Some restrictions back, fed up

[Ireallydontcare55]

Just heard the news about masks returning as of next week and changes to travelling rules.

It’s not so much that wearing a mask is inconvenient, it’s the fact that we were told restrictions were over and that we could get on with our lives.

I know I will get shot down for this post, but if it isn’t the ‘omnicron’ variant then it’ll be something else.

I’m sure many people will be in favour of tighter restrictions ‘until numbers drop’. And then what? In a few months’ time when the latest variant is out, will we have to do the same again?
“it’s just for a few weeks/months”

This isn’t going away. What’s the point of having 3 vaccines?

I’m fed up with it all, are people really prepared to do this for the foreseeable future ?

Eventually the virus mutates to become less deadly (it's better for a virus if it doesn't kill its host)

Unfortunately this isn't true.

Until the whole world is vaccinated there will always be problems with new variants.

@sst1234 well said ....

I've been sniggered and whispered about in the supermarket for wearing my mask, had people tell me I am a brainwashed sheep. It isn't necessary

I really, really wish people would mind their own business.

I've had similar because I can't wear one, and I really, really wish I was able to. I'm sorry you've had to deal with people like this, too.

Until the whole world is vaccinated there will always be problems with new variants.

Or naturally infected? But yeah, with 8 billion to get through…the inconvenience of human over-proliferation!

@Thewiseoneincognito

Quotes deleted post

Please understand that comments and attitudes like this make life extremely difficult for those with disabilities or health conditions which mean wearing a mask is impossible.

Before you say 'I respect genuine exemptions', bear in mind that nobody can know who's genuinely exempt and who isn't. People with attitudes like yours tend to see no mask and immediately make assumptions. Your combative language helps nobody.

Perhaps this time around people could try to be a little more understanding?

It’s not so much that wearing a mask is inconvenient, it’s the fact that we were told restrictions were over and that we could get on with our lives

You sound like a child. "But you said...."

The government and world leaders simply can't make "forever" decisions, this is something that humankind has never really encountered before.

This virus has only been with us 18 months and we don't know enough about it, and we can't predict the future.

It's a hard time but we just need to be patient.

@Ireallydontcare55

No it’s not a hardship as I’ve said 50 times. However normal life previously didn’t involve having to wear one

So it's a small change.

You are kicking off because you can't cope with it, and would rather put your own comfort above the safety of the people around you.

Because those are the two options and it is that stark - wear a mask and protect people, or don't wear a mask and don't.

I agree with Vampire I do and have used a mask but combative insults from pp don’t help.

You sound like a child

Can we stop minimising and rubbishing peoples' genuine worries and concerns with insults and put-downs, please?

@TheVampiresWife

You sound like a child

Can we stop minimising and rubbishing peoples' genuine worries and concerns with insults and put-downs, please?

Total empathy bypass from a large number of people.

I'd love to know what you want to happen, OP?

At the moment no one knows the effect of this new variant on transmissibility, immunity escape or morbidity.

The measures are being put in place until such time as the details are better understood.

Are you wanting the government to do nothing and just see what happens - by which time it will be too late to do anything if it turns out to be particularly bad?

How many extra deaths and hospitalisations are acceptable to you before measures (which would then be too late, remember) are imposed? An extra 5, 50, 500 or 5,000 dead per day?

If we get back to many thousands of people being admitted to hospital each day because of covid, what happens to cancer treatment etc?

I'd just really be interested to know what you, and others who are so offended by these minor measures, want/expect to happen if the response to omicron is essentially 'nothing'?

@screwcovid
Or perhaps you could SD from people like me who can't wear one and gets hurled abuse for not
I do, read my post properly. I expect the same courtesy from those not wearing masks, for whatever reason.

@TheVampiresWife

No, you can't know who has a health/ disability-related reason for not wearing a mask, and of course those people shouldn't be (and aren't) asked to wear one.

Individuals shouldn't be stopped in the street and challenged about wearing or not wearing a mask, that should not happen to anyone.

I don't think that's what this is about, though.

Going by the huge numbers of people not wearing masks, we definitely have a lot of people who are just not wearing them because it's a minor inconvenience and they don't care about others/are being selfish/ whatever other reason.

Do you feel that people who CAN wear masks, should?

