Thoughts on using facemasks again....as numbers rise

[Kcc73]

So....numbers of covid (along side other cold/flu viruses) and rising quickly.
I have had cold/sore throat/feeling fatigue - but not covid - after 7 days still can't shake it off. I am not that 'ill' and just getting on with what I have to do BUT my health generally not great and a) the thought of getting covid /or/and flu , plus all these more minor colds , and b) probably worse - the thought of my hubby or teens getting covid/flu (and they probably less careful/mindful re washing hands etc) and the impact of that alone! is beginning to get me in a spin (I suffer with chronic condition that doesn't make me cev but I have high fatigue and pains at best of times).

Yes, I do suffer with anxiety (but have reasons to justify) but as it becoming more evident that we heading into another wave, what is reasonable to do , looking at the measures we used in past - when it was kind of mandatory - that can do now?? I want , and have started wearing face mask in supermarkets . I want to ask my teens to wear facemask on public transport but because no one else, well few, are doing this, feel I can't impose this and don't want to pass on anxieties to them.

BUT I know as 'mum', that if (when) family get sick, it will fall to me to a lot more , which don't get me wrong, I do want and feel should do, - but my stance is let's try and do whatever we can to reduce likelihood or getting sick - or preparing for the worst. I am NOT going to be stopping life; but as we head into winter again I am getting worried. Hubby away for weekend with friends and now it's back to thinking 'oh expect he will bring back covid '.

So wish really there were some more mandatory mitigations tbh. I know a lot will shout me down about this. I don't think we should lockdown before anyone thinks then. Just we are a culture of 'followers' and when fold started wearing masks, it made others accept wearing ok, and when it no longer mandatory, if still wearing one you felt odd! Wondered if others starting to wear masks again or doing anything else? (apart from get vaccinated which for most won't be for a while; my appointment is late Oct as I have another health condition).

Long woffly message. Sorry!

Kc

Thing is, even if we assume the motives are completely evil, it's still a terrible policy idea.

There's no evidence it would work, people wouldn't comply, the exempt would be harassed, there would be a cost to enforcement meaning supermarkets and transport authorities simply wouldn't bother so it would have no teeth. Those are all reasons not to do it regardless of what the government's actual rationale is.

I'm getting the sketch about gun control by Jim Jefferies on my mind.

From the Mirror today:

Prof Jonathan Ball, of Nottingham University, said: “I’m not convinced that a general push for mask wearing will have a major impact. The data shows that effectiveness is modest and very much depends on the quality of the mask being worn."

Same article:

“Prof Lawrence Young, of Warwick University, told the Independent he would like to see a return of widespread mask wearing in confined public spaces”.

One prof is a mathematician, the other is a virologist. The first prof ‘is not convinced.’ The second prof ‘would like to see.’

We can pick and choose what we take from any article according to our biases.

But the article is sounding an alarm in the UK re the rise in numbers and new variants that are pretty concerning.

I’ll continue to wear a mask in public places wherever, whenever I can.

He's not suggesting that masks be mandatory though, is he? Which is what the OP and PPs are suggesting.

If people wish to wear masks, that's great, crack on. But insisting that everyone does, or that they be made mandatory once more - no. Also attacking those who can't wear them - no.

And of course, it would undermine whatever the government might want to do with public health measures on anything else in the future, which should be a bit of a disincentive.

If public health recommendations start getting mentally filed in the “this is a pointless, annoying waste of time that will be dragged out forever despite the protests that it’s temporary, and that doesn’t work when they can get everyone to do it, and isn’t enforceable when people give up” category, that’s not setting us up very well for anything that might be lurking round the corner.

In Scotland we still have a government “use your covid sense!” poster campaign telling us to wear masks, open windows etc. People have mostly ignored it.

If people wish to wear masks, that's great, crack on. But insisting that everyone does, or that they be made mandatory once more - no. Also attacking those who can't wear them - no.

Exactly this. And it's not going to happen anyway! The government has made it really clear that masks are gone and will not return. So the people who want masks can start as many threads as they want, but it's not going to happen.

I will not be wearing a mask again. If others wish to wear a mask then they are free to do though and will get no judgement from me.

In Scotland we still have a government “use your covid sense!” poster campaign telling us to wear masks, open windows etc. People have mostly ignored it.

Agree with this - I was in the university library last week and there were posters up saying "face coverings are strongly recommended". Nobody wearing one.

You've explained that better than I did. Ongoing attitudes to public health messaging is such an important factor here.

I’m in Scotland and visited a charity shop the other week where they’re still quacking on about masks. Bizarrely the person making the MOST pointed digs at me and the DC was…. drumroll the fucking tourist.

if you’re so worried, don’t go on fucking holiday mate!

I was in Edinburgh about this time last year. You were still required to check in everywhere you went, wear a mask, etc (this was a good while after this had stopped in England).

