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

Oh I clearly missed the measured and proportional responses from the you're all selfish bastards poster 😟

I'm dreaming of a zoooom Christmas, just like the ones I used to know 🎶

Having just emerged from the Southern Hemisphere's winter, I can tell you it was nasty. In my country, Covid, flu, and RSV closed down many schools and businesses as staff simply wasn't available. Both my children had Covid and my son is still struggling with fatigue, chest pain and breathlessness months on. My sibling with late-stage cancer has spent most of his time in hospital terrified of catching Covid, as he is so vulnerable to infection and blood clots already. He had two bouts of pneumonia just this winter alone.

Some mask mandates were reintroduced, but not lockdowns - the Government knew there would be little public approval for these.

If you can wear masks, do. If you don't wish to, that's fine too. Don't bother those that do.

Australia’s stats do.

This.

OH MY...........I am not even going to start to educate you on OCD.

VERY wrong to make such a judgement about what is an extremely debilitating illness. (dd had for 12 years, lost a lot of her education and childhood owing to it, )

Ask the MH services how much increase OCD with covid?

Maybe you should try finding out more about an illness before making judgement.

It's comments like these that makes me run a mile from mumsnet. Disgusting statement.

Equal to saying 'i don't understand how asthma links with covid' 😡

I will be starting to wear my mask again. Covid makes me so ill I would rather be safer xxx

I think it should be pretty obvious how the experiences of the past two years, which includes government and societal responses to covid as well as the disease itself, have been rough on many people who have OCD.

If it becomes a requirement on the school bus then ds will wear one.
If infection rates soar again, I'll wear one on the train but take other action everywhere else, such as shopping at 6am while it's quiet.

I have two very close family members who live with OCD. Covid has been awful for them. One reached crisis point toward the end of 2020.

Unbelievable actually that people can't see how a public health crisis involving a very transmissible disease, which required stringent sets of rules and scrupulous hygiene and people being isolated from others, didn't exacerbate OCD in those living with it. Not to mention those living with other MH conditions.

@VampiresWife Thank you for sharing your experiences.

Mental health continues and probably always will have a lot of stigma and poor understanding. OCD is hugely misunderstood. I get that folk don't know about these conditions - BUT to have the audacity to make comments/judgments about medical conditions and the impact they have, when they don't know, is beyond me and has pushed me away from Mumsnet. It really is a 'take a risk in your own hands' forum at times !!!

We also had the government deliberately attempting to raise fear levels in those they didn't think were afraid enough.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/882722/25-options-for-increasing-adherence-to-social-distancing-measures-22032020.pdf

Nobody seems to have stopped to think about how many people with mental health conditions that tactic was going to throw under the bus. Many people with OCD, anxiety and similar have paid the price.

Totally agree @PerfectlyPreservedQuagaarWarrior . The messaging - which was EVERYWHERE so you couldn't avoid it - was designed to ramp up the fear and ensure compliance. Can you look a crying medic in the eye and tell them you did everything you could? If you go out, you can spread it, people WILL DIE. Catch-ups cost lives. Coronavirus is spreading, it could be on every surface.

I'm fairly robust mentally with no underlying mental health issue but I was scared by those messages which are all directly from government advertising. I personally know people who were so terrified and so convinced of their impending death that they did not leave the house between the end of Feb 2020 and April 2022, except for Covid vaccines. It is totally understandable why people who were anxious to start with were knocked for 6 and are now trying to come to terms with everyone else having moved on and them still having the "people will die" message playing on repeat in their heads.

Not everyone can "move on" though

There are 500,000 people who do not produce antibodies in response to the vaccine, and who are immune suppressed so likely to become very ill if they catch it. It's not an age related category - and if you want to think of it, remember The Queue and double it. Then add all their nearest and dearest who don't want to bring it home to them.

It's wrong to write all those people off.

There is still a form of shielding in place for them, and they are still highly isolated. To say we should all just "move on" is disablist. Even lip service to the need to improve the lot of that population would be something.

Even better would be if the government would provide Evusheld (approved back in the spring). UK is the only country of those which has announced a decision to refuse to provide it.

Please don't forget the shielders, just because you think you're OK

I will wear FFP3 in crowded places and when travelling, basically do what I can to avoid catching it again.

Yes but people who are clinically vulnerable cannot expect everyone else to accommodate that, forever,

I am still wearing a mask. I'm annoyed that we are still not wearing them. If it down to personal choice I wish people would respect those of us who chose to wear a mask by giving us some space. I haven't had it and don't want it. As I am.worried about contracting it my friends and I do a rest before meeting.

@nether the Evusheld decision seems cruel. Forcing people to infect colleagues and classmates is cruel too. Severe reduction in quality of life is cruel. So many have been told by actions that their lives are worthless.

I'm one of those 500,000 people.

I've just got over my seventh covid infection.

There is no 'form of shielding' for me and those like me - DC have to go to school, we have to go to work. We have no choice but to 'move on', however worrying a prospect that is. I'm not sure why you think we're able to shield? We get no benefits, for example, if we don't go into work?

I'm not writing anyone off. But I also accept that, however shit it is, we can't live with mitigations for all indefinitely. Perhaps the fight should not be to convince everyone to wear masks, or socially distance, or whatever (therefore impacting the MH and livelihoods of millions). Perhaps the focus should be on properly supporting those who are the most vulnerable to shield if they wish to.

The form of shielding that remains is in this policy document

www.gov.uk/government/publications/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk/covid-19-guidance-for-people-whose-immune-system-means-they-are-at-higher-risk

(I couldn't find the promised updated version)

Evusheld would put those people and their families on the same footing as the wider population

The words "mandatory mitigations" should never be applied again. They caused no end of harm.
If you want to wear a mask, then do so. If you want to lock yourself down, then do that too.

Went to the surgery today for a flu jab. Big notice on the door demanding the wearing of masks. Inside, the receptionist was wearing one....under the chin.

Good god no I will not be wearing a mask again. I mostly complied when it was the law but - no, I would not acquiesce quite so easily should it happen again.

I don't believe anyone on this thread is asking for "mandatory mitigations" or lockdowns. All @nether and other vulnerable people might request is some thought for them when you're out and about - and if you're ill with Covid, and do decide to go shopping, perhaps wear a mask then. That's it. Just a little minor consideration for other people.

Just a little minor consideration for some other people

There fixed that for you. For some people (probably at least as many that are in the vulnerable category) it is a big deal. My son and I are autistic, each of us have a different reason why we couldn't wear a mask.
I'm very sensory adverse, the feeling of wearing clothes is hard enough to deal with on a daily basis, masks I just couldn't cope with. I tried and ended up scratching my arms to pieces (along with hitting myself in the head, anything to try and distract from something round my face). Don't worry though, social distancing is my default, I won't get near you if I can help it.
My son is sensory seaking, that mask will end up in his mouth and disgustingly soggy (and useless) within seconds. Unfortunately he also has no sense of personal space, which made for a lot of hard work when social distancing was a thing.

Thank you.

This is exactly it.

And it's really shit for all those who cannot go out readily (whether because of extreme vulnerability, or inability to wear a mask in places where it's required)

But we, the disabled, have to be dismissed because of the unwillingness to confront ableism in society.

And mostly we put up and shut up, because it's exhausting to be dealing with some attitudes, as well as living a life like ours.

(Something like 30% of new covid infections were in hospitals - the one place we have to go in person to stay alive - it's the end of safe care)