Surely just bring the mask mandate back now?

[Maskedtonigh]

They are an easy measure that are no real hardship and could help (even if just in a small way) suppress this virus surely we should just bring back our mask mandate now?

@ShinyThingsDistractMe

I'm not saying your wrong, but is that the only measure they had, the mask or were they staying apart/distancing also? Problem is unless you remove all other factors and just do masks you won't know what else plays a part in minimizing spread.

And I don't think it's humane to lock one group in a large room wearing just masks for a week and introduce a positive person and then lock another group with masks and distancing in a room with a positive person and see the results.

I wear one, I have no issue wearing one, I'm in Wales where they are still mandatory and wear them daily as part of my job in the community. So I'm not against them, I just think does a piece of cotton such as a the fashion masks really work?

I'm not sure if you're posting in jest or not? But this definitely didn't involve locking a positive person in a room with others!!

This was a randomised trial of 340,000 people across 600 villages. Certain villages were randomised to an intervention which involved encouraging and explaining the benefits of mask wearing, providing them free of charge, and engaging with villagers about concerns.

You can read about it in the article.

This virus isn't going away, ds uncle is 58, fit & double jabbed & has come out of hospital today after being in for a week with Covid. He's been sent home with Clexane injections because they are still worried about blood clots & on Oxygen, he said first signs of anyone recovering & they send them home. He can hardly stand up.

But they were given surgical masks, I'm on about those cotton fashion masks that the majority wear these days as a "face covering"

I wear surgical masks in work as those are the ones we are told to wear, no "fashion masks".

Again I'm not saying surgical masks don't work, I'm saying "face coverings" that the UK came up with as a default.

Again all my musing was about was in the UK was it just a psychological thing, get them to cover their faces so there is a visual reminder to stay away from one another. Again I said originally I had no evidence to back up my musing.

If masks were so effective what other factors are influencing the difference with cases between England and Scotland? Even with schools having been back a couple of weeks in England hasn't translated to a huge rise in cases.

Just my opinion but could it be possibe that mask use by the general public could actually help the spread? Social distancing is one of the best defences against the virus and the queuing outside shops stopped with the introduction of mandatory masks. Many people started to get very close to others with the belief that masks were far more effective than they are. Add to that how (again many, I'm not suggesting all) people constantly readjust the mask, which might have been used many times and stored in pockets, and transferring what little moisture the mask captured to their hands and then everything they touched.

@MercyBooth

I Can Not Deal With More Psychological Abuse.

Government and NHS...............its time for you to choose. Either i
a. worry about myself by tackling the obesity epidemic by continuing to lose weight on the healthy eating plan i just started last month which is much easier to do with more normality around me.

OR I worry about Covid pandemic and 67 million strangers by struggling to wear a mask aggravating a skin condition and whatever other ridiculousness they bring back in. And turning to food to cope is why im losing weight now.

Its decision time for the power mad.
Because i havent got the mental strength to do both. So weight loss or Covid folks. Time to choose. That includes you @Thewiseoneincognito Time to choose.

Incidentally you do realise that whether women lose or gain weight the one very important close contact service that women need is a bra fitting. Pray tell me oh wise one How can women excersise safely without one (ditto sports bras) when they cant be measured due to the lockdown lovers wanting this service closed down every five minutes. And no i cant do it online Which brings me to my next point. Do it online has become the lazy arse answer to everything and you get much more excersise by going to a physical high street.

Do you think they are doing it to you personally? Your posts read that way.

@gardeninggirl68

Our store is pulling up all the floor distancing signs now

All signs for covid control are in the bin and we haven't ordered more masks or hand sanitizer

Just running down what we have..... no way am I having anymore mask conversations with customers

Didn't you say the exact same thing a few weeks ago? It's taking a long time for your staff to achieve this simple task, I'd say.

Honestly @Ginandfantalemon. You didn't have to go that low, but you did. You instantly lose the argument this when you bring anti-Semitic imagery into it. So repulsive.

Would it be easier if those that are exempt sew a yellow star onto their clothes, just so that they stand out that little bit more as a lower class citizen to those who wear a mask. It is certainly coming across here that many who are keen for a legal mandate being introduced think they are saving the world and that attitude stinks. Perhaps @BogRollBOGOF prefers the optional way so that she doesn't stand out as someone who is exempt. Are the 'really keen for a legal mandate mask wearers' really thinking of everyone else, or is it that they are actually petrified of catching Covid, and in that case they should be investing in a proper medical grade masks. What a bloody world this has turned into.

Surely just bring the mask mandate back now?

No.

I'm pretty sure the government used the word "irreversible" about all that.

Plus we have vaccines, so people on here keep telling me.

Although why they think vaccines that aren't 100% effective, and don't have 100% coverage can 100% solve a problem all by themselves is never made clear.

We're "living with the virus" now.

Which seems to involve more people dying of said virus this year than last.

It makes no sense to me that "living with the virus" will literally mean "dying of it" for tens of thousands of us.

But that's where we are.

Bullshit, failure to learn, too little, too late, lockdown.

It's the exact same car crash we've already lived through twice before, only slower.

@PrincessNutNuts

Surely just bring the mask mandate back now?

No.

I'm pretty sure the government used the word "irreversible" about all that.

Plus we have vaccines, so people on here keep telling me.

Although why they think vaccines that aren't 100% effective, and don't have 100% coverage can 100% solve a problem all by themselves is never made clear.

We're "living with the virus" now.

Which seems to involve more people dying of said virus this year than last.

