what % still wearing masks?

[WhereAreMyAirpods]

(obviously talking UK here, where masks haven't been compulsory in months).

I live in a part of Scotland where mask compliance was very high. Whatever people's personal thoughts on masks and whether they were effective, people wore them because it was illegal not to. It was exceptionally unusual to see someone unmasked in the supermarket this time last year, even after England ditched the masks and we continued, compliance was 95% or more.

Have just been to the local small supermarket, there was about 10 customers in, 5 in masks. And a masked member of staff.

And before everyone piles in with "oh they might be clinically vulnerable" well yes they might, but masks are supposed to protect me from them, and pre March 2020 I never saw one single mask, ever. Except in a hospital.3

A lot of Chinese and Japanese tourists routinely wore masks even before Covid and nobody ever popped up on social media "wondering why". A lot of this is judgemental busybodies having a sly dig at people making different decsions to them. Perhaps they should grow up and mind their own business.

I’m sorry to hear that you have no friends or neighbours who could help out, but think it very unlikely that the same applies to most people still wearing masks.

Just like you aren’t?

@StillGoingStrongToday I mean I do have people but this is.. life
I have to act as though I am on chemo but it's not months or a year or so. A few weeks would be easier to get help but I have to work FT and do everything myself
People presume as I'm mid thirties and look fine that I'm paranoid

That's right.
Your health choices are all yours and nothing to do with me.
But if you are going on social media trying to tell other people what they should be doing, and suggesting those making different calculations are "sad" expect some push back.

I wear masks when out & I have no plans to stop.

I have severe facial scarring mostly on my lower face & wearing one makes me look like a normal person wearing a mask, instead of a freak who gets stared at because I picked the wrong guy to date.

I feel free wearing a mask for the first time in years (which I'd thought of doing before Covid, but back then it seemed a bit extreme) & it doesn't harm anyone else.

You'll all be sorry when covid comes roaring back this winter.

OCD indeed

Sorry?

I won't be "sorry" when Covid comes back, as it surely will. Just as flu comes back. I'll have my jabs. But my point stands - if masks protect other people from you, wearing a mask is protecting you against nothing.

I get why vulnerable people are making the choices they are, but they never seemed to bother about the 101 things they might pick up in Tesco before 2020.

It just seems to be elderly people wearing them round here (and all with their nose sticking out the top!) Must be completely ineffective but I guess it makes them feel safer or something?

Depends where you are

On a recent visit to hospital, nearly everyone
On the Tube, probably about 20% (air is pretty fetid down there, but more people did before the very hot weather, and as it gets crowded again after the summer hols it might go up a bit. Obviously depends which line, more on the deeper lines than the ones which are partly over ground)
Buses, usually 3-5 people, rare to be on a bus where no-one does
In shops etc, still a small number
Outdoors hardly anyone

I get why vulnerable people are making the choices they are, but they never seemed to bother about the 101 things they might pick up in Tesco before 2020

Then I don't think you do 'get it'

Other diseases were simply not as prevalent (even in a bad flu year), and treatments (such as antivirals) were more widely available, and it wasn't the case that even in the summer about 1/4 of ICU beds were occupied by the CEV with that one disease.

In East London. I would say less than 5 per cent wearing masks in supermarkets. The only people who are most definitely not giving them up are the drug dealers and also the criminals featured on the Ring doorbell footage posted on Nextdoor😁

I still wear a mask in most indoor public settings and of course I know I’m in the minority. I’m on immunosuppressants - have been for 25 years. Nothing to be done about it, as without them I would be unable to manage my debilitating IBD. I got Covid right at the start, suffered the after effects for a year, have been vaccinated 5 times but due to the immunosuppressants we don’t really know how well the vaccines work. I have three small children and a husband who works for the NHS (patient facing). You’re absolutely right that I was equally vulnerable before the pandemic and didn’t wear a mask to Tesco then. It’s also true that my mask doesn’t really protect me but protects others. All of that makes perfect, logical, sense- but unfortunately, after shielding for nearly 2 years, the messages really hit home and “back to normal” isn’t quite back to normal for many people like me. I can’t lock myself away and I don’t want to - I just feel that, however illogical it might seem to others, I’ll put my mask on on crowded London public transport and busy shops / in the GP’s waiting room / in A&E where I spent 4 hours with my toddler yesterday. Defies all logic- but there we go: it’s not hurting anyone else.

What's that got to do with not wearing masks? Masks didn't prevent the spread at all. In the months when masks were still obligatory in Scotland but not in England, the infection rate in England was no higher at all than in Scotland (lower in fact).

Same with vaccinations. It's absolutely ridiculous to demand proof of vaccinations (various countries, until not long ago many venues), when vaccinations did FA to curb the spread.

@BusMum79

Defies all logic- but there we go: it’s not hurting anyone else.

Not as an individual, but society suffers when we all wear masks. Much of human interaction is done with facial expressions, which is hidden by masks. Not to mention the muffled sound which hits the hard of hearing especially hard, and the security implications of shoplifting and violent crimes.

As a society we should be actively discouraging mask wearing, though it should be legal for those people like yourself who wear it as a security blankie.

You mean like it did last winter when we were all wearing masks?

Anyway, very few still in masks where I am. You see the odd person on the train and bizarrely a few people around with masks on their chins (either wear one or don't!) but on public transport and shops and so on it's like 1% now at most.

@FunnyBeaux Absolutely agree that there are many downsides- and huge implications for lots of babies and toddlers, for example, who need to be able to see faces when they hear speech. And absolutely agree about the hearing impaired- I often move my mask to the side when I realise that’s an issue in shops for example. Again I realise that sounds ridiculous.
I think for quite a lot of people in the CEV category the idea of going to events/ cafes / social occasions etc seemed like a massive step at first after all the shielding messages- so the masks have been a bit of a security item really as you say. I was surprised at how few masks I Saw in a&e, though- is none apart from me and the staff, that was quite a wake up call for me that masks are “over”: it’ll take time to adjust.

None of them ever address the England and Scotland point. Any response will invariably be about non real world conditions and/or pre Omicron strains. It's like religious faith at this point.

In answer to the OP, I still see a few, not that many. I went to the dentist the other day and it was the first time since reopening that they've not been asking people to wear masks and handing them out at the desk. There weren't many with them on. That said, compliance where I live was breaking down well before the legal requirement was lifted, nothing like your 95% rate. But I don't care what other people wear on their faces really, no skin off my arse.

My local hardware shop keeps the shop door locked and doesn't let anyone in without a mask. Also only one customer in at a time. I was served on the doorstep 🙄

About as much protection as a condom with a hole in it 🤣

The occasional person in Lidl- these days I suspect the people in masks think they may have covid.

Wish people would realise cloth ones aren't effective, only proper ones have any effect

I do see the odd (in all ways) person wearing them where I live, but I tend to think they are mad.

Masks are repulsive, filthy items which are probably causing the people who wear them to become ill.

Ps I wear one if I've got the sniffles just in case - I don't test

People in gloves and masks in Aldi- it was jammed . Only wear at hospital as pregnancy based but am sure it’s optional again

It’s a bit more complicated than that though. It’s not that a FRSM doesn’t protect you at all, it’s just that it is more effective if it’s on the person with covid (or even better if you are both wearing one.)

It’s also dependent on situation. FRSM bloody useless if you are carrying out an aerosol generating procedure on a patient. Highly unlikely that the average person is going to get the same level of exposure in a shop so there a FRSM may be the difference between getting covid and not. FFP2 would be better but FRSM will give better protection than nothing.