This is a Masquerade! [angry]

And now that Kit Malthouse has urged neighbours to report any one having more than the obligatory rule of 6, your neighbour will be in her element MeryStreep. COVID has turned so many of us into judgemental reporters.

I wear a mask because we're asked to. I don't enjoy it and I'd rather not do it, and I'm not even sure if it works, but I'd rather err on the side of caution now. In years to come, if the dissenters turn out to be right and we find it didn't make that much difference, I'll be happy with the thought that I was trying to do the right thing to protect other people, with the best knowledge that we had at the time. (Sorry, I'm being a bit smug....)

Aligreias .... not smug my thoughts entirely.
If it puts others at ease when dealing with me, all the better.
I do endorse puzzles pov as well.

Scientists have now said that wearing a mask not only protects others, but does definitely protect the wearer too.

Monica Gandhi at al have research papers out now about mask wearing. She's an infectious disease specialist at UC San Francisco. She said:

“The more virus you get into your body, the more sick you are likely to get,”

They have shown that masks reduce the viral load for both the wearer and people around them so consequently if you take in the virus without wearinga mask you take in more.
If you can take in less virus by wearing a mask, you are less ill with it. If you can take in some virus, like an inoculation, you then start building up immunity.

Likewise, if you are symptom free and wear a mask you are putting less virus out and about.

This recent paper was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and elsewhere. There are a few other papers out there including an early study on various barriers using rats.

I think we are well advised to wear a mask or similar.

There are these problems with masks. Muslim women who wear ethnic / religious face coverings keep them on okay. I would have thought a clever dress designer could have designed a comfortable mask that stays put.

Maybe 'whalebone' inserts?

There have been zero infections or deaths in the small village I live in. I refuse to live in fear of my death or anyone else's. We are all born to die.

We are trying to reduce the speed the infection spreads. If too many people become ill at the same time ('peak') then the NHS cannot cope.

yes, we are all born to die...but not before we`ve lived!