I'm exempt, and wore a lanyard everywhere I went. In one pub, a member of staff came over and asked me if I could 'please do my best to try and wear a mask'. I said I couldn't, and told her about my health condition and showed her the letter from my neurologist detailing my diagnosis which I kept in my bag to show people if/when I was questioned. She said she had asthma and she could wear one, so it should be easy for me to, too. I told her that under no circumstances could I wear a mask. She then reminded me that my table was only available for an hour and if I 'really couldn't wait to use the toilet' I was to use the disabled one 'to keep everyone safe'.

This was despite the pub being absolutely packed, and a huge group of very loud, very shouty men sitting on the next table to us not 30cm away. Without masks of course, unless they stood up.

I'm visiting again next week so I really hope people aren't still being as ridiculous!

Ugh that's awful.

@VampiresWife you'll be fine. It's really just the public sector in Scotland which is still covid-crazy. Hospitality is back to normal after 2 years of being closed so much longer and having those nonsense rules about not being able to have a glass of wine with your lunch.

Phew, good to hear! Edinburgh (and Scotland generally) is my favourite place on the planet so it's good to know I'll be able to relax and enjoy this trip!

I have not noticed any bonkers-ness in most places in Scotland, except for the occasional thing (eg - GP surgery waiting room won’t bring the kids’ books and toys back out ‘because of covid’, DD’s Brownie unit ‘still aren’t sure if we’re allowed to sing songs again yet because of covid’).

Still see a few masks about but much fewer. I’m on public transport a lot and I’ve noticed that commuter services have hardly any masks, and indeed dropped them faster than everywhere else, and it’s the people who seem to travel less frequently who are more likely to wear them.

I used one yesterday for a short while. Get covid or don't!

I think part of our problem in Scotland was that our reaction when faced with an existential crisis was to go all Puritan. “Plague? Hmmm. BAN DANCING.”

But even our government have stopped telling people to wear masks everywhere, so I don’t know why people in England think it’s just an evil Tory plot to make you all ill or something.

Ban dancing, ban ambient music in restaurants, ban not only drinking in pubs, but also ban people from having an alcoholic drink with their lunch - although soft drinks fine. It was very puritanical and a lot of it never made sense. Lengthy parliamentary debates about "vertical drinking", i.e. standing at a bar for a pint.

The last bastion of covid craziness is archives. They are still limiting capacity, asking researchers to book seats weeks/months in advance, quarantining documents before they let you see them. Last time I was in an archives a few weeks ago I was asked to sanitise my hands, then immediately go to the bathroom and wash them as sanitiser is so bad for the delicate paper.

Utterly bonkers!

People who are unwell and wear a mask don't need therapy
I wear one because I'm immunocompromised. It's sensible. I don't have health anxiety, I have an illness!

Which is fine, @PeloFondo . But the OP is not immunocompromised. She is anxious, and wants us all to start wearing masks to make her feel better about things.

And I'd hope that when you're choosing to wear your mask, you're not passing judgement on those of us who are choosing not to.

I don't judge other people unless they make comments regarding the fact I'm wearing a mask or deliberately get up in my face and cough
It's hard when you "look" well and people like to comment how stupid you are/pathetic/health anxiety/covid is a scam
I wear an FFP2 so it protects me and not others

@PeloFondo Trying to protect yourself is sensible. At a time when mental health services are so stretched, using the term anxiety like a weapon trivialises the impacts of those with a genuine anxiety disorder. Lockdown has exacerbated mental health issues for some and covid itself causes psychosis and other mental health issues for some. Calling someone 'anxious' for struggling to understand the lack of public health measures for an illness that a plethora of studies have shown causes all sorts of organ damage, screws the immune system etc is bizarre.

Of course posters that people will perceive as 'left over from the pandemic' won't have any effect by themselves. For guidance to have any power, that would need the government to back it up, which is something they don't want to do because politically covid has to be something that's 'over' and no longer worth avoiding (and indoor air quality can't become a thing people ask questions about).

Meanwhile, covid carries on being covid regardless, and ordinary people continue to be screwed over by poor healthcare and a higher than necessary disease risk.

The OP herself does state that she has health anxiety tbf, and alludes to the impact this has had on her. She's also mentioned her (very legitimate!) concerns about the impact of the pandemic on people who have OCD generally. I would agree armchair internet diagnosis is completely inappropriate generally, but that's not what this is.

There are a number of messages on this forum that if you choose to wear a mask you have health anxiety and need therapy. I think it’s unkind, and to my my mind absolutely misguided. Masks are Not Completely pointless. Well fitted masks are very effective in lessening spread of Covid and FLU.

There are many people who are vulnerable to covid and their fellow citizens aren’t willing to wear a damn mask to mitigate covid spread

BTW, large numbers of us in the Southern Hemisphere have had a very nasty flu this year (as well as a covid wave). Just know that the flu experienced by the countries in the Southern Hemisphere this past winter is a nasty nasty fucker. That might convince people to wear masks. If you don’t want to believe mask wearing mitigates spread of covid, there is no denying it mitigates spread of flu.

Good luck to all people in the northern hemisphere. But our recent past experience would indicate the north is in for a shocker of a winter.

Yet, wearing well fitted masks as often as possible in public places would make such a positive difference.