Masks to be Mandatory in Scotland until at least next Spring

[Ginandfantalemon]

Just read this and wondered what others in Scotland are thinking.
The article states that Scotland will stick to the strictest rules in the UK and it is hoped that voluntary mask wearing, as in Asian Countries, will be a measure that is adopted. I truly don't know if I can go on anymore. I haven't been out for over a year because of these bloody rules and this is just enough now.

I haven't met anyone who says they are happy to wear a mask forever.

Just don't wear the mask.

[quote Ginandfantalemon]**@RhonaRed* and @DoucheCanoe*
I have an exemption card but its the thought of everyone where I live seeing me without a mask and then wondering why I'm not wearing one. I dont have the confidence to just go out without one, that's why I would have like them to be 'optional' so that no one knows there is a reason why I'm not wearing one, if that makes sense.[/quote]
Honestly? I'm in Scotland and have never worn one. No one looks at you they couldn't care less. Just get over it and go out without your mask.

@Spaghettipie1

Masks will also prevent the winter flu/noro bugs from overwhelming hospitals too, as well as Covid. Very sensible, small thing to do, big impact on society.

This is debatable as masks certainly didn't prevent the last covid wave

There is no way living with mask laws is a ‘normal life’.

So many people say ‘it’s just a bit of fabric, get over it’ but it’s so much more than that. They really are awful to wear, especially in warm weather. It’s a nightmare for anyone hearing impaired or with sensory issues. Others out there have more hidden reasons why we can’t wear masks such as past abuse or trauma or mental health issues. Not everyone is comfortable with disclosing to everyone why they have a mask exemption.

I swear, some people love the whole mask thing because they get to show ‘how much they care’ by wearing a mask.

@Spaghettipie1

Masks will also prevent the winter flu/noro bugs from overwhelming hospitals too, as well as Covid. Very sensible, small thing to do, big impact on society.

I haven’t had a cold or any kind of virus for 18 months and haven’t been wearing a mask most of that time. I’d happily end mask wearing and get the occasional illness. If others want to take up mask wearing permanently they can crack on.

I haven’t had a cold or any kind of virus for 18 months and haven’t been wearing a mask most of that time. I’d happily end mask wearing and get the occasional illness. If others want to take up mask wearing permanently they can crack on.

That's probably because the more considerate around you have been wearing them. Masks don't stop you catching illness but it can stop you spreading it. I work with dc too young to wear masks or distance. I've had loads of illness but hopefully kept it to myself by wearing masks indoors in public

*Not everyone is comfortable with disclosing to everyone why they have a mask exemption.
*
There is no requirement to disclose this

I find it crazy that some people are happy to wear a mask forever to prevent getting a cold.

I would much rather get the occasional cold and not wear a mask, and be able to see everyone else’s faces too.

I’m in England and still wear a mask when I feel I have to (if everyone else is) I live in a small town and it’s never crowded anywhere honestly so it feels quite pointless. When it’s quiet on the train/in a restaurant/shop I just don’t wear one.

Is Scotland like Wales in that you don't have to wear masks in a nightclub, but you (parents).do in a baby and toddler group? Because I'm really angry about this. I think it's appalling. Once again, absolutely no thought for tiny children who are learning to talk.

@RunnerDown

Very pleased to hear it. Far too early to get rid of masks. Nicola now needs to sort out ventilation in schools

Nicola now needs to sort out the horrendous drop in educational standards that her Govt has overseen.

*I find it crazy that some people are happy to wear a mask forever to prevent getting a cold.
*

Where has anyone said that?

I choose to wear a mask because though I’m double vaxxed and so is all my adult family, my dad is in his early 80s with pretty advanced dementia and lives at home with my mum who’s almost 80. It’s a fragile situation there and we look after my dad at weekends to give my mum a break. So I don’t appreciate eg a taxi driver coming to the door this week and leaning into the house chatting without a mask on. Simple precautions might mean dad can stay at home longer. I’m not asking everyone to wear a mask; I’m asking that if you talk to me or my family you wear a mask. I don’t talk to people outside the family without a mask because of my parents’ situation. Yes covid will always be around, but for me wearing a mask is like making sure my parents get their flu shot. It’s a fragile situation for them so I want to give them the best odds of keeping dad at home for longer. Maybe there’s a lanyard could be created that means please wear a mask if you talk to me. Yes there is no end date to that as covid is here to stay, but I think that would respect everyone’s needs.

I choose to wear a mask

Spectacularly missing the point.

Those of us in Scotland don't have a choice unless exempt as it is still enforced by law.

