Attitude to masks needs to change...

[treeflowercat]

We adapted before back in the late Spring 2020, when it was decided that masks were beneficial after all, having initially been advised against it. The message at the time and since has been that masks protect others more than they protect you.

But now, the emphasis is on mask quality.... and it matters far less whether others around you have face covering but the quality of your own. For instance, it appears that you're far more protected if you have a FFP2 mask and others are maskless, than if you and everyone else has a cloth (or even surgical) face covering as per the link below:

www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/a38697308/best-face-masks-omicron-covid-variant/

(NB the absolute times need shortening for omicron but relatively the differences remain)

The notion that a room where everyone had face coverings on is "safe" doesn't really appear to hold, as evidenced by the rises in countries where mask mandates are strict (look at Spain!).

Equally, the idea that a room where only you have a mask on (if high quality) is "unsafe", at least compared to the fully masked alternative outlined above, doesn't hold either.

It seems that the advice now needs to change, as it did before, and that your protection is primarily based on the quality of your own mask.

A recognition of this would hopefully diffuse some of the conflicts and anxieties surrounding mask use...

I'm not writing this as someone who is anti-mask, and I started wearing one before the become mandatory, but unless we make this shift, they'll be a lot of vulnerable people who feel disproportionately unsafe, in the belief that their protection still lies more with the cloth face covering worn by people they interact with, than the quality of the mask they wear themselves.

From next week no need to wear. If someone wants to wear then that's up to them.

@Lazypuppy

Masks will be gone by next week so kind of a moot point now.

They wont be gone for everyone. My ds's school announced today that masks still have to worn all day in school. Which we are not happy about.

@herecomesthsun

I'm CEV.

I wear a FFP2.

It is still safer for us if people wear masks on buses and in shops, as well as wearing a FFP2.

I don't see the problem with people (who are not mask exempt) wearing a mask in a shop.

I will be shopping online for the foreseeable.

It is a fucking stupid change of plan.

Those that work in the shops ten hours a day see the problem!

@ILoveAllRainbowsx

Yes, I agree with you. I have always worn a mask to protect myself as well as other people. I think that the message the government gave saying that it was to protect other people actually stopped selfish people wearing masks.

I have always worn more than one mask at a time to protect myself (a surgical mask and a cloth mask with filters) but I rarely go out as my husband is CEV so it does not cost much.

I also wear goggles if I am going to be in an enclosed place to protect myself.

You actually wear goggles?

@nocoolnamesleft

The decision to remove masks has the square root of fuck all to do with the science and everything to do with an incompetent venal buffoon desperately trying to cling on to power.

Can we bet that Europe will follow the Buffon very soon?

@nocoolnamesleft

The decision to remove masks has the square root of fuck all to do with the science and everything to do with an incompetent venal buffoon desperately trying to cling on to power.

Exactly.

@Roselilly36

I for one cannot wait to see the back of the masks, quite honestly, no way would I wear one after Thursday. I am also CEV but refuse to live with this fear any longer, we need to get on with our lives.

Your choice which others may or may not follow. I think it's worth wearing a decent quality one in crowded places so I'll continue to do so.

I've been looking for an FFP mask but am seeing lots of reviews from online saying they are not properly made, or are fakes. I also have a small face so am worried about fit. Interested what a PP said about the fit. I am CEV and a long way post booster so thought I would get a couple for the higher risk scenarios, but I'm now wondering if it's worth it.

I agree OP.
The lifting of mask mandate has nothing to do with science just Boris trying to favour popularity.

I will be keeping my mask and imagine the requirement will remain for staff to wear FFP3 in the NHS and visitors and patients attending appointments will still require them, I imagine other healthcare will be the same.

@GirlInACountrySong

Masks are done with op! Gone

Pretty sure we in the NHS will still be wearing them unless in a room on our own. So they certainly won't be done or gone completely.

@GreatBigBeautifulTommorow

I agree OP. The lifting of mask mandate has nothing to do with science just Boris trying to favour popularity.

