I'm happy masks are back !

[genuinequestion21]

I mean, of course I would rather the pandemic was completely over. But whilst cases are high, I'm happy they're back. I never stopped wearing mine.

And now I'm more comfortable going into shops with my unmasked DD. Feels a bit safer for her. She's too young to wear a mask.

How old is your daughter?

@Dishhh

*@Lilifer*

Believe me I want to believe that masks help but I have trawled online, and I have read various studies and papers on this and the best protection that I can see claimed is for around 10% and that's based on so many factors and variables as to be almost impossible to apply to every scenario - it seems just too vague and unscientific to be able to confirm to me any real benefit.

I have a feeling that you could be sent all the sources in the world and you still wouldn't change your mind. How about sit on the train with a bare face right next to a coughing, snotty person who also doesn't have a face mask on for at least 15 minutes? Report back in 10 days.

And going by your response above, I have a feeling that you are not able to produce a study showing clear proof that mask wearing reduces covid cases.

Just reading that some supermarkets won't be enforcing masks due to the abuse their staff suffered the last time. Aldi, Lidl, Iceland and Tesco just four of the major supermarket chains where masks won't be compulsory. Good. It's about time retail made a stand for its employees.

@KurtWildesChristmasNamechange

Just reading that some supermarkets won't be enforcing masks due to the abuse their staff suffered the last time. Aldi, Lidl, Iceland and Tesco just four of the major supermarket chains where masks won't be compulsory. Good. It's about time retail made a stand for its employees.

I felt so bad for any staff that got abuse.

Even having to ask each person at the door - some were bad in response

@Lilifer

And going by your response above, I have a feeling that you are not able to produce a study showing clear proof that mask wearing reduces covid cases.

Try this, then. It's a study of a project carried out in Bangladesh.

https://www.poverty-action.org/sites/default/files/publications/MaskSeconddStagePaperr20211108.pdf.pdf

I'm in NI and we never stopped wearing masks, including children in secondary schools. Our cases are the worst in the UK. It is spreading like wildfire, with some schools having to send children home to learn due to staff shortages. DS(13) tested positive for Covid at the weekend. His best friend from school tested positive on Monday. Several other children in his class had it last week. Yet they all wore masks at school. And when I was contacted by Public Health about isolation dates, close contact etc, I was told his school friends were only considered close contacts if they played after school sports together (eh? what about 'during school' sports?), kissed each other or stayed over in each other's houses. I don't need to be a virologist to understand that saying schools are not considered to be an environment of concern (that's roughly what the PHA told me) is a complete denial of what's actually occurring here. Are they trying to suggest that our children all contracted Covid separately and just happened to be in the same class?

So, although I'm happy to wear a mask and don't consider it to be any great hardship, I think that in some settings (eg schools), it's just window dressing. I suppose part of the problem is that many children can't be trusted to wear their masks properly and pull them up and down without any concern about whether they might transfer the virus onto their hands etc. Plenty of adults are just as bad in this respect. Put your mask on and leave it the fuck alone. If you need to touch it for whatever reason, wash/sanitise your hands. It's not a magical barrier, but will help if used properly.

Last week I got banned

And yet here you are

@Dishhh
That study was reported as being high quality evidence that masks reduce transmission by around 10%.

However, the raw data was not published at the time the study was published and reported in the media. A professor at Berkeley has recently looked at the raw data after obtaining it from the authors and asserts that there was only a difference of 20 cases between the control group and the group encouraged to wear masks out of c.1000 people who tested positive in each group and a total of c.170k in each group (the difference for the cloth masks and no cloth masks appears to be 2 cases and the study appears to also find that red cloth masks have a significant affect on case rates and purple cloth masks have no effect). He concludes that the difference between the masked and unmasked groups was probably not statistically significant.

See here: www.argmin.net/2021/11/23/mask-rct-revisited/

To be fair I don't think the authors have yet had a chance to respond to this criticism and I can't vouch for whether or not it is justified (I haven't looked at the raw data myself).

But it casts doubt on the study which was supposed to be the highest quality evidence we have for mask use.

I was aggressively confronted by a police officer on my way out of the train station this morning

I had worn a mask for over an hour on the train and only took it off when I went through the barriers.

It's my understanding that mask wearing is ordered ON public transport not in the vicinity of...

I can see why people think acab after that encounter. I don't think that but the way he behaved was ridiculously heavy handed

I have a magic rock
It works as well as any mask

@morticiamarkle

I have a magic rock It works as well as any mask

Isn't that quite difficult to attach to your face?

I’ve been really surprised with how many shop staff haven’t been wearing face coverings, compared to the period earlier this year when they were mandatory. I’d say about 20% of staff in the shops I’ve been in the past two days haven’t worn them, when before it was about 5%.

I've been to Waitrose and Tesco in the past 24 hours and all the staff were wearing masks.

[quote Chessie678]@Dishhh
That study was reported as being high quality evidence that masks reduce transmission by around 10%.

