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 ?

[SueSaid]

@DottyHarmer

It’s just a circular argument. There are some people who can’t wear a mask. There are many people who won’t wear a mask.

There may be 14 million disabled people in Britain, but I would contend the vast majority of those would a) not have a disability which prevents them from wearing a mask and b) actually be very pro-mask in order to be protected.

Sadly the anti-maskers have been allowed to get away with piggy-backing on the genuinely exempt. That is why a medical exemption should be required.

Absolutely this.

Also it is beyond ironic that those who say they are 'exempt' are probably most at risk of severe illness so why choose not to do something to reduce their own and everyone else's risk?!

I guarantee a thin piece of fabric is nothing compared to wearing an oxygen mask and actually being breathless.

[TheVampiresWife]

The gov should really have put out a list to prevent all the self diagnosers

That would be no good whatsoever.

One person may experience a condition and its symptoms completely differently to another with the same condition, and the same goes for mask tolerance. For example, some with TN find a mask to be actually beneficial, because cold winds can be a trigger. Others (myself included) have found that wearing a mask can trigger an attack, often with the results you describe. Similarly, some with COPD can tolerate a mask while others can't. And so on.

Also not all SV/DV survivors are ready or able to divulge their situation to a medical professional in order to get the help which, under a system like the one you suggest, would trigger exemption. A woman still in an abusive relationship would be unable to do this, for example.

[TheVampiresWife]

it is beyond ironic that those who say they are 'exempt' are probably most at risk of severe illness so why choose not to do something to reduce their own and everyone else's risk?!

Why do people insist that things like TN or PTSD make you more vulnerable to covid?

And why have you phrased it the way you have - those who say they are 'exempt'? It's almost as if you don't accept there are exemptions, but you go on to say they're more at risk? Very confusing.

[Goldendeliciousness]

It seems to me that the debate about mask wearing just highlights how selfish we are as a society. Mask wearing is in place to protect those around you. All that's being asked it to put a mask on in a shop- it's only a minor inconvenience why make it an issue. Why not just do it. Surely if it helps even just one person it's worth it? Yet some people can't get over being "told what to do" and would rather make people feel unsafe and risk furthering the spread than wear something that covers their mouths for a few minutes.

New rules are a part of life, for example the law around car seats changes all the time. This is a virus that isn't going anywhere so restrictions are likely to remain for the foreseeable future.

And anyone that believed Boris when he implied that we could "move on" with our lives needs to look back over the past two years and wonder why they accept his word as truth.

[Masugamanuts]

@Ireallydontcare55

What worries me is how willingly people have accepted the idea of wearing a mask for the rest of their life potentially

I wear clothes, I don't pick my nose or scratch my arse in public, I chew with my mouth closed, I don't call the people who stop still in the middle of the streets twats to their face, I don't give in to road rage, I don't fart in the office, I make my husband a coffee when I don't want to.

What I'm saying, is I do loads of things because it's for the benefit of society though I'd really rather not. Masks are just another thing. I don't find them more or less restrictive than anything else, just new.

[towers14]

@sst1234

You are not wrong OP. Many many many people among us have been taken in by an irrational fear and almost enjoy having restrictions placed upon them because it makes them feel safe. They don’t mind being infantilized. The problem is these people really struggle to think for themselves. They struggle to see beyond the headlines. Their enthusiasm for lockdowns and other restrictions is doing untold damage to people’s lives. It is literally destroying peoples health - yes not Covid but the restrictions will kill more people in the long run. Young peoples futures are being put on the line, people’s mental health is being sacrificed. But hey, what does that all matter, when you can wear a mask to feel all warm and fuzzy inside and then go into full lockdown because you can work from home or watch movies all day with the kids on furlough.

Well put, 100% agree.

[AmaryllisNightAndDay]

A mask doesn't protect your own health.

A face covering or surgical mask doesn't but a filter mask does, not perfect but more so. That's why I wear an FFP2 (or similar) and not a surgical mask or a cloth mask. Costs more though and looks scary!

[TheVampiresWife]

@DottyHarmer

It’s just a circular argument. There are some people who can’t wear a mask. There are many people who won’t wear a mask.

There may be 14 million disabled people in Britain, but I would contend the vast majority of those would a) not have a disability which prevents them from wearing a mask and b) actually be very pro-mask in order to be protected.

Sadly the anti-maskers have been allowed to get away with piggy-backing on the genuinely exempt. That is why a medical exemption should be required.

