Having to wear masks at work again

[KangarooKenny]

Had an email today, masks to be worn at work, and two negative tests before you go back to work. In this heat too !

And what of it? It's never gone away,, prob never will.

Or just don't wear it?

Absolutely no way I will be ever wear a mask again. I really hope it doesn't become 'normal' again in general life, or even worse, government mandated - it's so much nicer without them.

And what of it? It's never gone away,, prob never will.

It probably won’t ever go away but that doesn’t mean people shouldn’t take precautions when there’s a spike.

I’m a nurse in the community. Not so long ago we were being clapped, now we’re being told to suck it up. Lovely.

thing is most people don't track the numbers/cases anymore.....so how would everyone even be aware theres a 'spike'?

tests aren't routinely taken for most anymore either...theres no isolation.....

You're a nurse and you're moaning about being asked to protect your vulnerable community patients? Wow. Probably is time for a job change then really.

It is stupid.

Clinical staff once again forced to wear masks in NHS hospitals with no air conditioning, nearly 30 degrees heat while patients, relatives and admin staff walk about without masks in magic anti-COVID bubbles.

Fine if patients are especially vulnerable and are also isolating from everyone else. But the rules make no sense when there is free movement in and out of the hospital by maskless people.

Given that many members of the public decided they were too uncomfortable to wear a mask to shop at Tesco, over a year wearing them 10-12 hr shifts at a time is really galling when there's no longer any logic underpinning it.

As a nurse in the community you have the potential to infect multiple
people, I despair of some of the attitudes from HCPs. I know of one nurse who ignored all rules and carried on visiting family inc CEV and sending kids to stay when positive.

We have never stopped wearing them!

Serves her right! Shame the ward will have to deal with the gap in the off duty that she's caused by her selfishness.

I don't wear a mask at work.

I sit at a computer, surrounded by perspex sheets, dividing me from my colleagues.

At the end of my shift, I have to disinfect everything including my little goldfish bowl perspex.

Then I have to put a mask on to walk through the corridors to get out of the building.

Im surprised any nurse would object to wearing a mask to reduce the risk the catching or transmitting a respiratory illness.

If masks worked so well why is the rate of transmission so high in hospitals and care homes when so many people are wearing these oh so fucking wonderful masks anyone who thinks those manky pieces or cloth are saving them from anything is delusional .

The R0 of the new subvarients is believed to be about 18 - which is as bad as measles.

www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/world/2022/jul/05/new-covid-variants-ba4-ba5-most-contagious-australia-third-omicron-wave-coronavirus-subvariants-ba-4-5

Mask wearing seems a fairly low bar to me, I'd probably want an FFP3 if I were you.

An ffp3 is not a manky piece of cloth. The paper masks were not effective.

NHS mandated masks are surgical face masks. Not FFP3. They still don't have enough FFP3 to justify making them compulsory.

Masks work.
www.communitymedical.org/CMC/media/coronavirus/Exposure-and-Masking-Infographic_English.pdf

If it’s in a hospital setting what the fuck is the problem with that?

I’ve been wearing masks on the train. It’s fine.

Because they aren’t mandated. Plus plenty of people don’t wear proper masks.

You’ve got to ask yourself, why were people so keen to believe the King of Bullshit himself Boris Johnson that covid was over and the NHS could cope?

it can’t. It’s fucked. We need masks as a minimum plus decent ventilation.

My team are probably going to go back to masks too- two members currently severely ill with Covid and lots of sickness bugs that we just can’t seem to shift, almost like they’re on a continual rotation. Even those who could’ve simply refused to wear them last time are now coming around to the idea that it’s a good step to looking after each other.

BA.5 is a fucker, I think we’re in for a bumpy ride.

Had a visit today with and a e consultant ...has 4 children they were all wearing masks. Rampant again in ROI

Since February, when isolation stopped, the UK has been on rolling 3 monthly covid waves, as everyone in the NHS knows. FFP3 masks are so affordable now, and most hospital workers still test twice a week.

The NHS is a broad church in most things, however there's no dissention about masks and testing amongst those of us who are committed to it. It's not only idiots who say that FFP3 masks are useless. Sociopaths do, too. They also tend to use them to as nostril or chin slings or earrings, and are happy to infect others in hospitals or care homes. So if you're really a community nurse, as @Snowpatrolling said, suck it up buttercup, or move on, you'll not be missed.

An ffp3 is not a manky piece of cloth. The paper masks were not effective

Who's getting ffp3's? Not me! Same old blue surgical masks which does sweet fuck all except make your face a sweaty mess.

And the government this week have stopped the COVID sick pay for NHS. Which is fine for permanent staff, it just counts as a normal period of sickness. But for those on bank they now get no sick pay if the get COVID....so have no incentive to test themselves.

Slow clap

And surgeons wear them because?