@liveforsummer

I haven’t had a cold or any kind of virus for 18 months and haven’t been wearing a mask most of that time. I’d happily end mask wearing and get the occasional illness. If others want to take up mask wearing permanently they can crack on.

That's probably because the more considerate around you have been wearing them. Masks don't stop you catching illness but it can stop you spreading it. I work with dc too young to wear masks or distance. I've had loads of illness but hopefully kept it to myself by wearing masks indoors in public

Nobody has been wearing masks where I am until recently so it has nothing to do with how considerate anyone is.

@110APiccadilly

Is Scotland like Wales in that you don't have to wear masks in a nightclub, but you (parents).do in a baby and toddler group? Because I'm really angry about this. I think it's appalling. Once again, absolutely no thought for tiny children who are learning to talk.

Yep. Although you also need a mask in nightclubs while entering and leaving or going to the toilet, just not while drinking at the bar or dancing.

@TheGenealogist

I choose to wear a mask

Spectacularly missing the point.

Those of us in Scotland don't have a choice unless exempt as it is still enforced by law.

Except it isn't being enforced, at all, by anyone anywhere.

So all this complaining about 'the law' is complaining about nothing more than a technicality, because the actual reality is that there are no consequences for people who are choosing not to wear a mask.

You are quite literally complaining about nothing.

I also think it's a load of rubbish regarding colds and flu. I'm just getting over a really bad cold, sore throat, and horrendous cough and I've never been in an enclosed public place at all. None of my family had it so I don't know how I got it. What's so wrong with getting a bit of a cold now and again, it's natural and germs can be good for the immune system. We cant hide away for ever from every little virus that comes our way. That's the way kids build immunity to things, a little exposure is good, so nobody should be hiding away behind masks forever more and kept off school for every little sniffle

Dh gets a bad cold every winter, he thinks wearing masks and washing hands more has prevented him getting one since covid started.
Mind you, he got covid instead..

If Scotland had fared better than the UK overall, I would understand but they really haven't.... at all. Their longer and stricter measures, statistically still makes them much the same as England infection wise. The death rate has also been very high in Scotland. This is a highly contagious virus and the majority of masks are doing nothing to keep it a-bay.

Eminently sensible.

Except it isn't being enforced, at all, by anyone anywhere.

Well, a pp said she was enforcing it at a surgery, and people exempt from wearing masks weren't able to access the surgery "unless it was an emergency situation". And up to now at least 50 people claiming exemption had all managed while they were in the building (eternally grateful for the pp helping them overcome their entirely irrational and psychosomatic fear). Not a legal/ financial enforcement maybe, but that behaviour in "gatekeeping" a service will mean anyone unable to "just try a tiny, wafer thin mask" wouldn't persist in trying to access the service. Either leaving at the door, or just not turning up, or not even trying to make an appointment because they were traumatised last time. I'm sure the pp would deny that, but she wouldn't see people's decision not to make an appointment for a lump, or dodgy mole, or tingling arm or whatever. I appreciate that's an unusual situation, but enforcement doesn't have to be by the police. Just knowing that people feel empowered to deny service because something is "the law" may well put people off from trying.

@Ginandfantalemon : What's so wrong with getting a bit of a cold now and again, it's natural and germs can be good for the immune system. We cant hide away for ever from every little virus that comes our way. That's the way kids build immunity to things, a little exposure is good, so nobody should be hiding away behind masks forever more and kept off school for every little sniffle

Again, for the hard of thinking: covid is not just a little sniffle. A cold won't leave people struggling months later (or dead) like covid can .

Masks are a useful barrier with a respiratory virus. They help to protect you and everyone else, when worn correctly.

[quote Doodlebug71]**@Ginandfantalemon* : What's so wrong with getting a bit of a cold now and again, it's natural and germs can be good for the immune system. We cant hide away for ever from every little virus that comes our way. That's the way kids build immunity to things, a little exposure is good, so nobody should be hiding away behind masks forever more and kept off school for every little sniffle*

Again, for the hard of thinking: covid is not just a little sniffle. A cold won't leave people struggling months later (or dead) like covid can .

Masks are a useful barrier with a respiratory virus. They help to protect you and everyone else, when worn correctly.[/quote]
So can I ask, do you feel you shall wear a mask forever, as we are being told we will never get rid of Covid? Will you ever feel the time is right to go without one?

@Doodlebug71,
I am not 'hard of thinking' as you describe. And I am well aware what Covid is!! Just because I struggle with a face mask doesn't make me a lesser person than you. Why do so many people keen to keep wearing a mask tend to get all high and mighty and others down. And it's not just Covid that can leave people struggling for months. Other illnesses do exist, only they are getting forgotten about.