You may contend all you wish, but the fact remains that out of the 14 million who live with disabilities, and the millions of others with health conditions, there are hundreds of thousands of people who cannot wear masks. And I've already said that not everyone affected by disabilities/health conditions will be exempt, so I'm not sure why you felt you had to make this comment anyway.

And some have other conditions which make them more vulnerable, but that doesn't alter the fact that we can't wear masks (I have trigeminal neuralgia, but I also have RA, the medication for which makes me immunosuppressed and therefore more vulnerable). I'm absolutely pro-mask, but that doesn't change the fact that I am unable to wear one. It's not as black and white as you think.

[Scottishskifun]

@JaniieJones again another poster showing ignorance on exemption!

In my case it's because of breathlessness and worsen respiratory that I can no longer wear a mask, my oxygen levels dip below 95 within 5 minutes of that piece of cloth..... 🙄 If you don't know what that refers to then your lucky enough never to have suffered from respiratory issues.

My ability to wear one has decreased since having covid and did force myself to wear one prior to having covid but didn't go in shops longer then a few minutes etc. It didn't make a difference in catching a virus!

I have been told repeatedly by Dr's and nurses to remove them when I did try post covid.
Again stop judging those of us who are exempt!

[Wizzbangfizz]

I can't wait to not wear my mask on Monday in all settings, then adhere to the rules by wearing my mask on Tuesday on a train and in a shop, before going to a busy bar and restaurant on Tuesday where I don't need to wear my mask because COVID doesn't spread in hospitality settings only in shops and public transport. Bloody ridiculous.

[Elphame]

@JaniieJones

The gov should really have put out a list to prevent all the self diagnosers. I mean obviously the very few with extreme ptsd under the care of a mh team, those with the rare extreme tgm which causes them to be incontinent if anything should touch their face

Well thank you for agreeing that my condition (TN) warrants an exemption.

It is very under diagnosed though and not nearly as rare as was formerly believed. It doesn't cause incontinence ( that did make me laugh) but potentially hours of excruciating pain but then I'm clearly a selfish cunt in the eyes of some here for no longer being willing to put myself through it anymore for the sake of the anti vaxxers.

Do I care - no not one bit.

[Goldendeliciousness]

So those who are concerned by others readily accepting the restrictions around mask wearing......what do you think is really going on? Why do you think the government has put the restrictions in place? Why are you concerned?

[SueSaid]

'It is very under diagnosed though and not nearly as rare as was formerly believed. It doesn't cause incontinence ( that did make me laugh)'

I believe we have posters that have said anything touching their face can cause immediate incontinence. Tbh with a extensive background in healthcare it isn't something I'd come across before.

'In my case it's because of breathlessness and worsen respiratory that I can no longer wear a mask, my oxygen levels dip below 95 within 5 minutes of that piece of cloth'

I'm sorry you experienced this but they do not inhibit oxygen supply or else everyone would be dropping like flies. Maybe an anxiety related over breathing thing?

Those with serious respiratory illness should actually be the ones who should wear them.

[TheVampiresWife]

@Elphame I'm so sorry you're living with TN. It's the absolute bollockiest shit isn't it.

Your post is a good example of what I said earlier - that health conditions affect different people in different ways. While my TN doesn't make me incontinent per se, when I have an attack the pain can be so severe and so sudden that I can lose consciousness and in doing so, lose control of my bladder/bowels. So far this has only happened at home, but if I live in fear of it happening in public. I learned very early on in the mask mandate that masks (and visors) trigger attacks/flares, so I was able to stop wearing them and lessen the risk of that happening.

Like you, I won't (can't!) put myself (and others - imagine having to clean up after me) through that for the sake of those who claim to be so very compassionate and caring towards others, while having no qualms whatsoever about calling those with disabilities or debilitating health conditions 'selfish' and worse.

[Furries]

@AlecTrevelyan006

"Precautionary". Yeah right. A synonym for ignorant, fearful, controlling and panicked.

Nothing is known about the virulence or lethality of this variant. It's just different. As was delta. We panicked over delta too, until it became clear that neither wrapping a hankie over your mouth nor hiding behind the sofa made much difference.

I really thought we had escaped the cold dead hand of Whitty and his ilk, but apparently we are still very much under the thumb and can look forward to many more years of being unable to plan ahead or reliably anticipate having lives that are worth living. But we won't resist, because we are secretly a nation of schoolchildren who rather fancy being disciplined and told what to do, solidly leavened with the pathetically and chronically anxious who find life too difficult even when there isn't a bug circulating.

