Being made to wear masks.

[SeriouslyHateMasks]

For some reason, I can't really explain why, I just hate wearing masks. I absolutely HATE them. Aside from this, I have willingly followed all the rules and I worked in a key role throughout all the pandemic. Not NHS, more supply chain. I have to wear a mask all day at work and I hate it.

Anyway, I have been out of England for the past 2 weeks and was looking forward to ditching the mask. Except, I can't. Whilst I was away it turns out our town council did a survey and they are encouraging everyone to still wear masks. So, I went to the shops today and everywhere I went I had to wear a mask. I went to the supermarket too and every single person had one on, so I had to follow suit or probably get an earful.

I feel so gutted. I totally respect anyone's right to wear a mask, but they are no longer enforced by law and I shouldn't have to wear one if I don't want to. If we have to wear one now, then when exactly is this going to stop?

I have not once taken a supermarket slot during the pandemic and left it for others more in need. I just now feel f^ck it. I will buy everything online and get it delivered if I have to continue wearing a mask everywhere I go. Also, what is the point of me getting double vaccinated if I have to carry on wearing this on my face in 30 degree heat.

Well other people wearing masks did not stop me catching covid. The only inside places I went people were wearing masks. So the sanctimonious mask brigade can fuck the fuck off. Yes they are supposed to protect others, we all know that, but the pieces of cloth that go in and out of pockets/bags are not fit for purpose.

@OrangeBananaFish exactly. Anyone who thinks covering their face with a piece of non medical grade cloth will stop the spread of an airborne virus has lost the ability to think critically. The virus has been running rampant, even with the mask wearing.

When I was at the supermarket this morning most people were wearing masks including me.
However, I think that keeping a trolley length or 2 away from someone is probably more effective than the non medical grade masks that most people are wearing.

[quote tedsletterofthelaw]@Finknottlesnewt I rather suspect a high percentage wear them to avoid a sanctimonious lecture.

[/quote]
Absolutely this!

On Monday I went to Sainsburys and Aldi and about 90% were wearing masks. On Tuesday I went to Tesco and it was about 70%. On Wednesday I was in Tesco again and it was about 50/50. Yesterday I went to a busy seaside town and in the arcades/shops/restaurants/cafes it was only a handful of people wearing masks, less than 10% I'd say.

The first few days most people wore a mask because they thought everyone else would, thought that they would get told to wear one by shop staff etc and thought that mask zealots would have a go at them. Now they are seeing that those things aren't happening they are ditching their masks.

On Monday I went to Sainsburys and Aldi and about 90% were wearing masks. On Tuesday I went to Tesco and it was about 70%. On Wednesday I was in Tesco again and it was about 50/50

This is very much my experience too - definitely declining as the week goes on, with the heatwave probably playing a part as well. Some places, like the private gym/pool I go to, are now completely mask-free zones.

She loves mystery

The first few days most people wore a mask because they thought everyone else would, thought that they would get told to wear one by shop staff etc and thought that mask zealots would have a go at them. Now they are seeing that those things aren't happening they are ditching their masks.

What an absolutely brilliant way to respond to a VIRAL pandemic that is yet again on rapid increase . Throw all scientifically recommended caution to the wind because 'everyone else is'

Do you really not care that YOU wearing a mask in areas where the aerosol droplets from YOUR breadth can land on someone who for whatever reason (blood clots, chemo etc) hasn't had a vaccine. Or who has had the vaccine but is still CEV now has their health and life compromised because YOU did not wear a bit of cloth across your face for a few minutes. ?

No I doubt you would . Anyone who cares so little for their fellow man would not have the ability to comprehend any of the above.

Don’t wear one then. It isn’t a legal requirement in most places and why are you bothered about other people’s opinions anyway? If you don’t care about Covid, most of the rest of us can see you aren’t wearing a mask and avoid you.

Part of the problem is that the anti-mask brigade have been so vocal you have convinced yourself that those who wear masks are ‘sheeple’ and are in the minority, whilst you (‘the ‘freedom fighters’) are in the majority. I reckon most people really don’t like wearing masks but are looking at the case numbers with raised eyebrows and deciding to continue wearing masks until they feel it is genuinely safer not to do. They are taking the government’s ‘Freedom Day’ with a pinch of salt but will remove masks when shops are quieter or the number of Covid cases fall in their area.

It’s showing who really are the ‘sheeple’ very effectively.

I went to the supermarket too and every single person had one on, so I had to follow suit or probably get an earful

There’s your problem OP, you’re getting wound up even though you yourself are using the word ‘probably’. Do what you want but don’t go creating problems that don’t exist for your own sake.