It makes no sense to me that "living with the virus" will literally mean "dying of it" for tens of thousands of us.

But that's where we are.

Bullshit, failure to learn, too little, too late, lockdown.

It's the exact same car crash we've already lived through twice before, only slower.

We obviously know now that vaccines do not stop transmission, and Covid is not going anywhere. So it actually is a choice of accepting deaths or having permanent restrictions. No one is going to stand for permanent restrictions (aside from a few of the Mumsnet privileged).

You can speak for everyone?

Personally, I don't want restrictions forever more. Who in earth would? That's soul-destroying. However, in order the damp to infection rates - and that's what it's all about - and get the world running again, a level of restrictions would need to be in place for a time yet. That's my thought, anyway.

And BTW, you don't need to be "privileged" to accept the fact some restrictions need to stay in place - although some that like to sow class divisions would have you think that kind of thing constantly.

@AlixandraTheGreat

And BTW, you don't need to be "privileged" to accept the fact some restrictions need to stay in place - although some that like to sow class divisions would have you think that kind of thing constantly.

If you can easily manage with restrictions without your life/finances being much affected, then you are privileged.

This is the preprint of the Bangladesh real-world RCT. It looks to my inexpert eye plausible but limited. They increased mask wearing from c 15% to c 45% by a programme of persuasion in some villages and reduced positivity rates by c.10% compared with the villages where they didn't.
www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/Mask_RCT____Symptomatic_Seropositivity_083121.pdf

@AlixandraTheGreat

"
You can speak for everyone? confused"

How are you confused? Reading on here, speaking to people, actually looking around in public, yes, most people don't want restrictions anymore.

I have never stopped wearing a mask with a FFP2 filer and I will continue to wear one.

A close family member is a nurse who has been going into the homes of COVID positive patients for the entire pandemic to treat them.
By ensuring she wears her PPE correctly, is rigorous with her hand washing and sanitising she has avoided catching covid, the same with her colleagues who are careful and and strictly stick to the protocol.

I definitely believe when used correctly they a massive amount of difference to your chance of getting covid, or any other highly contagious virus.

“I think this should basically end any scientific debate about whether masks can be effective in combating covid at the population level,” Jason Abaluck, an economist at Yale who helped lead the study, said in an interview, calling it “a nail in the coffin” of the arguments against masks.

Quite a statement is that his study should end any debate from someone who isn't even a scientist, an arrogant economist.

@2X4B523P

If masks were so effective what other factors are influencing the difference with cases between England and Scotland? Even with schools having been back a couple of weeks in England hasn't translated to a huge rise in cases.

Just my opinion but could it be possibe that mask use by the general public could actually help the spread? Social distancing is one of the best defences against the virus and the queuing outside shops stopped with the introduction of mandatory masks. Many people started to get very close to others with the belief that masks were far more effective than they are. Add to that how (again many, I'm not suggesting all) people constantly readjust the mask, which might have been used many times and stored in pockets, and transferring what little moisture the mask captured to their hands and then everything they touched.

Well more people in England could have had covid previously, so there was higher levels of natural immunity.

Also weather differences could play a role.

Lots of things actually.

[quote TheNatureOfTheCatastrophe]This is the preprint of the Bangladesh real-world RCT. It looks to my inexpert eye plausible but limited. They increased mask wearing from c 15% to c 45% by a programme of persuasion in some villages and reduced positivity rates by c.10% compared with the villages where they didn't.
www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/Mask_RCT____Symptomatic_Seropositivity_083121.pdf[/quote]
The study has holes all over it.

The primary findings include:

Cloth masks had no advantage over the control arm (no intervention), but surgical masks showed a modest, statistically significant benefit

We have all been wearing cloth masks.

@Waxonwaxoff0

If you can easily manage with restrictions without your life/finances being much affected, then you are privileged.

Well, this thread is about masks, so I don't think that particular mitigation is going to affect you too much.

[quote Peteycat]@AlixandraTheGreat

"
You can speak for everyone? confused"

How are you confused? Reading on here, speaking to people, actually looking around in public, yes, most people don't want restrictions anymore.[/quote]

I'm not surprised you don't appreciate the nuances of this particular issue. And, no, I don't believe you can speak on behalf of most people, and neither can I.

I wasn't even discussing this with you.

[quote AlixandraTheGreat]@Waxonwaxoff0

If you can easily manage with restrictions without your life/finances being much affected, then you are privileged.

Well, this thread is about masks, so I don't think that particular mitigation is going to affect you too much.[/quote]
Yes. But cloth masks alone really are not going to bring down infection rates.

We've still got masks in Scotland but it's doesn't seem to make a difference

But @JollyAndBright if everyone did that masks would be effective. The majority have a glitter/fashion cloth mask which is worn and touched multiple times without washing.

This is why rates are pretty much the same mask wearing or not (as Scotland is showing).

@AlixandraTheGreat

"I wasn't even discussing this with you."

So? Do you not realise that masks could have a major impact on peoples lives and livelihoods? Pointing that our doesn't mean people want to sow the seed of class division.

Even low level restrictions have consequences for people.

I strongly dislike them. I have a spring in my step since I unmasked, that I hadn't even realised I'd lost. I hated seeing people trudging around one way systems in masks, there was something horribly dehumanising about it. I also hated the huge barriers mask wearing puts up against communication - every conversation made more difficult, sometimes 3 layers of restriction (2 masks and a plastic screen). It has a detrimental effect on basic human behaviour and interactions - it is especially horrible for children, who are still learning about social cues, etc. Every adult has been offered a jab and most have taken them, we need to get on with things.