Why won’t so many Brits wear a mask

[IloveConkers]

I live in mainland Spain where I haven’t seen a single person without a mask in a supermarket since March 2020. I hear it’s the same in Germany and Italy. What is it about so many British people that makes them not do it when it’s clearly safer. I returned to the UK for a visit and found it horrifying. I was even looked at with disdain for wearing one! I just don’t get it!

Since mask wearing in shops etc was made mandatory again, I have only seen a few ppl not wearing one. And you now have to have proof that you are exempt from mask wearing or you can be fined on 1st offence. Which will have stopped some of the piss takers.

I'm in Scotland and mostly everyone I see in supermarkets wear a mask. Not in pubs and restaurants though. I wear a mask but I really couldn't give two hoots whether others do or not.

We've never been told we can stop wearing them in NI. But plenty of people don't. I don't quite understand the mentality of people who think they don't have to bother complying during a pandemic. It's not a great hardship to wear a mask for a couple of hours while doing the shopping etc. I don't think it's because they think masks don't work, more likely because they don't see why they should have to follow rules which inconvenience them. Telling the public that a self declaration of exemption is sufficient allows too many people to do whatever the hell they like - and fuck everybody else.

Because Britain IS shit. And yes, I am trying to leave, before anyone tells me to. Circumstances have made it difficult at the moment. But i have lived in plenty of other countries before and will move away again and can't wait to get away from stupid British exceptionalism.

@frazzledali

Because Britain IS shit. And yes, I am trying to leave, before anyone tells me to. Circumstances have made it difficult at the moment. But i have lived in plenty of other countries before and will move away again and can't wait to get away from stupid British exceptionalism.

Please do. Then we’d get less of this.

It's because the rules are so bloody incomprehensible. Why is it ok to sing inside as a group, but not ok to shop individually without a mask? There's no consistency and people are sick of it.

And how's Germany with everyone wearing masks doing today?

@DoctorSnortles

There are a lot of stroppy morons in the UK. I don’t have actual data to back this up, but it is an empirical fact.

Lol

All those people who are 'shocked' to see someone without a mask - what has to happen for you to be happy for them to end?

A much lower R-number similar to other bugs.

Although, I’m quite happy for them to be seen as more socially acceptable so if I chose to wear one on a crowded train in a cold winter nobody thinks I’m a weirdo. It would be a good idea if we used them to prevent a bad flu season, but not in a mandatory way, just as a social good.

It's because the rules are so bloody incomprehensible. Why is it ok to sing inside as a group, but not ok to shop individually without a mask? There's no consistency and people are sick of it.

There is consistency when you look at why different things might need different rules, when you look at the wider picture of what is trying to be achieved. Too many people think that if a rule doesn’t apply in one place, it should in another. I’m not sure why people think this is the case for covid when in every other aspect we expect different settings to be treated in a different way.

No, the ridiculous inconsistencies aren't between similar settings. it's between different situations in the setting.

Wear a mask to enter a restaurant and walk to your table. Remove it when you sit down. Stay seated, eating, drinking and talking maskless for 2 hours. Replace mask to leave.

Wear your mask when seated in the cinema/theatre. Unless you're eating/drinking when Covid is no longer a threat.

There's also a huge perception among many on MN that mask wearers are doing so to be responsible and caring towards their fellow humans. In my direct experience it's more about it being a legal requirement and needing to show compliance than about any real belief it makes that much difference.

I wear one because it’s the law. When it ceased to be mandatory in shops and public transport, I stopped unless I felt the situation warranted it (for example, a very busy tube train in London).

Wear a mask to enter a restaurant and walk to your table. Remove it when you sit down. Stay seated, eating, drinking and talking maskless for 2 hours. Replace mask to leave.

Wear a mask when you are moving around, past other people, in different areas, remove it when sitting in close quarters to people you probably spend time with unmasked with either at home or in an office or whatever. But the risk is restricted to the smaller group of people you are with.

Wear your mask when seated in the cinema/theatre. Unless you're eating/drinking when Covid is no longer a threat.

Again, wear the mask around others but you can remove it whilst sitting but only if you want to eat.

Or, we can go back to having restaurants and cinemas closed, people being out of work, the economy suffering. It is minimising the risk, not removing it. It is about the balance of harms. Surely people understand this almost 2 years on?

Many of us do understand. We just don't really care any more.

all the builders going into the bakers for their sandwiches must also be exempt as majority at my local bakers have no masks

I think that people love the attention of being asked so they can say they are exempt. My sister lives for this but she wears one for 38 hours a week at work because she isn't really. I have no idea why the UK is so full of these people.

Clearly my point was @NannyOggsWhiskyStash that the NHS isn't capable of dealing with these sorts of numbers, not that I thought there should be some kind of cull 🙄

There are a number of causes, it's not just as simple as "they're stupid and don't give a shit", although that is undoubtedly true for many. Probably quite a few.

There has also been poor top-down leadership. Not only has communication of the rules been poor, but so has enforcement. The rules are lax and almost impossible to enforce. The unquestionable exemption rule has given carte blanche to anyone who just doesn't fancy wearing one.

Additionally it's not uncommon to see our glorious leaders NOT wearing a mask, in situations where they certainly should be. So people look at that and think "well if they're not wearing one and no-one is enforcing me wearing one then why the fuck should I?". And yes, this is a selfish and short-sighted POV, but lots of people are selfish and short-sighted.

Britain is also a generally quite individualistic society. People are focussed on themselves and not on others. This isn't always a bad thing, but IMO we're too far the wrong way.

I hate them. They make me feel claustrophobic and you can't smile at anyone in them. Plus I don't think they do a lot. Mine also has make up on it from my face so they're hardly clean (obviously I will be chucking it in the wash and using a spare one)

@RightOnTheEdge

All the posters flying to England from other countries for non urgent reasons like weddings and then being shocked and horrified by English people being selfish and irresponsible

Almost every other poster has recently visited from Spain

I wonder if we would be in a better position if we had just closed our borders back in February 2020 and kept them shut.

Haven't RTFT but why is the vaccination rate so low in Europe? They may be wearing more masks but far less of them are vaccinated.

Actually it's almost every poster from anywhere else in the world apart from Scotland. It's weird that the country with the worst health service in the third world is incapable of showing any respect. You could say their internet infrastructure is sophisticated but even that isn't true, it's crap. So apart from the shitshow we experience when landing at Heathrow, being screamed at by unmasked people with a sunflower badge along with the total disaster of the government, why would we respect it? One of my Sudanese colleagues said her family have even stopped being illegal workers in the UK because the hospitals are so shit.

England: I've just been to my local shopping centre, vast majority wearing masks. Unfortunately or fortunately as the case may be, I am unable to mind read so do idea if they were having pure thoughts only.

Yeah, actually I do know that, because it's not a legal requirement where I live. Whether it's legal or not makes no difference to the vast majority of us. It's whether it's the right thing to do

so the country you live in (care to mention which one?) is proxy for the rest of the world is it? I've already said that nobody at all was wearing them in Guernsey (which isn't the UK). And I am pretty sure people had stopped wearing them in Norway before Omicron came along too (someone I know living there had told me they'd started removing plastic screens etc too).

@Haveyoubrushedyourteethtoday

Same op. I’m in Spain too. I was horrified on the tube when I visited London recently. I mean if there was ever an environment with no ventilation!

Actually the tube trains are very well ventilated - they actually have windows at either end of each carriage! People are meant to wear masks on them too but it seems to depend what time of day you travel.

I am less keen on the mainline trains which rely on aircon and no windows :(