Fwiw OP, I know you say you’re not bothered by others wearing masks but you clearly are. It doesn’t affect you so don’t worry about it.

Perhaps and fortunately worth repeating as someone somewhere is evidently still doing the super spreading and mutating.

Wear masks to help kill the pandemic.

Don’t wear masks to possibly help kill granny or eventually yourself.

Simples. Even for hard of thinking hiding under a rock.

Any little risk mitigation is risk mitigation and better than nothing when you are in the same splitting distance breathing space. If you are unwashed unhygienic - perhaps the more you need to risk mitigate. It’s not just about masks in proximity of untested Covid people but your whole pandemic mindset and overall potential Covid footprint. Are you bumping into strangers daily in enclosed spaces or are you just popping out to quickly buy supplies etc infrequently?

The pandemic especially in this current mutating variants form is only discriminatory against those with most potential exposure and least health privilege. It may eventually beat the vaccination race as Covidiots worry about living today with “freedom” but possibly suffering in the longer term either health or wealth as prolonging the pandemic without any precautionary mindset is not going to work against science is it? Treat and respect others how you wish to be treated as this is a collective civic duty of care matter and just look to nations overseas that have less me me me exceptionalism entitlement snowflakes and therefore unlike our plague island with some modicum of scientific concern and better Covid data with less per capita infections and fatalities.

Wearing a mask is not going to save the planet but being a reckless Covidiot is possibly less helpful.

@Finknottlesnewt

She loves mystery

The first few days most people wore a mask because they thought everyone else would, thought that they would get told to wear one by shop staff etc and thought that mask zealots would have a go at them. Now they are seeing that those things aren't happening they are ditching their masks.

What an absolutely brilliant way to respond to a VIRAL pandemic that is yet again on rapid increase . Throw all scientifically recommended caution to the wind because 'everyone else is'

Do you really not care that YOU wearing a mask in areas where the aerosol droplets from YOUR breadth can land on someone who for whatever reason (blood clots, chemo etc) hasn't had a vaccine. Or who has had the vaccine but is still CEV now has their health and life compromised because YOU did not wear a bit of cloth across your face for a few minutes. ?

No I doubt you would . Anyone who cares so little for their fellow man would not have the ability to comprehend any of the above.

Lecturing me really isn't going to make any difference to whether I wear a mask (or to whether anyone else does) 🤷‍♀️

I was commenting on my observations from this week. I haven't worn a mask all week. I don't care whether someone is wearing a mask or not, no judgement from me either way. I prefer to mind my own business.

A motto that I've always lived by is "you can't change other people's behaviour, but you can change your own behaviour towards them and, in turn, they might change theirs towards you". You need to stop trying to control people, focus on yourself and your family. Sneering at and name calling people who think differently to you is not going to magically make them think the same as you. You really aren't going to change anyone else's behaviour that way so maybe try a different tactic.

[quote tedsletterofthelaw]@Finknottlesnewt I rather suspect a high percentage wear them to avoid a sanctimonious lecture.

[/quote]
So do I.

I haven't actually been inside the supermarket yet as my last shop was a Tesco click and collect a few days ago, but I will have to pop into Aldi today to get something my mother wants. I'm psyching myself up to do it without a mask and hope that the mask wearing percentage will have dropped over the past few days. It already is doing around here as far as I can see.

I've done my bit at wearing them over the last year despite struggling tolerate them due to lung scarring and other issues. I've reached my limits more or less now and will use my exemption in future should they make a comeback.

@CuriousaboutSamphire

And think a year ago so many were screaming about being killed because of incompetent ministers not ordering masks; if only we were like North Korea etc etc.

Now, masks don't work and we're not going to wear them ever again.

How many people/posters do you think said both?

"screaming" ? usually indicates the rest of the post is going to be fairly senseless

masks work to help diminish the spread of infection

For some reason, I can't really explain why, I just hate wearing masks. I absolutely HATE them.

Poor you op, that must be so hard. I absolutely love mine - the hot, slightly damp air around your face, the straps rubbing on my ears, the steamed up glasses, the way it pushes my varifocals up and everything gets blurry. I mean what's not to like.

Seriously get over yourself. You're not special. Nobody likes them.

Topseyt

Not wearing a mask because of a valid exemption has always been acceptable because the rate of people who GENUINELY can't tolerate a mask are few and fat between. That said - Perspex shields are an option.