However, the raw data was not published at the time the study was published and reported in the media. A professor at Berkeley has recently looked at the raw data after obtaining it from the authors and asserts that there was only a difference of 20 cases between the control group and the group encouraged to wear masks out of c.1000 people who tested positive in each group and a total of c.170k in each group (the difference for the cloth masks and no cloth masks appears to be 2 cases and the study appears to also find that red cloth masks have a significant affect on case rates and purple cloth masks have no effect). He concludes that the difference between the masked and unmasked groups was probably not statistically significant.

See here: www.argmin.net/2021/11/23/mask-rct-revisited/

To be fair I don't think the authors have yet had a chance to respond to this criticism and I can't vouch for whether or not it is justified (I haven't looked at the raw data myself).

But it casts doubt on the study which was supposed to be the highest quality evidence we have for mask use.[/quote]
I have been away from this thread all day and only catching up now. Dishh I will read this study as I appreciate your linking it, I genuinely am looking for good hard evidence to support mask wearing.

However what Chessie678 highlights in relation to the raw data does concern me and I would like to see what the authors of the study have to say in response to this.

Thanks Chessie for linking that. Clearly there is still more research needed in this area before there can be clear scientific consensus on mask wearing and protection against this virus.

OP. Glad masks make you feel better.

Two years it's been and theres been no evidence so far that masks significantly reduce transmission or any correlation between countries who have worn masks all the way through and lower cases and deaths.

Masks are psychological. Makes people feel better. If that's how they feel and you feel so be it wear one, I wont be.
A piece of cloth with butterflies on isnt going to protect any virus but you knock yourself out.

[quote Chessie678]@Dishhh
That study was reported as being high quality evidence that masks reduce transmission by around 10%.

However, the raw data was not published at the time the study was published and reported in the media. A professor at Berkeley has recently looked at the raw data after obtaining it from the authors and asserts that there was only a difference of 20 cases between the control group and the group encouraged to wear masks out of c.1000 people who tested positive in each group and a total of c.170k in each group (the difference for the cloth masks and no cloth masks appears to be 2 cases and the study appears to also find that red cloth masks have a significant affect on case rates and purple cloth masks have no effect). He concludes that the difference between the masked and unmasked groups was probably not statistically significant.

See here: www.argmin.net/2021/11/23/mask-rct-revisited/

To be fair I don't think the authors have yet had a chance to respond to this criticism and I can't vouch for whether or not it is justified (I haven't looked at the raw data myself).

But it casts doubt on the study which was supposed to be the highest quality evidence we have for mask use.[/quote]

After reading Ben Recht's essay, his comments may be justified.

For me, surgical masks are particularly worthwhile as a companion measure - the study below shows this.

www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj-2021-068302

No I'm not happy they're back. I quite like them in the winter. They keep my nose warm and I don't feel like I need to wear make up to hide my crappy skin. I end up wearing contacts most of the time; nothing stops my glasses from steaming up! I get hot quite easily and the mask seems to exacerbate it. I also seem to be allergic to detergent and fabric conditioner on reusable masks so end up either using disposables (bad for the environment) or sneezing and blowing my nose constantly. Sneezing and nose blowing get you a lot of 'looks' from others when out in public!

I like masks because they keep my face warm. So far they haven’t yet been reintroduced as being needed at drop off / pick up at my son’s school but I imagine it’s only a matter of time and wearing a mask will definitely make standing out in the cold more bearable!

I went into a shop earlier this morning and would say a very large percentage of the customers were wearing masks, but surprisingly, not many of the staff members were.

We’re vaccinated why do we need to wear a mask if the vaccines work? It’s bollocks so much scare mongering there’s always going to be new variants we need to learn to live with it. Germ ridden pieces of cloth that people really use are not doing to help. I’ve had my jabs I’m not anti vax but I will not be wearing one and didn’t in town yesterday.

Also people need to mind there own business your not the mask police if some people don’t want to wear them or are exempt then how about say nothing and carry on with your day.

@DontWantTheRivalry

I like masks because they keep my face warm. So far they haven’t yet been reintroduced as being needed at drop off / pick up at my son’s school but I imagine it’s only a matter of time and wearing a mask will definitely make standing out in the cold more bearable!

I went into a shop earlier this morning and would say a very large percentage of the customers were wearing masks, but surprisingly, not many of the staff members were.

You can wear a scarf (or indeed a mask if you prefer) whenever you want if it's cold. You don't have to wait for them to be mandated!

I caught Covid more or less at the outset March 2020. Washing hands, keeping distance, wearing a mask.

Forgive me if I’m dubious about their properties given Whitty, Van Tam et al were also negative on masks at the time.

On another note, given the SE Asian penchant for mask wearing & previous scares such as Swine Flu, why did we not have a definitive study into all this before Covid 19?

Or if we did, I’m presuming it was inconclusive hence the mixed messaging at the beginning of this pandemic?