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 !

Absolutely agree! They are making people more sick.

Same here. Presumably you are nhs

Tightly over the mouth and nose? Are you for real? Do you have gills?

Good for your colleague! They will have better health and less wealth. Hopefully they will return to their job after being discriminated against.

Masks do work in my experience, anecdotally of course. The week after customers were no longer required to wear masks, ALL counter service staff in our pharmacy got covid. The week after WE no longer had to wear masks 3 out of 4 of us got it again. Twice in 3 months!

We had a few glorious weeks at my local hospital when we didn't have to wear masks. Now they are back and the 3-11 year olds have to wear them too. It's a pain, especially for my 9 year old who is deaf but it's necessary when cases are so high. DS getting covid would delay his treatment for months so I'm grateful that some people are still taking precautions.

Surgical face masks worn by trained staff in a medical setting do make a difference. That's what must of the research is based on.
Joe public wearing a cloth face mask, untrained in its proper fitting has dubious benefits.

Scotland kept compulsory face coverings far longer than England. Sturgeon made a big song and dance about it being SO important it had to remain in law.
But she got rid of them when we consistently had highest number of covid cases in UK despite all wearing face cover.
And we still have highest cases months later despite it being compulsory in all healthcare settings 🤷🏼‍♀️

Oh no….so harsh. 🙄

Then maybe there should be a push for a proper educational campaign on what kind of masks are best and how to wear them.

Why? That wouldn't solve the problem of people simply having had enough of being expected to wear them, with increasingly dubious rationale for it given how contagious Omicron is, and nor would it mean we had enough FFP3s to ensure everyone in the population had access to a properly fitted one. Which is what we'd need.

@Augend23 also try medical/healthcare product/equipment suppliers. The products offered change quite often, depending on supply and demand, but as long as they are accredited to FFP2/3 or N95/99, they do the same job.

Be careful with N95s. People have mentioned on here ordering them in the UK and the product being substandard because N95 isn't the British term and not trademarked. I didn't check that for myself but wouldn't want anyone buying a substandard mask when they are trying to get the safest available.

I get it, we have to wear masks to protect patients. Had a lovely 2 weeks without, I knew that wouldn't last, so many staff off with covid and hospital transmission increasing. However, unless exempt, I don't understand why patients don't wear masks. We have to get really close to patients coughing and spluttering on us.

@ApplesandBunions where are you ordering N95/99s from? European/UK healthcare product suppliers only offer FFP2/3 masks. The US N95/99 standard is similar in terms of effectiveness, however not exactly the same. When travelling outside of Europe, I'd be fine with accredited N95/99 if FFP2/3 were not available. In all cases, counterfeit masks without proper accreditation are something to avoid, hence using a medical product supplier who has checked factory accreditation tends to be better than say some arbitrary cosmetic product supplier.

I'm not ordering anything, I'm talking about what I've seen reported on here. From what I could tell, the problem wasn't with proper US N95s it was with the term N95 being used for something else.

@ApplesandBunions oh okay so you're saying don't buy counterfeit masks?

I'm saying be careful yep, some people are fucking scummy.

Yup use too. NHS. Even non patient facing. I would imagine most places will have it again by the end of the month

Ooh where can I get these from at this price? Sounds a no brainer to me.

To protect from blood splatters and droplets infecting an open wound site. Naff all to do with respiratory viruses.

Because those in authority know that their effect is minimal to zero. Imposing them once more is more about being seen to be doing something.

Then maybe there should be a push for a proper educational campaign on what kind of masks are best and how to wear them

the information has been out there for a long time, the WHO advised triple layer masks very early on. This still hasn’t stopped people pulling single layer bandanas up over their faces, wearing decent masks under their noses, or buying nylon masks with open plastic “filters”. I’ve even heard of a couple of people wearing KNITTED face masks fgs. Even if people wear decent masks, they are still pulling them down to sneeze, blow their noses or cough because, you know, they couldn’t possibly cough in their mask.

My trust only got rid of masks in non clinical areas like offices but are recommending that again now. Face to face with patients masks never went away.

No body likes wearing them in healthcare especially on hot wards for long days but at a time where omicron is rife I don’t think it’s unreasonable right now. We have very little ventilation.

it’s quite depressing to just be on a covid merry go round every few months despite people trying to ignore it, pretend it’s a cold, and that people aren’t still dying/I’ll long term. We need to live with it I agree but we need positive measures like ventilation in buildings. Sick pay to encourage isolation.

@Augend23 I bought two kinds for a flight recently.
Hard brand, made in Germany and Facemate, made in Eire.

You have to fit them properly. The mask should move in and out as you breathe.
I preferred the Facemate because it stands away from the mouth. We all wore for 6 hours on a flight and in airport.

Living in an alternative universe from some posters, all the surgeons I know wear FFP2/3 masks now to protect themselves from air-borne contagion. As for those in authority, they're still practising distancing and upping their masks to prevent contagion. Check what Sage members have been saying recently.

Since February, it's like using the roads without a highway code. All you can do is reduce your risks, now we have waves every 3 or so months. There are those who know they're invincible and, when forced to don masks in health settings, deploy them as nostril/chin straps because that signals to the world what clever chaps they are. Likewise cleverly spreading the virus to vulnerable patients and HCPs to cripple the NHS. With these gems amidst us, the "authorities" definitely know natural selection has to be allowed to occur. Better ventilation would be a good option, however there's no credit in such costly invisible measures which only reinforce the clever chaps' take that it makes no difference what you do. These people are so clever that they can't cough into their masks, and generously share their precious vapours with the world. And it's working!