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Original poster

Push for masks to be reintroduced

495 replies

GerardusMercator · 04/01/2023 12:44

Over the last few days I've noticed a big push in media to get masks back on the agenda. A brief foray into twitter and flick through a few Covid threads here, and I've seen all the old pandemic era versions of 'it's no hardship to mask'/ your selfish if you don't want to mask etc start to creep back in.

How many of you are-

  1. Still masking now
  2. Will mask if it becomes guidance
  3. Will mask if it becomes law
  4. Will not mask again under any circumstances

I really struggled with masks and don't believe they make a great deal of difference (covid theatre) so would be somewhere between a 3 and 4.

OP posts:
JenniferBooth · 06/01/2023 21:32

@Believeitornot

twitter.com/michael_riordan/status/1610730538825809921?s=20&t=4LPZH4oCh3aRVNCG8p1eCA

I am convinced today that there is an agenda at a very senior level to nudge people towards masking to deflect attention from the systematic failure of governments across the UK to tackle the winter crisis — which we have had for many years but was exaserbated by lockdowns

TheKeatingFive · 06/01/2023 21:34

I mean if you want to make a political choice against Labour to potentially see a family members dying in A&E etc… so be it.But I’m pretty sure you’d be devastated if someone close died and you knew they could have been saved if a bed had been available.

But why make this all about masks when people do almost nothing to look after their health and take pressure off the nhs? If we could tackle obesity rates, that would do far more to free up beds for others. But it's never about that, for some reason.

lurchermummy · 06/01/2023 22:09

@JohnPrescottsPyjamas exactly my thoughts!

JenniferBooth · 06/01/2023 22:25

@JohnPrescottsPyjamas totally agree.

And watch vaccine uptake plummet if they bring masks back.

Ironically the mask lovers never want to mention the vaccine mandates for care workers which saw 40,000 leave the profession , 40,000 we couldnt afford to lose which means a lack of care workers so more elderly stuck in hospital which affects patient flow (i refuse to use the term bed blocking. its dehumanizing Ive noticed lots of mask lovers using this term though. Which isnt surprising when you think about it.

The vaccine mandate made a bad situation worse. Im not masking up to pay for the huge cock up that was made to bully care workers out of their profession. I dont exist to pay the price for Government cock ups.

PlusLaMeme · 06/01/2023 22:30

@JohnPrescottsPyjamas couldn't have written it better myself. You put everything I've been feeling for the last three years and expressed it so eloquently.

I trusted the government in March 2020 and did everything asked of me. But once you start seeing the inconsistencies and the lies, you cannot unsee them. Now, if the government told me the sky was blue, I'd go outdoors and check if it were actually the case.

milkyaqua · 06/01/2023 22:51

This thread is like The Sisterhood of the Travelling Braincell...

We're in a fourth wave of Covid, the pandemic is not over, the virus is not whatever anyone here likes to say "endemic", there's a new off-shoot of Omicron (XBB.1.5 now dubbed "Kraken") that is far more transmissible, and also immune-evasive - and even if the infections turn out to be "mild" medically speaking, the sheer numbers of infected are likely to result in hospitalisations and deaths of greater number, and more left dealing with unpleasant and lingering and life-altering after-effects...and China is opening up, resulting in millions infected and providing the ideal fertilising ground for another variant of concern...

And just the idea of it possibly being recommended to think about maybe wearing a mask at some point in the future is causing conniptions.

SirMingeALot · 06/01/2023 22:59

That sort of decision should NEVER be a political decision. But a H&S one.

Decisions about whether to have restrictions or not are inevitably political and couldn't ever be anything but. The ones you agree with, and the ones you don't. Because governments in democracies always have to think about what the voters want, and actually even those in authoritarian states can only push the population so far, as the Chinese are demonstrating. And because choosing whether or not to have restrictions innately involves prioritising some people's welfare over others. That's political.

MeetPi · 07/01/2023 00:43

milkyaqua · 06/01/2023 22:51

This thread is like The Sisterhood of the Travelling Braincell...

