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Why are we still wearing masks?

273 replies

Couldntrememberthewordbasket · 13/01/2022 23:16

I’m not in the U.K.

Where I am, we still have to wear masks in the supermarket/petrol stations etc..we’ve never not had to,
The U.K. don’t, right?
Why are we still having to do this? I can’t see it ending, will be so very odd going shopping without masks

OP posts:
ChuckGarabedian · 14/01/2022 08:35

In N. Ireland here, it has remained compulsory here since being brought in in 2020.

tiredanddangerous · 14/01/2022 08:38

Because I want to hide my chin acne. Damn you peri menopause.

Lesserspottedmama · 14/01/2022 08:41

Because people bloody love them, seemingly. It’s bizarre. My theory is a lot of people with social anxiety feel safer and more invisible in them. My favourite is when people lift them up to sneeze. God help us.

DontBlameMe79 · 14/01/2022 08:41

@MarshmallowFondant

How does Sturgeon get away with having secondary school kids in masks all day with the high vaccine levels? How she maintains community support is beyond me. Maybe because they can’t vote yet?

Because her marketing strategy, her USP, is being Not Boris. She cares more than Boris, she has the interests of the Scottish population at heart, she makes statements like "with a heavy heart" kidding on she really doesn't want to be making us wearing masks or distancing from granny, but really she's rubbing her hands together in glee at being Not Boris.

Because being Not Boris is strengthening her campaign for independence, which is all that matters to her. People thinking she really cares so much more and "could cry" about cancelling nativity plays or school exams (again) are deluded. It's all about independence. Although to be fair, at the moment Boris is doing a great deal of the work for her.

I thought this Not Boris strategy had been rumbled by now - didn’t she want everyone to call her “Mammy” 🤮🤮
MarshmallowFondant · 14/01/2022 08:45

In our house she's called "Fuck Off Nicola" as that's what we say when her face appears on telly. She has mates called Fuck Off Jason, Fuck Off Swinney, and Fuck Off Humza.

vodkaredbullgirl · 14/01/2022 08:47

I've never stopped wearing them, have to at work.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 14/01/2022 08:49

@Couldntrememberthewordbasket

Jesus, some biting comments.

I thought England had stopped mask wearing in supermarkets some time ago and we’ve never stopped. I didn’t realise there’s still mask wearing. My mistake

It’s not enforced, though, and never has been. Every time I go to a supermarket or get on a bus, I see people wearing them under their noses, or on their chins.
And I can’t believe that all the people I see not wearing one at all, are genuinely exempt. Anyone can say they are, and nobody can challenge them, so nobody does. This is in London. The only place I’ve seen with a ‘no mask, no entry’ sign, is a local independent pharmacy.
Florianus · 14/01/2022 08:49

The answer is because England has a government that failed to follow the science (and lacks common sense and morals)

The science, in the form of SAGE which advises the government, was that evidence for the effectiveness of masks was, and still is, weak (see SAGE minutes for 21/4/2020).

NewMessageFrom · 14/01/2022 08:53

[quote Couldntrememberthewordbasket]@Tealightsandd It’s ok, I didn’t say they didn’t, I was curious why England had stopped and where I am never stopped.[/quote]
Where are you located that is reporting England is no longer wearing masks?

ineedsun · 14/01/2022 08:55

@Florianus

The answer is because England has a government that failed to follow the science (and lacks common sense and morals)

The science, in the form of SAGE which advises the government, was that evidence for the effectiveness of masks was, and still is, weak (see SAGE minutes for 21/4/2020).

That’s a very old reference is there anything more recent? Seems like that was at the point where they were still saying don’t bother with masks before they did a massive u-turn because a lot of experts on infectious diseases had challenged this.
Grida · 14/01/2022 08:57

People love them because they are a visible symbol of doing the right thing and being a responsible citizen. A badge of unselfishness. If I’m honest, it is probably the only reason I wear one. I don’t really think they do much to prevent covid.

JuergenSchwarzwald · 14/01/2022 08:57

@Tealightsandd

Don't worry OP. It's understandable you were confused. The government has hardly been very clear about things and they did, against scientific advice and common sense, get rid of masks for a few months (in England. The devolved nations were more sensible).
And it looks like they may get rid of them again at the end of this month, which is too soon in my view. It make sense to require them during the winter months to reduce colds and flu - given the NHS is under great pressure it would seem to make sense to try to reduce pressure in other ways by not giving flu a foothold. They could do away with them in eg March.