That said . Which is more important to you ? A few uncomfortable minutes in a shop or the knowledge that your comfort resulted in landing someone in hospital. Or even dead. Because that is the reality of the decision you are making.

I'm not wearing my mask anymore. If they're so useful, then can someone explain to me why they weren't even a requirement before last JULY?!

@Finknottlesnewt

Topseyt

Not wearing a mask because of a valid exemption has always been acceptable because the rate of people who GENUINELY can't tolerate a mask are few and fat between. That said - Perspex shields are an option.

That said . Which is more important to you ? A few uncomfortable minutes in a shop or the knowledge that your comfort resulted in landing someone in hospital. Or even dead. Because that is the reality of the decision you are making.

Is it bollocks, though.

So long as you practice good hand hygiene and cough/sneeze into your elbow then what exactly do you think is going to happen? Masks are absolutely bloody useless - they're a crutch for those with health anxiety, and a symbol that the government are doing something about it.

If they were so good, we'd have been asked to wear them in flu season decades ago.

Think about it.

Don't spout the 'don't kill your granny' speech that the government and media have tried to drill into you.

@LindaEllen

I'm not wearing my mask anymore. If they're so useful, then can someone explain to me why they weren't even a requirement before last JULY?!

Blimey, where have you been.

It's quite simple really. At the beginning of the pandemic no one really knew which measures would work and which wouldn't or even how the virus was transmitted. Then there was a shortage of PPE, including face masks. Research showed that face mask wearing helped to reduce cases and the PPE shortage had been sorted to a degree and more masks were available to buy.

That's it really. It's not some huge conspiracy.

So now you know.

I think many people forget that this is real life and happeneed in real time!

Don’t wear masks to possibly help kill granny

WILL NOBODY THINK OF THE GRANDADS

Do you hate the possibility someone might tell you off for not wearing one more than you hate wearing a mask? That seems to be your conflict.

People are doing as they wish. That it's different to what you wish means a different social ethics within an area to your personal morality and preferences, but that doesn't mean you have to follow the social ethics - you'll just feel the pressure of it as you've noticed.

You don't have to wear it now, but there isn't likely going to be a time in the foreseeable future where people are going to have to not wear them. It's going to be wobble and location dependant for a while, I think.

I've forgotten my mask for a few minutes on buses and once nipping into a shop. No one said a thing. However, this is very location specific - in some parts of just my city, I know more people who have been yelled at for wearing masks and in other parts for not, but I've not had either.

If they're so useful, then can someone explain to me why they weren't even a requirement before last JULY?!

I vaguely recall there was a supply issue in the early months of it and people were warned not to buy medical grade masks and far fewer places sold the cloth kind.

If they were so good, we'd have been asked to wear them in flu season decades ago.

At the beginning of lockdown1, there were several pieces by people who'd previously been wearing masks giving others tips. Masks have been medically recommended for certain vulnerable populations for many years prior to this; however, the social idea around them means the people given that recommendation were far less likely to enter public spaces.

It's kinda like how whenever this topic comes up, people point out certain Asian countries where it's more normalized or areas with far less or no exemptions and while interesting, those conversations often leave out how acceptable in those spaces it is to be visibly disabled.

Anti-mask wearers: We don’t want to wear face nappies. We can’t see. They aren’t nice, we don’t like them.
Government: You don’t have to. It no longer a legal requirement.
Anti-mask wearers: But tell everyone not to wear them. We don’t like it because people might look at us when we don’t And anyway I’m EXEMPT and everyone will stop wearing them anyway and they’re only bits of dirty cloth. But TELL them not to wear them too…

For goodness sake, you’ve got what you wanted. Stop bloody moaning and enjoy dancing around the shops without your mask. You don’t need to convert the rest of us as we will make our own decisions in our own time.

Masks are absolutely bloody useless

The thing is, they are not. That's why theyve been worn in medicalised settings for years. They are not perfect but they help.

My daughter works in retail and her company have asked them to wear masks and also requests that customers do the same. There have already been some nasty incidents with the few customers who kick up a fuss. My daughter blames the government for this - too proud or stupid to join forces with Labour to get the laws extended.

Their instagram account also had the usual ignorant comments that we see here.

I don’t know if anyone on this thread fits that description @BustopherPonsonbyJones but I think it’s fair to say there are lots of people in denial over covid and this is their outlook. It was never about the masks or restrictions really, it’s about the inability to process the scale of the disaster they find themselves in the middle of. Other people visibly taking action tugs a painful thread for them when they just want it all to go away.

It’s frustrating but deserving of some sympathy I think.