreaks in supermarkets but they seem to be passing us by, not complaining about that though!

If this virus was so bad, why aren’t supermarket workers who see hundreds of people a day most at risk of dying.

The covid death rate for retail staff was 75% higher among men and 60% higher among women compared to the general population before face masks were made mandatory.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/14/english-mask-plan-will-help-tackle-high-covid-death-rate-for-shop-staff-matt-hancock

@ultrablue thanks for the info and it’s what I suspected!
The thing is no one checks in on the app whilst shopping.

[quote Hobnobsandbroomstick]If this virus was so bad, why aren’t supermarket workers who see hundreds of people a day most at risk of dying.

The covid death rate for retail staff was 75% higher among men and 60% higher among women compared to the general population before face masks were made mandatory.

www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/14/english-mask-plan-will-help-tackle-high-covid-death-rate-for-shop-staff-matt-hancock[/quote]
No it actually says “who can be....”. No idea where they got that number From. It’s not like we’ve given info on what are weight is, what we do for work, out health etc....

@EmeraldShamrock “white countries” have had disproportionately more deaths than Asian countries. So perhaps it’s a European disease that makes white people more at risk?

No it actually says “who can be....”. No idea where they got that number From. It’s not like we’ve given info on what are weight is, what we do for work, out health etc....

They record occupation on death certificates. Pretty easy to collect data about which occupations have a higher death rate than the average for people their age.

@Giganticshark

As masks are not worn correctly I do believe they spread the virus. People reuse dirty ones, drop them on floor, pop them in their pockets, touch them with dirty hands etc.

I work in a supermarket and not a single one of us has been off sick yet (100+ staff).
There are so many filty points that are never wiped down (handles, buttons, doors) plus we carry handsets and phones which and touch our masks. I do wonder why we aren't dropping like flies

I laugh when the staff wipe the card machines with the same dry wipe. It’s gross. Even if it was a different one for every customer, the germs aren’t instantly killed. They should be providing tooth picks for machines commonly touched.

@Hobnobsandbroomstick

No it actually says “who can be....”. No idea where they got that number From. It’s not like we’ve given info on what are weight is, what we do for work, out health etc....

They record occupation on death certificates. Pretty easy to collect data about which occupations have a higher death rate than the average for people their age.

Read the article again and look at the date. There is no study cited and if supermarket workers were really more at risk, then why at my local Morrison’s none wear masks.

Again the article said “could be” not “are”. It doesn’t take a genius to work out that being close to lots of people is what passes on the virus. Hence why I’m not surprised more supermarket workers aren’t dying.

Wasn't there a study which said 0.5m distance with masks is more effective than 2m without.

Supermarkets are a good example of demonstrating that the virus is transmitted faster through droplets in the air than secretions on surfaces.

Supermarkets are (usally) vast open spaces. Very tall ceilings. The staff are mostly behind screens or in masks on the floor. If you have close contact with someone in a supermarket its for less than the 15mins required for test and trace. Its very easy to keep 1m+ away from others especially staff.

Shame schools aren't as vast a space!

@Georgeoftheinternet

Why don't you ask the staff in Morrisons why they don't wear one if you're that bothered. You don't want to wear a mask, then don't wear one. I'm sick of hearing people say covid isn't that bad, or flu kills the same number of people each year as covid; it doesn't.

Covid has killed 4 of the staff at the hospital where I work, three of my colleagues have lost a parent to it, it put my one of my colleagues 44 year old husband on a ventilator for five weeks, and several are still struggling with long covid after getting infected in March/April.

Wiping debit machines is pretty unless IMO. The more sensible approach is for the customer to wash hands or sanitise after coming out of the store.

YANBU

I’ve said this the entire time. Masks Do not offer full protection - it like holding up an umbrella in rain with holes in it. The government know this and it’s the reason why they took so long to implement mask wearing in the first place.

The virus is here. We have to live with it. People are really struggling because there is no quick fix to it.

But hey - betty down the road is making masks out of t- shits and selling them on facebook! Yey!!

[quote Georgeoftheinternet]@HerdyGerdy 46,229 is the official figure. And so what, same amount died from the flu yearly.

Saw my friend who wears a masks put on her instagram how she was with her friend at the bar. Both unnecessary and no
Social distancing.[/quote]
OP, The official figure is what it is because we've spent the last 7 months minimising our social interactions, washing our hands and social distancing. If we hadn't done those things, it would be far, far higher. Please read up on exponential growth and how it works.

[quote Georgeoftheinternet]@EmeraldShamrock “white countries” have had disproportionately more deaths than Asian countries. So perhaps it’s a European disease that makes white people more at risk?[/quote]
East Asians are more used to wearing masks. They’re very common in Korea, China and Japan. Even before Covid was a thing I saw loads of East Asians wearing them around my home city.

If masks are so evil and useless, why are we wearing them? Why do people wear them? Should I just give up?

I agree. And I posted about this months ago bit got shouted down.

No one will admit it though no matter what you say

So we should all just not wear them?