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.

[annabel85]

@Believehope

I think one of the reasons people don't socially distance now as much as they did in the spring is that it was all new then. To some degree, we've all got on with living without abject terror, just living as normally as possible now.

In the spring people were crossing the road to avoid other people.

[Georgeoftheinternet]

@Tavannach exactly what people don’t doing, being close to each other and wearing a mask (Often incorrectly).

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

I read today the view that the virus isn’t hugely airborne - it’s not spreading on planes - and persists on surfaces.

This has made me wonder whether masks are making it spread more. You put the mask on, it’s damp, you touch it on and off, you touch handles/sanitiser pumps etc.

I accept masks seem to help prevent droplet spread but is covid spread by droplets or are cloth masks making things worse?

We need research.

[DameFanny]

No, cloth masks and sanitisers aren't making things worse. The virus is there, people are spreading it, a mask makes it less likely you'll pass it on - and also has the potential to reduce the viral load if someone coughs on you.

How is this hard to understand?

It's like people think that the virus just spontaneously generates on the mask itself and then catch it from that

[Flutter12]

You put the mask on, it’s damp, you touch it on and off

You are supposed to only touch the strings of the mask and not keep putting it on and off. And you are only meant to wear it for a certain amount of time before washing it (I think 2 hours). But I agree I don’t know many people who follow these rules really strictly not because they’re trying to rebel but because they don’t realise/don’t have the time to keep replacing them through the day.

[DameFanny]

[quote Georgeoftheinternet]@DameFanny missing the point. People wearing masks feel safe and don’t socially distance.[/quote]
Untrue.

Some people don't socially distanced, whether or not they're wearing masks. Those people are the problem, not the masks.

[NoIDontWatchLoveIsland]

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

It's because the average age of people dying of Covid is higher than uk life expectancy AND...

It's not fleeting contact in supermarkets spreading it. Its family groups visiting each others homes, young people continuing to go to pubs & bars with different friends every night etc

[Georgeoftheinternet]

@DameFanny no one is coughing on me

[DameFanny]

[quote Georgeoftheinternet]@DameFanny no one is coughing on me[/quote]
I'm happy for you

[Tavannach]

no one is coughing on me

Or sneezing? Or shouting? Or singing? Coughing is just one example.
You do seem to be only concerned about whether or not you yourself get infected.
FWIW I wear a mask and I socially distance. I haven't noticed that most people without masks are any more vigilant about socially distancing.

[Tavannach]

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

Because masks are mandatory in shops and most shoppers comply.

[Ghosts2020]

I have hypoxemia aswell as severe asthma and arrhythmia. I have been working and studying in science to save individuals like yourself who quite frankly don't deserve saving. Disgusting attitude.

[cherryblossomgin]

Masks are probably not doing much, no-one really wears them right and most people put them on when they are at the front door of the shop. People have stopped distancing properly and no-one follows the arrows. The people who are panicking are usually the ones at the pub with more than 2 households. They are also going on holiday and refusing to quarantine if they are told. But what can you do? I'm just going to follow the rules even if they are doing nothing.

[Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow]

dame i do find it hard to understand! Read my post - if the virus isn’t airborne and instead lasts on surfaces then current mask policy, not properly adhered to, Will possibly worsen transmission

[Tadpolesandfroglets]

Of course the virus is airborne! What’s wrong with people? Risk of transmitting through services is actually low, especially outside as UV light kills it. Mask wearing, when done properly, is effective in reducing viral load. It’s not difficult. Socially distancing, when adhered to properly, is also effective in reducing numbers.

[Cornettoninja]

Although I agree with your point that masks give a false sense of security since they’re not 100% effective I can’t agree that they’re a factor in the actual spread.

Social distancing and masks have slowed the rate of infection dramatically from what I can see. If we use the daily death rate as a metric to judge then deaths in the spring rose quickly and dramatically, this just hasn’t happened in the autumn. Deaths have risen but at a much slower rate.

Masks were never going to stop covid but from what I can tell they’re absolutely doing the job they’re officially meant to.

[DameFanny]

@Calledyoulastnightfromglasgow

dame i do find it hard to understand! Read my post - if the virus isn’t airborne and instead lasts on surfaces then current mask policy, not properly adhered to, Will possibly worsen transmission

The virus is airborne. That's how it's getting to surfaces where it does - in aerosols and droplets. It degrades quickly on surfaces, unless it's the surface of your nose or mouth, in which case it makes itself at home and gets breeding.