We're in a fourth wave of Covid, the pandemic is not over, the virus is not whatever anyone here likes to say "endemic", there's a new off-shoot of Omicron (XBB.1.5 now dubbed "Kraken") that is far more transmissible, and also immune-evasive - and even if the infections turn out to be "mild" medically speaking, the sheer numbers of infected are likely to result in hospitalisations and deaths of greater number, and more left dealing with unpleasant and lingering and life-altering after-effects...and China is opening up, resulting in millions infected and providing the ideal fertilising ground for another variant of concern...

And just the idea of it possibly being recommended to think about maybe wearing a mask at some point in the future is causing conniptions.

😁 It's just so painful, sometimes - but also discouraging that so many have so easily swayed.

MinkyGreen · 07/01/2023 04:32

@MeetPi
@milkyaqua

Completely agree. Problem is - social media - and they all congregate here backing each other up.

I find myself dipping in because I’m just -gobsmacked - at the utter ridiculousness of the anti-science thought process.

Thankfully the majority in day to day life aren’t like this. I went to get vaccinated last week. Forgot a mask, so was given one and made a donation. It just struck me how incredibly kind they all were. They interacted with my son as I got boosted.

The basic tenet of science is consensus opinion - and consensus scientific opinion/NHS guidance is that masks are effective. It’s as simple as an ‘are masks effective’ Google Search - and you’ll just get a list of newspaper articles/studies saying - yes they are. So I will stick with that : as will most normal/sane people who haven’t been spending too much time delving about in the depths of the internet looking for unscientific shit to back up the fact that they just don’t want to wear one or comply or be told what to do.

secretllama · 07/01/2023 05:24

MinkyGreen · 07/01/2023 04:32

@MeetPi
@milkyaqua

Completely agree. Problem is - social media - and they all congregate here backing each other up.

I find myself dipping in because I’m just -gobsmacked - at the utter ridiculousness of the anti-science thought process.

Thankfully the majority in day to day life aren’t like this. I went to get vaccinated last week. Forgot a mask, so was given one and made a donation. It just struck me how incredibly kind they all were. They interacted with my son as I got boosted.

The basic tenet of science is consensus opinion - and consensus scientific opinion/NHS guidance is that masks are effective. It’s as simple as an ‘are masks effective’ Google Search - and you’ll just get a list of newspaper articles/studies saying - yes they are. So I will stick with that : as will most normal/sane people who haven’t been spending too much time delving about in the depths of the internet looking for unscientific shit to back up the fact that they just don’t want to wear one or comply or be told what to do.

I don't spend time "delving about in the depths of the Internet" to back myself up. I see, in real life not a lab, masks doing bugger all in China and previously in Scotland where i live. Why can't you understand that? Instead you're just resorting to calling people with different views to you as not sane or normal.

onanotherday · 07/01/2023 05:25

Unless you are medically exempt, if unwell or mixing I would consider it. I still struggle to understand why people are so anti them. Most of us wear them for a short time. Those in frontlne nhs do a 12 hour shift, so why would you not do your bit?

AnyMucca · 07/01/2023 05:31
  1. Will mask if it becomes law. Even if the blue ones do FA it raises awareness and is an indicator that covid is still with us. People are too lax, this week I've been served twice by someone coughing over food and cornered by a sniffler.
MinkyGreen · 07/01/2023 05:37

@secretllama

Because I’ve linked 22 major studies there saying that masks are effective. Which is solid scientific evidence rather than an your unscientific hunch/observation. Perhaps read them all and get back to me. What is the point in rallying against NHS guidelines? Why can’t people just accept the fact that greater minds have studied, researched and analysed the evidence - and the overwhelming message from the NHS is ‘wear a mask’??? Why would the NHS say that if it wasn’t true and they don’t work.

MinkyGreen · 07/01/2023 05:52

And by wear a mask - I
mean the NHS guidelines support the idea the masks are effective. Before I get nit picked.

TheKeatingFive · 07/01/2023 06:02

Because I’ve linked 22 major studies there saying that masks are effective

Correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't clicked on every one of them, but I can't see one that applies to general settings (not lab or healthcare), general mask wearing (not medical grade), in the omicron era.