I will be keeping my mask and imagine the requirement will remain for staff to wear FFP3 in the NHS and visitors and patients attending appointments will still require them, I imagine other healthcare will be the same.

There requirement in the NHS in England isn't for staff to wear FFP3s, it's just to wear a mask. FFPs are needed for certain procedures or higher risk departments /wards /pathways

*The requirement, not There

I was going to say surely it’s pointless wearing a mask, however high grade it is, unless you’re also going to wear goggles. Covid can enter through the eyes as well can’t it? Of course you better cover your hair as well in case you run your hands through it while out and then touch it in the same place later. Better still you’ll need to shower and put clean clothes on after every trip outside or just be done with it and get a few biohazard suits off Amazon for your trip to Sainsburys.

We’re going to have to stop wearing masks at some point and there are much more effective treatments for Covid now than there was in the beginning as well as the vaccines. I started wearing one in March 2020 and remember posting a thread on here in the June about food servers in a sandwich shop not wearing them and was absolutely roasted for it. I find it boggling that so many people want to carry on wearing them.

I think you make a good point and an interesting argument

Re. Eyes , yes we were told that but I haven’t heard it mentioned now for ages so might be one of those myths from the early days like the virus living on your vegetables and post!

@Lazypuppy

Masks will be gone by next week so kind of a moot point now.

Legally they will be, but companies can still set their own rules and regulations for them.

I’m going to carry on wearing my FFP2 masks for a long time yet.

I always see people fiddling with their masks, wearing them over their mouth but not their nose, wearing them as a chin-sling. I've also seen some very manky-looking masks.

I've read so much for and against the effectiveness of masks to protect oneself or others that I find it impossible (not being a scientist) to reach a conclusion, but it seems obvious that masks worn improperly are not going to serve any purpose and dirty masks probably do more harm than good.

Me and my primary aged kids all wear N95/FPP2 masks in class. (I’m a teacher). None of us have caught covid yet despite being in rooms full of infected people. My son is one of only three people in his class kit to have caught it. My daughter has also had ten people in her class catch it but she did not. I am now having to help cover other teachers classes at my own school on top of my own because there are so many staff off at my school. I’m glad that masks have helped keep us safe and in school but I bloody wish others would wear decent quality masks too because if everyone did then the virus wouldn’t spread as much.

Just to clarify, my son is one of three NOT to have caught it. Dodgy phone typing!

@RichardMarxisinnocent mandatory in my trust.

From next week no need to wear. If someone wants to wear then that's up to them

Amazing really, infections are way higher than when masks introduced (Dec 10th 57k) but apparently its all gone away... the magic that the fear of losing your job can do - if only we'd known in March 2020, we could have avoided this pandemic.

I work in a sector where the bloody things are currently mandatory. But there's not enough enforcement. I work outside, and I can see my breath leaking out the sides and above my mask. My glasses steam up so doing my actual tasks is difficult. I don't think masks do anything, personally. Good personal hygiene and regular cleaning of surfaces are more effective. I can't wait for the bloody things are gone (so I can stop virtue signalling).

I run a private healthcare business, and will be continuing to wear my fitted ffp3 masks for the foreseeable. I do not wish to catch covid, or to pass it on to my patients. The virus is still with us, and as a frontline healthcare worker i have managed successfully to avoid covid. I am not about to jeopardise that at the moment.

@Gingerlovesbiscuits

Me and my primary aged kids all wear N95/FPP2 masks in class. (I’m a teacher). None of us have caught covid yet despite being in rooms full of infected people. My son is one of only three people in his class kit to have caught it. My daughter has also had ten people in her class catch it but she did not. I am now having to help cover other teachers classes at my own school on top of my own because there are so many staff off at my school. I’m glad that masks have helped keep us safe and in school but I bloody wish others would wear decent quality masks too because if everyone did then the virus wouldn’t spread as much.

Where do you live for primary age children to wear masks?