Has anyone else noticed less people wearing masks?

[TheSilence]

I’ve noticed it more and more the last week or so, but today I went in 3 shops and in each one there were probably around half the people not wearing one, whereas before it was around 90%. Have I missed a rule change where they’re no longer compulsory? Or maybe there’s just more exempt people going out.

@PrimeraVez

I live in a country where they are still mandatory any time you are outside of the home, apart from in your private vehicle with members of the same household, exercising or receiving medical treatment on your face.

They are also mandatory for children over a young age (I think 6? I’m not sure, mine are younger)

Since it became law over a year ago, I have only ever seen one adult not wearing a mask and they were getting a lot of looks, comments etc.

I hate them - it’s 40 degrees here at the moment and only getting hotter, I’m 7 months pregnant and have a DC with sensory issues who really suffers from not being able to see my mouth when I speak. BUT for us it’s the law, and rightly or wrongly, I do feel a lot safer when everyone around me is wearing one.

That sounds really hard, in that heat it must be unbearable. We really don’t have it that strict at all here compared to how it is for you!

Even if aerosols spread it which as you say is looking likely, masks will still help to contain SOME droplets, there doesn’t even need to be any research on this tbh it’s just common sense. Something over someone’s mouth and nose is going to catch some droplets. And on a whole population level, even a tiny amount can make a difference with infection control

There’s two ways I’m looking at this.

If COVID spreads only via droplets, then yes, source control may be a factor. So why not just ask those who are actively sick to wear a mask? Why mask the healthy?

If it’s spread via aerosols, then everyone would need to wear a tightly fitting N95 indoors, nothing less. Surgical masks that everyone wears are useless in those scenarios.

I’ve never understood the angst about wearing a mask in a shop or on a bus, for those who are able to

Probably that all vulnerable populations should be fully vaxxed by now? Just a guess.

So you say Japan still get slammed by flu, well how does that prove anything? Masks aren’t meant to eradicate a virus I thought, just help to control the numbers a tiny bit and help reduce viral load. So you could argue Japan’s flu numbers would be even higher without them. But there’s no way of knowing is there, again it’s just a common sense thing to do

Hard to prove a negative but people said that the reason that COVID didn’t kill so many in Asia was because of mask wearing. Well, it doesn’t work on seasonal flu ... which is less transmissible to start with?

Also, people are saying here that mask wearing made seasonal flu disappear worldwide in 2020, but it never made a discernible difference at any point in the past in Asia, so 🤷‍♀️

How nice that you lived in Japan, it’s like a different world isn’t it compared to here? There COVID handling has been pretty good too from what I’ve read, they don’t have the appalling death toll we have for a start

I don’t live in Japan anymore but you are dead wrong here. Japanese government dithered about, Japan never locked down (legally they can’t force businesses to shut down), there’s much less of a WFH culture so packed trains in cities ...

Conspiracy theory was going around that the Japanese government was somehow hiding deaths so they could have the Olympics that year, but it’s wasn’t true (no excess deaths)

You couldn’t even get a COVID test for love or money until very, very recently so cases tell you very little about the Japanese situation.

And now their vaccine rollout is a complete shambles.

I think you must mean South Korea 😂

@UsedUpUsername I don’t know how to quote parts of your post like you did, so will have to answer with bullet points.

• You ask why mask the healthy? Did you read my post where I said covid symptoms can vary quite a lot, and some people might feel ‘off’ but not think they have covid. That’s why.

• If it spreads via aerosols then yes it’s more problematic, but as I said, a mask will still catch some droplets which will help even a tiny bit.

• You state people being vaxxed as a reason why there’s angst about them. The anger and refusal about masks started as soon as we were asked to wear them, I’ve read a LOT of social media over the past year and a half and seen how people feel about them. Do you like them? If not is that because of the vax rollout or did your feelings start before that?

• I’ve never read that mask wearing eradicated flu last season, I’ve read it’s because of the whole world basically going into lockdown and stopping everything that involves big groups getting together. Masks might be a small part of that but the physical distance between people will have been what did it surely? Also covid is more contagious than flu, so measures that reduce covid slightly will have worked extra well for flu. Basically, covid has been the ‘top dog’ virus so no others have stood a chance. I worry about when flu does start circulating again whether it’ll hit us harder 😬

• if I’m wrong about Japan then I take it back. I thought they’d done a decent job, not amazing but better than here. Yes I know South Korea have put them and most of the world to shame. South Korea is an amazing country, one I’d love to visit one day.