However, I doubt medical facilities, hairdressers or pharmacies will stop requiring them, as they didn't between July and November.

I never stopped wearing one.

JuergenSchwarzwald · 14/01/2022 08:59

The science, in the form of SAGE which advises the government, was that evidence for the effectiveness of masks was, and still is, weak (see SAGE minutes for 21/4/2020)

Yes but the only reason they said that was because there was a shortage and they didn't want people taking away supply from medical professionals. Once there were enough cloth face coverings they said that it was a good idea to wear them. I don't think that was coincidence.

Lilifer · 14/01/2022 08:59

[quote Peas252]@Lockdownbear

Thanks for the geography lesson Biscuit

I think you'll find that most places in the "UK", masks are seen as optional.[/quote]
That's just not true. Here in Northern Ireland masks are required in shops, schools, hairdressers, cafes (till sitting down) etc 😐

Lilifer · 14/01/2022 09:05

@justasking111

It's an inconvenient truth that Wales had the highest rates in Europe right through the summer when we continued to wear masks. Scotland and NI has higher figures than England .

So tell me how masks work??

This is very true in Northern Ireland too, and despite a very high vaccine uptake in all ages
DrWhoNowww · 14/01/2022 09:07

The answer is because England has a government that failed to follow the science (and lacks common sense and morals)

At the risk of sounding like all the other posters who couldn’t wait to point out to OP that the U.K. is more than just England…I’d like to pedantically remind posters that England does not in fact have a government and hasn’t for quite some centuries.

Lilifer · 14/01/2022 09:07

@SoupDragon

Until exemptions have to be proved, masks are basically optional. If you don't want to wear one, just claim an exemption, apparently no one can question this.
In reality most people don't want to be different and just wear the mask as everyone else is doing so.
RandomLondoner · 14/01/2022 09:08

see SAGE minutes for 21/4/2020

That date is very significant, because I've read a whole article on how the officially accepted science on masks was wrong at the start of the pandemic. I don't remember the exact date the WHO reversed it's advice, but it it was definitely later than that date, a few months later.

Apparently the WHO guidelines (and what was taugtht in medical schools around the world) are taken from USA guidlines published at the start of the 1960's, and that was in turn based on the work of an American researcher over the previous 20 years. But whoever drew up the USA guidelines had conflated or misunderstood the meaning of the figures in the previous research, and got the guidelines wrong.

Bottom line, scientific advice and medical textbooks from before mid-2020 are wrong, advice has changed since.

The article I read was about an American physicist who sat in on a WHO zoom call in early 2020 where people were saying masks weren't effective, and when she piped up to say that what they were saying was wrong from a physics point of view, she was shut down by senior medical staff quoting medical orthodoxy. She then spent a few months tracing why the medical profession believed what they did, found the source of the historical error, and convinced WHO to change their advice, which they did, in 2020, but long after the April date you mention.

newnamenewyear · 14/01/2022 09:09

England may have started wearing masks again, officially. But there isn't the same culture for it here as in many other counties.

Lots of people are ignoring the advice to wear a mask. It's not unusual to find I'm the only customer in a shop actually wearing one.

ApolloandDaphne · 14/01/2022 09:10

I am Scottish and I don't support NS in any way, shape or form. I rumbled her a long time ago. However I have to do what is mandated so I can go about my business therefore I wear a mask and basically do as I am told.

MarshmallowFondant · 14/01/2022 09:12

@ApolloandDaphne

I am Scottish and I don't support NS in any way, shape or form. I rumbled her a long time ago. However I have to do what is mandated so I can go about my business therefore I wear a mask and basically do as I am told.
Yes me too.

It's not that I'm a fan of masks or think they're particularly effective. I just want to avoid a confrontation with busybodies in Tesco.

RandomLondoner · 14/01/2022 09:13

@Florianus

Forgot to @ you. in my post above, see that for why your April 2020 reference is no longer valid.

MorrisZapp · 14/01/2022 09:13

Tired of Scottish exceptionalism.

Yes, we've never got rid of ours but guess what, we have exactly the same proportion of numpties as all the other nations.

Masks are required but unenforced. Maskless, chin mask and nose peeping is absolutely standard here as it is anywhere else.

LakieLady · 14/01/2022 09:13

I wear a mask because I don't want to be responsible for making anyone ill.

MarshaBradyo · 14/01/2022 09:15

It will change here when plan b stops iirc

Which probably isn’t that far off

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