So these 'major studies' aren't actually relevant to the conditions in which masks would actually be worn.

And we've lots of real life data that does reflect this and shows masks make limited impact.

user1634987 · 07/01/2023 06:14

The masks I wore in the lab that were fit tested were effective but the cheap disposable ones from Amazon and the cloth ones wouldn't be or surely I would have worn them in the lab and not wasted time fit testing.

MinkyGreen · 07/01/2023 06:30

@TheKeatingFive

Ok - I’m really going to try and stay calm!!

Are you saying that because they are lab healthcare settings - their results are completely meaningless? Are you saying that a mask that works in a lab /healthcare setting - will suddenly and very magically transform its material properties into being ‘useless’ once it hits a supermarket?

In terms of real world data - there is a Boston study in there, I think there are others.

But if real world data was suddenly - more important, and ‘the real measure’ wouldn’t that now be thoroughly tested and feeding into consensus thought??? Wouldn’t we now be seeing lots of good/reputable news sources saying hang on - they don’t work.

That ain’t happening!!

Its only happening on social media/uncensored bitchute type think tanks - which, quite frankly are not safe or reliable sources.

PrincessOfWaiIs · 07/01/2023 06:32

AnyMucca · 07/01/2023 05:31

  1. Will mask if it becomes law. Even if the blue ones do FA it raises awareness and is an indicator that covid is still with us. People are too lax, this week I've been served twice by someone coughing over food and cornered by a sniffler.

I've just been put on hypertension medication. It makes me cough like a bastard.

Not all coughs are covid - indeed, not all coughs are infectious/sickness.

MeetPi · 07/01/2023 06:33

TheKeatingFive · 07/01/2023 06:02

Because I’ve linked 22 major studies there saying that masks are effective

Correct me if I'm wrong, I haven't clicked on every one of them, but I can't see one that applies to general settings (not lab or healthcare), general mask wearing (not medical grade), in the omicron era.

So these 'major studies' aren't actually relevant to the conditions in which masks would actually be worn.

And we've lots of real life data that does reflect this and shows masks make limited impact.

Try this one, although I'm certain you'll find some kind of fault with it. It does note in the conclusion that masks alone cannot be depended upon to control Omicron and other variants of similar transmissibility. This requires a raft of such tools and is to be expected. And, no, cloth masks aren't enough (although they are better than none) and N95 masks are preferred over surgical ones.

The study shows masks make more than a "limited impact". Only someone determined to keep their head in the sand would say something so nonsensical.

www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-11934-x

Throwncrumbs · 07/01/2023 06:34

The only time I won’t wear a mask is if I get covid, then I will stand next to mask less people in shops, etc and cough all over them, and spread it just like the mask less people who stand next to me coughing and spluttering everywhere!

Throwncrumbs · 07/01/2023 06:35

PrincessOfWaiIs · 07/01/2023 06:32

I've just been put on hypertension medication. It makes me cough like a bastard.

Not all coughs are covid - indeed, not all coughs are infectious/sickness.

Show quote history

But you are still coughing on people regardless!

TheKeatingFive · 07/01/2023 06:37

Are you saying that because they are lab healthcare settings - their results are completely meaningless?

I'm saying they're not reflective of how things work in the real world, therefore probably aren't very helpful. I'm not sure why that's a difficult point to take on board.

As for your points about 'consensus views', your position seems very naive.

Unfortunately the debate has become very politicised, it's hard for people to back track on views, I don't think it's as 'consensus' as you're making it out to begin with.

The fact that mask mandates have not come back in force in most western countries should be a major clue as to how their efficacy is really viewed, despite media posturing.

BCBird · 07/01/2023 06:39

I wear one at work andon the rare occasion I go in shops. Yes they are uncomfortable but I feel it is worth it. I think it is the responsible thing to do. If someone is exempt it would be good if an alternative user friendly barrier was available. Surprised there hasn't been something developed. Wish Covid would pee off. I can't relax about this as I know people who have been very unwell and still are. Take care everyone.