These latest restrictions, despite seeming moderate in the context of the greater authoritarianism of recent years, are likely the final nail in the coffin for anything resembling normality ever returning. If two cases and some scaremongering about genetic variation are justification enough to essentially close the borders, ruin everyone's holidays and put us back in maundering terror of others by unilateral diktat, what could ever be the justification for removing those restrictions and the powers that support them?

Time to buy shares in the PCR testing companies. Oh, wait, they're all private and owned by Tory donors. Never mind, I suppose they needed a boost over Christmas.

What's the betting that none of this will be reviewed until well into the New Year, soundly ruining everyone's Christmas for a second time? There'll be a paper in a week or so that likely shows Omicron to be a storm in a teacup, but they won't react to that with anything like the same speed, because Michie and her ilk crew would rather lock us down forever if they could. Amazing to think that we'll look back with nostalgia on a few blessed weeks where we could travel reasonably easily, provided we had our vaccination papers, filled out a staggeringly intrusive form, took a meaningless but still expensive test and were content for every piddling apparatchik to know the details of our lives, movements, health status and genetics at whim. How those halcyon days will seem when we're back in the lockdown the government has so clearly been signalling by denying it.

A government of incompetents being puppeted by malign monomaniacs some of whom are explicitly engaged in psychological manipulation. And nothing we can do.

What a load of pointless drivel.

[Frequency]

Masks don't fog up glasses if they're worn properly. They need to be pressed tight to the bridge of your nose and quite high up on the face.

If you have foggy glasses you're not wearing your mask correctly.

And pretty much everyone would remove their mask for someone who lip reads if they were politely asked.

I actually don't like the general public wearing masks. I think they fiddle with them too much which spreads germs more but I really don't understand the furore over it. They're not a hardship.

[Benjispruce5]

@Wizzbangfizz don’t forget packed primary classrooms where Covid knows not to cross the threshold as under 12a are not vaccinated.

[Benjispruce5]

It it’s ok because now we have CO2 monitors to let us know when to change the air(all day in mine) so that’s us all safe isn’t it?

[TheVampiresWife]

I believe we have posters that have said anything touching their face can cause immediate incontinence. Tbh with a extensive background in healthcare it isn't something I'd come across before

You have an 'extensive background in healthcare' yet on another thread you insisted that the third dose of vaccine for those who are immunosuppressed is the same as the booster? And wouldn't have it otherwise even when posters linked you to the relevant information?
That's quite concerning actually.

May I ask what your role is?

[Scottishskifun]

@JaniieJones nope not anxiety related at all. I have long covid, some sufferers can wear them I cannot as my lung capacity has been damaged. I can get breathless on exertion (walking) and have oxygen dips without putting one on.
Putting one then walking makes the breathlessness worse and I will get a subsequent oxygen level dip.

I didn't say it causes this in everyone it does in my case and many others who have respiratory issues!

[Fritilleries]

[quote Benjispruce5]@Wizzbangfizz don’t forget packed primary classrooms where Covid knows not to cross the threshold as under 12a are not vaccinated.[/quote]
Covid is so smart, isn't it!

[grapewine]

@TheVampiresWife

So many posts on this thread utterly depress me and demonstrate how hard it will be for us to get out of this shitshow! If this generation had been alive in WW2, we would all be speaking German

Which generation would that be? The one who have lived through two or three recessions, a financial crash, the febrile post 9/11 world, Brexit, knowing they'll never be able to afford to buy their own home, a pandemic, and have climate change to look forward to (plus the after effects of a global health crisis)? That completely weak and not at all resilient generation?

Also full marks for predictability, invoking WW2. Never heard that done before

Love this post.

[Kennykenkencat]

Frequency

Masks don't fog up glasses if they're worn properly. They need to be pressed tight to the bridge of your nose and quite high up on the face

If you have foggy glasses you're not wearing your mask correctly

Depends on the shape and bridge of your nose

[Frequency]

@Kennykenkencat I work in health care with many glasses wearing colleagues. I've never come across anyone with foggy glasses and we wear masks for hours at a time not just the few minutes it takes to dash around Lidl.

[Ireallydontcare55]

The abuse I’ve received is disgusting , it’s like being back at school. I can only imagine these posters have severe mental illness or other issues going on to randomly abuse strangers online, it’s creepy as hell.

I don’t have to explain myself to anybody, but never once did I say I wouldn’t wear one, I have to for my job anyway.

Please think before you abuse people like that