Push for masks to be reintroduced

[GerardusMercator]

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.

I occasionally wear one now, e.g. if on public transport or when seeking medical care. I don't work out of the home and I don't generally go to crowded indoor spaces except to attend things related to my children's school or activities. I've been on the receiving end of bullying due to mask wearing, as have my children to a lesser degree so I've had to balance that against the benefit of being the only masker in a space. I'd be glad if became guidance again as I think a lot of people feel like I do - they are appalled by experiences of health care, have had bad experiences of covid and other respiratory viruses and don't like being ill or the possibility of passing disease onto others. There is such a strong cultural aversion to mask wearing from louder voices in this country, however, if was guidance there might be a cultural shift, increasing the benefit to the individual of participating in wearing a mask as well as alleviating some of the negatives (bullying, being treated like an anxious freak, etc)

Oh and I wear one in the doctors/hospital but that’s still required/asked if people.

I'm between 1 and 2. I will be masking in crowded public spaces again, there were definitely times over Christmas where I wish I still had a mask in my bag. If it became guidance I would adhere to that. I want to see my family, I need to see my family, the last lockdown played merry hell with my mental health and I've still not recovered from it, being cut off from them was far more a hardship than popping on a mask when I go out.

It's really not a hardship

Oh God, I'm getting 2020 flashbacks. Help me, someone.

4

I will wear masks on public transport, theatres etc…

I continued to wear masks on public transport and in medical settings. I would wear them in other places if asked to.

being cut off from them was far more a hardship than popping on a mask when I go out.

I'm not being cut off from my family - in fact I gave up on that in Nov 2020. And I'm not wearing a mask again either. It's not an either/or for me.
Of course, those who want to can crack on. Just leave me alone

I had to pop to the supermarket earlier and noticed that far more people were wearing masks. I wore one myself as I currently have a stinking cold/virus/bug and would have avoided going out if at all possible.

Given the high rates of all sorts of respiratory infections at the moment, it wouldn’t bother me wearing a mask under certain circumstances and locations. Should mask wearing become law NO.

😆 you are completely correct- I think I've seen it so many times it's become normal!

4 but even if it becomes a law I’m exempt and won’t ever put those panic inducing shitty things over my face again. Covid is no different to the flu anymore, if you have it stay at home, if you don’t then carry on.

There was already a thread on this ....
www.mumsnet.com/talk/am_i_being_unreasonable/4707436-to-think-we-should-still-be-wearing-masks?utm_campaign=thread&utm_medium=share

Keeping on asking the question won't change the answer. We know the harms of masking now, and I for one am out.

I understand perfectly well how me wearing a mask is for others’ benefit. However, as I have been saying for nearly three years, other people’s health is not my responsibility.

1. Most are useless anyway, but even if they weren’t, I still wouldn’t wear one.

I have to wear one at work. I wear one if I've got a cold or other virus.
The research on masks is variable depending on what, where and who, in other words most works are ineffective due to their construction, and people don't wear them properly.
I have no wish to see them being brought back in, but if they become mandatory I will of course wear one.
The reality is masks are generally nothing more than a 'rather grubby safety blanket'.
Much better to reduce virus spread: stay off school / work if ill (but for work this just isn't practical and schools are unrelenting in their desperation for 98% attendance).
Good ventilation (again we know in schools, hospitals and office blocks ventilation is pretty useless)
Hand hygiene (some humans are spectacularly minging as public toilets show)
Not being cheek by jowl with others (again impossible on public transport were we're crammed in like bloody sardines, and equally impossible in schools).
Fix the above first, and then reconsider masks.

Masks not works.

Absolutely NO

Don't believe they make any difference

It's this kind of breezy 'why ever not?' that is really facile and infuriating... mask wearing is not a neutral act. It has clear costs for individuals and society.

As in don't believe they make any difference worn how the vast majority wore them / the types of masks etc

4 and if they bring back this bullshit in school then my children will not wear them.

schools are unrelenting in their desperation for 98% attendance

@pursudebyablackdog Agree that schools need to be released from their obligation to have 98% attendance. When kids are ill, they need to stay at home until they're well again. Same with workplaces. That would be a much more effective change than the grubby masks.

Fortunately its less likely with Sunak as PM, if Starmer was PM we would all be locked down again

Yes I will wear a N95 mask voluntarily as I don't want to get this horrible flu and be incapacitated! I wore one to go on holiday as I didn't want to spend my holiday in bed ill!

Oooh... 'not a hardship' and 'perfect/ compliant foreigners who never complain' in one post.

Oh yes? Have that on good authority do you?

Didn't think so.