[Dustysilkflowers]

@Cornettoninja

Although I agree with your point that masks give a false sense of security since they’re not 100% effective I can’t agree that they’re a factor in the actual spread.

Social distancing and masks have slowed the rate of infection dramatically from what I can see. If we use the daily death rate as a metric to judge then deaths in the spring rose quickly and dramatically, this just hasn’t happened in the autumn. Deaths have risen but at a much slower rate.

Masks were never going to stop covid but from what I can tell they’re absolutely doing the job they’re officially meant to.

The only thing that will ‘absolutely’ do the job is SD. If you can breath through your mask Covid aerosols can get out.

Mask do lessen the spread however It’s like using a leaky umbrella though. Masks alone will never be enough.

Petrol stations are a perfect example -

People get out of their car unmasked. Use the pump then put their mask on to go in to the shop.

They’ve probably been coughing in the car, virus could be all over their hands which is now on the pump. Ready to be passed on to the next user.

Unless your in a hazmat suit - unwittingly you too could be passing the virus on or catching it regardless if your wearing a leopard print face mask that’s folded in half.

[Gingernaut]

Wash hands. put mask on, wash hands, reduce touching stuff to a minimum, sanitise hands after touching stuff, sanitise hands after touching the mask, reduce interaction to the bare minimum, go home asap.

I work for the NHS (not patient facing), this is routine for me.

I'm appalled at how absentminded people are.

Hand rails, stairs, escalators, phones (Jesus, do people love their phones?), gates, doors, picking stuff off the shelves and putting it back when shopping, with children all over the place - all are cross-contamination points.

Every time you touch something, sanitise your hands. This is not rocket science.

[Cornettoninja]

@Dustysilkflowers, you’re absolutely right. In the context of low infections rates masks are a tool that allow society to operate without overwhelming infrastructure with sick people.

As far as I’m aware the U.K. has never had a strategy of complete elimination but the benefits masks offer are a valuable part of keeping rates low and I haven’t come across any evidence to suggest they contribute to a rise in cases.

There was a case study in New York of an outbreak in a hairdressers where two hairdressers tested positive but the approx 60 people they’d come into contact with and agreed to testing were all negative. The hypothesis was they’d transmitted it between themselves when on breaks without masks.

If we had a viable 100% foolproof method of preventing transmission I have no doubt we’d be using it.

[AntiHop]

[quote Georgeoftheinternet]@AntiHop as I said, surgery.[/quote]
And I said it was NOT a c section. Therefore not surgery.

And you didn't answer my question. Why do dentists and surgeons wear them if they don't work?

[Georgeoftheinternet]

@cherryblossomgin

Masks are probably not doing much, no-one really wears them right and most people put them on when they are at the front door of the shop. People have stopped distancing properly and no-one follows the arrows. The people who are panicking are usually the ones at the pub with more than 2 households. They are also going on holiday and refusing to quarantine if they are told. But what can you do? I'm just going to follow the rules even if they are doing nothing.

Or the selfish people going on holidays to Italy or Spain with their rampant rates of infection

[Legoandloldolls]

Well you cant win can you? Dont wear a mask - your a dick, wear a mask - your a dick

Follow the rules - your a dick, dont follow the rules and your a dick

I couldn't really a shiney shit anymore what anyone says. I wear a mask cause it's the rules. I try to keep 2m away because it's the rules.

If people dont follow the rules I dont burst a blood vessel. In fact I find it increasingly hard to give a fuck as I can only control my own actions.

So if makes people happy I follow the Gov rules because it's the right thing to do and most people do also.

I dont want to kill anyones granny. I just want to get the fuck on with life

[Legoandloldolls]

Isnt it great that we can place all the blame somewhere? Shame there isnt a sub section of humanity we can blame for cancer too.

[PTW1234]

No people are to blame, because without people their wound or be a virus. Not any method of protection is fool proof, we need layers of controls, just like condoms and birth control which isn’t 100% effective on their own or combine. No singular measure against the virus is effective.

Social distancing, mask wearing, reducing contacts combined creates layers of controls, all with holes in, but if you combine the all hopefully all the holes get blocked.

See the Swiss cheese risk and control models used in aviation and engineering