So how would you have handled the covid pandemic?

You ask why mask the healthy? Did you read my post where I said covid symptoms can vary quite a lot, and some people might feel ‘off’ but not think they have covid. That’s why

If you have a cough or are sneezing, you aren’t ‘healthy’ and maybe should be encouraged to wear a mask if you must be out and about and have an active cough.

If you aren’t sick enough to have a cough or are sneezing, are you really going to spread it? Asymptomatic spread hasn’t been well demonstrated: www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4851

If it spreads via aerosols then yes it’s more problematic, but as I said, a mask will still catch some droplets which will help even a tiny bit

I really don’t see how this is the case if it is transmitted via aerosols. You will be inhaling this virus regardless of what their mask is catching. Unless they are wearing a properly fitting N95 which the majority of people were not.

You state people being vaxxed as a reason why there’s angst about them. The anger and refusal about masks started as soon as we were asked to wear them, I’ve read a LOT of social media over the past year and a half and seen how people feel about them. Do you like them? If not is that because of the vax rollout or did your feelings start before that?

For me, I only wore it to make others feel more comfortable. Well, the vulnerable can now get a vaccine now so I really don’t want to play along anymore.

I’ve never read that mask wearing eradicated flu last season

I’ve seen people say it. Of course it’s not true, no one really knows why flu has taken a year off. There was a lot of panic about flu + Covid hitting together but that didn’t happen thankfully.

I was also tired of people saying that Japan did a good job when they didn’t do anything at all and their own people are mad because the government is actually pretty incompetent 😂

@UsedUpUsername - About spreading it if you don’t have a covid induced cough or sneezes. Yes it’s my understanding that you could still spread it because people cough and sneeze anyway, for other health reasons or simply just as humans do! I thought pre-symptomatic spread was a thing? You don’t know what stage of the covid illness you’re at, you could be about to get symptoms.

So have you now stopped wearing masks? As you said you don’t feel like playing along now. Have all the vulnerable definitely been vaccinated, with both doses?

Hasn’t flu taken a year off for the reasons I mentioned in my previous post? I’m not knowledgeable about it though.

I honestly had no idea that Japan did nothing at all in regard to covid, I’ll make sure to read more about this so I’m more informed.

How would you have handled this whole situation?

Less on public transport and bus drivers no longer saying anything. Also Tesco, who have been really strict round here with security guards and traffic light system on the doors have stopped saying anything about people not wearing masks and are only using the traffic light system when they're trying to stop lots of school kids coming in at once.

Someone asked on here, if I would be prepared to wear a mask forever to protect vulnerable/people who could not be vaccinnated for medical reasons. My answer is yes. I also have to say I will probably wear a mask on public transport for good now, people's standard of hygiene on buses was dreadful well before any Pandemic. They also had no consideration for other passengers. Im asthmatic and definitely feel better on public transport wearing a mask. Other people need to make their own decisions. I cannot speak for other people.

@Snorkelface

Less on public transport and bus drivers no longer saying anything. Also Tesco, who have been really strict round here with security guards and traffic light system on the doors have stopped saying anything about people not wearing masks and are only using the traffic light system when they're trying to stop lots of school kids coming in at once.

Oh interesting, yes I’ve noticed the same at tesco and on a bus as I’ve used both since making this thread. On the bus was worse because it was absolutely packed, zero social distancing at all, we were actual sardines And at least half the passengers had no mask on. Of those that did, lots were wearing it on their chin or just the mouth. Tesco was the same, no one at the door as there has been these past few months, and at least half not wearing a mask once inside.

@Gothichouse40

Someone asked on here, if I would be prepared to wear a mask forever to protect vulnerable/people who could not be vaccinnated for medical reasons. My answer is yes. I also have to say I will probably wear a mask on public transport for good now, people's standard of hygiene on buses was dreadful well before any Pandemic. They also had no consideration for other passengers. Im asthmatic and definitely feel better on public transport wearing a mask. Other people need to make their own decisions. I cannot speak for other people.

I’m in total agreement with you, you’re so right, even before all of this I’d started to feel grubby after going on a bus or train, seeing how dirty everything was and if masks help a tiny bit with infection control then that’s a good thing. Even though I said I hate them - which I do - I’m ok to tolerate them for short periods of time on balance.

Can I ask, do you find that your asthma makes it harder to wear one?