Masks

[Dementedswan]

How long do you think people will have to wear face masks? Has any guidance been issued on this or will they be scrapped in June?

I'm hoping mask wearing and distancing will become a choice after 21st June. Everyone who want to can carry on and those who don't can stop wearing them.

@SGChome20

I saw a woman speaking on tv saying they’d be here ‘for a few years’ don’t know who she was but looked official, I’ll try and find out who it was.

I could believe it and think a lot will depend on what happens globally not just here in the UK.

Nothing is set in stone, we do need an element of flexibility since every measure put in place (masks, distancing, vaccines) is only theoretical until we have real world proof of effectiveness over a length of time. This is still a new virus and there is no blueprint to say what will happen with any strategy taken. It’s all projections and estimates that can’t be proved until we do them on a large scale.

I think voluntary wearing will go in for a while. I may well wear on public transport next winter simply to avoid people blasting their colds around. I hope compulsory wearing ends in June.

@Sparklingbrook

I bet there's loads of people that have to wear one all day for work that would love to be ripping them off their faces...

Here we go again with the "wearing masks isn't good enough, you must actively enjoy it".

If people have chosen to be in occupations which require mask wearing that is their choice. Nobody has chosen to be forced into wearing a mask in Asda. It's OK to say you hate the hideous things and can't wait for them to be gone.

I guess they will need to see that the changes that take effect from next week and then May/june go ok etc. It's all so precarious still.

www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/uk-56475807

If people have chosen to be in occupations which require mask wearing that is their choice.

People that work in shops didn't. or people that work in hairdressers/beauty places.

I trust the vaccine a hell of a lot more than a piece of cloth or random disposable mask, even before they've been stashed in pockets for god knows how long. The vast majority of what people wear in public has no accreditation of effectiveness against viral spread.

I can't wear them, they (and visors) bring on sensory overehelm and panic attacks/ hyperventilating within a minute or two.
I loathe being around people wearing them as there is no facial focal point, I can't lip read and I can hear even less than usual because of the distorted muffling. I end up staring at ankles trying to focus my energy on cobbling sentences together and guessing the gaps.
They make life miserable and eliminate any pleasure from actually escaping the house.

I desperately hope that the mandate is dropped on June 21st.
Most will vote with their feet at any establishment that demands them.

A quick Google tells me that there are approx 11 million deaf people in the UK. How is it OK to exclude all those people from society?

People who need to see faces to communicate. I do feel there needs to be an awareness about this.

Not sure what the answer is, but if that bbc article is correct and it's a long time, how are these people meant to function?

@HereComesATractor Yes, the small children thing is a big part of my loathing for them - in the places where they’re currently mandated I’m almost always with three year old DD, and it’s so much harder to communicate with her, focus on breathing, push the buggy, carry shopping etc in a mask. I’m hot and bothered within a couple of minutes and can’t properly focus on what I’m doing. Also very reluctant to have her spend too much time in masked settings as she needs to see faces for normal social development and language acquisition. I can see long term mask use being very detrimental from a child development perspective.

It;s just another category of people who have been thrown under the bus, @Dementedswan. Just like teenagers and all the other groups who have been failed due to an entire year with the sole focus of covid.

And even now that we have multiple, effective and safe vaccines that's not good enough. Some of the epidemiologists will not be happy unless there are zero cases of covid, anywhere in the world and would quite happily keep us locked in our houses and wearing masks until they achieve that. Luckily the government realises there are other factors which are more important like the economy, jobs, mental health, wellbeing.

I wish people would stop quoting some random public health expert who has one sole focus and isn't even thinking about everything else.

@Dementedswan

A quick Google tells me that there are approx 11 million deaf people in the UK. How is it OK to exclude all those people from society?

People who need to see faces to communicate. I do feel there needs to be an awareness about this.

Not sure what the answer is, but if that bbc article is correct and it's a long time, how are these people meant to function?

Because only Covid matters.

We can see this with hospital appointments, cancer treatments, deaths, mental health issues.

'How is it OK to exclude all those people from society?'

If someone is Deaf then a friend or relative is exempt from mask wearing. The only exemption I support. Of course that means Deaf people lose their independence but at least if out in public they are able to have someone with them to interpret which many actually do anyway.

Also, shops are very helpful if they know someone relies on lip reading they will remove masks and use visors.

So deaf people are only allowed out in public with a minder?

How is that appropriate?

@JaniieJones

'How is it OK to exclude all those people from society?'

If someone is Deaf then a friend or relative is exempt from mask wearing. The only exemption I support. Of course that means Deaf people lose their independence but at least if out in public they are able to have someone with them to interpret which many actually do anyway.

Also, shops are very helpful if they know someone relies on lip reading they will remove masks and use visors.

That's not exactly sustainable long term is it? Huge number of people losing their independence for many more months or years?

@Sparklingbrook

I bet there's loads of people that have to wear one all day for work that would love to be ripping them off their faces...

Yes there are. Whats your point?

'So deaf people are only allowed out in public with a minder?'

No, I didn't say that. I said if friends or family are accompanying a Deaf person they are exempt from mask wearing and if a Deaf person is alone shop staff will remove their masks and remain 2m away to allow lip reading. I know this I have Deaf friends and none have had negative experiences in shops, well no more than usual. Of course other shoppers are oblivious and often unhelpful but that is the case in normal times.

@RaspberryCoulis

So deaf people are only allowed out in public with a minder?

How is that appropriate?

It's not.

So a previously independent person now has to rely on a carer. I hope the government is planning on paying these carers salaries as they'd have to quit work to follow their deaf person around

Like I said there is no easy solution. I wonder how many of these deaf people are not on anti depressants? I'm one of them.

Now on anti depressants...

'That's not exactly sustainable long term is it?'

None of this is sustainable long term. It is a solution though, if someone reliant on lipreading need assistance from a member of staff they will remove face covers while maintaining SD.

It’s that adage that around here gets you branded as a Covid denier

It ends when we all say no. If there was mass non compliance of things like mask mandates the requirement to wear them would go away as enforcement would be impossible.

It’s like the way the police have given up dealing with drug runners etc. Too many to deal with.

'I hope the government is planning on paying these carers salaries as they'd have to quit work to follow their deaf person around hmm'

It isnt about needing carers to 'follow anyone around', please don't be so derogatory about carers or Deaf people, but many hoh or Deaf people shop with a family member anyway. If they do now the friend or relative is exempt from mask wearing to facilitate lip reading. If the hoh or Deaf person is shopping alone and needs assistance the shop staff will briefly remove their face cover so they can lip read.

@JaniieJones what do they do about taking their children out? Cinema's, indoor play, swimming lessons etc.

I am struggling to see why they are in any way necessary once vaccination programme is done or useful if hospitality is fully open (with or without Covid measures). If you can eat and drink inside premises with random strangers how on Earth does wearing a mask sitting silently at your desk with known colleagues help?

@JaniieJones I think you're missing the point that previously deaf or hoh could shop and go on days out etc. without the need to take someone with or ask for special treatment from staff, and that independence has been taken away with mask wearing. That isn't really fair or proportionate long term.