Because if so, comments like the one you made above are not really helpful at the current time. They derail an important discussion between those who are CHOOSING not to wear masks when they could, and those who are trying to keep the population safer from this virus - including those who have disabilities and health conditions making them even more vulnerable.

All we’ve been asked to do is one small thing - wearing masks in some of the environments it is least inconvenient to do so.

It’s a pretty mild ask in the face of a new variant which could be very serious. Hopefully it won’t be, but as a precautionary measure it seems like the least we should be doing.

No-one wants to be here. No one wants to have another Christmas blighted by the threat of the things we value most about the season being cancelled. But what’s the alternative?

@Furries Replying to your comment upthread - personally yes I do think most of the world has lost its collective mind over Covid. The one place that springs to mind as somewhere I’d rather be is Sweden, which so far seems to have taken a saner and more liberal approach than most other countries.

As I said in my previous posts, it’s not the mask mandates per se that have principally bothered me; it’s the strident insistence by many (plenty of them on this thread) that masks are a cost-free measure, and the lack of empathy for those who struggle with them. For every person who thinks they’re awesome because they keep your face warm, there’s another who finds they can’t hear properly while wearing them, or that they induce panic attacks, or just (like me) that you can’t communicate effectively while wearing them and end up with voice loss and a headache after every trip to the shops. But there’s never any acknowledgement of any of this, just demands to ‘STFU and wear a mask’.

As a family, we've continued to wear masks and socially distance from strangers and I quite like it.

Posts like the above also give the lie to the claim that no one is enjoying these restrictions. I’ve spent enough time on MN over the past 21 months to know that a vocal minority of people positively embrace measures such as masks and lockdowns because they’re generally pretty misanthropic and don’t much like interacting with other people anyway. For those people masks provide a welcome physical and psychological barrier from others. I think it’s unfair, then, to dismiss those of us who value normal social contact, who worth about the implications of long-term mask wearing for social cohesion, and who are concerned about the way many Covid measures literally and psychologically distance us from each other and put us into ever more isolated silos.

Some people really need to grow up. Putting a mask on is no hardship.

Do you feel that people who CAN wear masks, should?

Absolutely. I wish I could wear one myself and tried to back in July last year (which is how I found out, unequivocally, that I couldn't).

I disagree that showing concern for (sometimes vulnerable) people who are unable to wear masks is derailing the discussion, however. Those who can, should, and those who can't shouldn't be vilified - that's really all there is to it. You can't force people who adamantly won't to do so simply by casting judgement on everyone who isn't masked. How do you know whether the person in the supermarket queue who 'looks' young, fit and healthy is genuinely exempt or not? You can't. That's not the fault of those who are exempt.

@ArthurTudor

Some people really need to grow up. Putting a mask on is no hardship.

For some people.

@ArthurTudor

Some people really need to grow up. Putting a mask on is no hardship.

Well that's not true for a substantial portion of the population

It may not be the ‘normal life’ you were used to but ‘normal life’ is always challenging and evolving.

Before 9/11 security to get on planes was minimal, you could travel with all kind of things you can’t now.

The internet and smart phones changed ‘normal life’

Seatbelts and child car seats changed ‘normal life’

The smoking ban, online dating, the ban of plastic carrier bags…. Lots of thing change normal life.

My point is normal life is always changing and evolving, wearing masks to go into city/town centers, shops and in public transport has been common in some parts of the world for a long time, Now it’s becoming common place here.

@Remmy123

Masks don't do much I'm afraid

Why do some people still think this? Is it wishful thinking? By now there have been so many studies to show it is untrue. A quick google will bring up plenty of evidence to show this.

Here's a summary of one in the US where mandates for mask-wearing vary from state to state:
Fourteen of the 15 states with no mask wearing policy for the general public through September reported a high COVID-19 rate. Of the 8 states with at least 75% mask adherence, none reported a high COVID-19 rate. States with the lowest levels of mask adherence were most likely to have high COVID-19 rates in the subsequent month, independent of mask policy or demographic factors.

Link: journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249891

@GiveMeNovocain its absolutely true actually.

I've never stopped wearing and mask and cant understand the fuss some people are making about minor restrictions.

I'll happily do whatever as I'm scared that if the NHS gets overwhelmed then it won't be there when my family needs it.

People bleating on about masks and travel restrictions should think about those whose cancer treatment is delayed because you want your normal back. It's so blinkered and selfish.