Why won’t people wear masks

Not many wear them here and I have to admit if I see someone in one I avoid them and assume they are ill. Same if I hear someone coughing- duck down the next aisle quick smart.

CariadAgain

MayBee70

CariadAgain

MayBee70

I want to start using public transport again and would like to wear a mask. But I feel self conscious about wearing one and feel that people would laugh at me. So I continue to drive everywhere instead. I thought after the pandemic people would get into the habit of wearing masks to protect others the way they do in eastern countries but it never happened. If masks don’t work why do eg surgeons wear them?

Errrr....maybe a bit more about patient reassurance if anything?

We've all had to come out of masks regardless at some point - as we had to get back to looking/acting normal or what would be the point?

We run the government - not the government running us. They are our servants - though they seem to conveniently forget it at regular intervals.

You refer to "eastern countries" (presumably China?) - but we are a western country and we are more individualistic and expect to make our own decisions.

Yes. We decide not to protect other people because it inconveniences us….

Reframe that as "We are a Western society. Western societies do not expect or demand their citizens wear masks as a regular thing - as we are a democracy and Western. So it's an individual decision". Anyone who doesn't like living in a society like ours and accept that is how we are and we will remain is obviously totally free to either a. Stay at home permanently or b. Move to a different type of society than ours - rather than trying to change our society.

So if one individual doesn't like how our whole society is - then they must have worked out how to live their lives personally within the confines of their own home....so........

Well that’s me told then….

It needed explaining it seemed - as those who want the rest of us in masks would keep us that way for evermore left to them.

We can't all live permanently in the way a minority wants us to live to suit them. That is not how our society is. Just when would people "wanting others in masks" accept us binning them? 6 months, 1 year, 5 years, never?

It had to be stated clearly - the minority will not rule the majority for evermore because that is what they personally want.

I wish people who have cold and flu would stay at home or wear masks instead of infecting others.
I use the bus a great deal and am surrounded by passengers coughing.

I took one of my friends to the Christnas lunch at church .
She can't stand staying at home and goes out all day every day.
She didn't tell me that she had bronchitis.
I began to feel really ill on Christmas Eve and was so ill over the holiday .
It's lingered on and on .

Last time I had Covid I stayed indoors.
Even now, if I hear someone sneeze, I reverse my trolly back down the shopping isle.
If a person with a heavy cold won’t wear a mask ( I wouldn’t want to now), at least cover the mouth & nose with a scarf.

MT62

Last time I had Covid I stayed indoors.
Even now, if I hear someone sneeze, I reverse my trolly back down the shopping isle.
If a person with a heavy cold won’t wear a mask ( I wouldn’t want to now), at least cover the mouth & nose with a scarf.

Shopping aisle 🙄

Those thin masks don’t work. You would have to wear a proper graded filter mask.
Not only that they in courage you to keep touching your face.
Main thing, imo, is hand sanitation. Which I am religious about doing.

I researched the effectiveness of the standard blue NHS masks and this is what I found:

Source Control: They are very effective at reducing the distance and intensity of air, moisture, and droplets released when coughing, sneezing, or talking.

Protection Level: They provide a physical barrier to large droplets and splashes, protecting the wearer from direct contamination to the mouth and nose.

Limitations: Because they do not fit tightly to the face, they allow for leakage around the sides, meaning they are less effective at filtering out very fine, airborne particles.

Clinical Evidence: A 2024 review found that when worn consistently and correctly, masks and respirators reduce the transmission of respiratory infections like COVID-19.

Before Covid nobody would even think about wearing a mask we all managed perfectly well without them.
As for catching coughs and colds I will take my chance I am more concentrated on good hand washing to avoid bugs.
Oddly I have not had one cold since Covid.
If anyone chooses the wear one thats entirely up to them but I certainly won't entertain one ever again horrible things !

kircubbin2000

I've never worn a mask and don't intend to now.

Well, aren’t you a rebel? 🙄

Basgetti

kircubbin2000

I've never worn a mask and don't intend to now.

Well, aren’t you a rebel? 🙄

Indeed, maybe we should have badges for all the 'no mask and proud of it' brigade...

Bukkie

MaizieD It has been proven beyond doubt masks were useless as was lockdown. As I previously said I have no issue with anyone wearing a mask if they choose to. Likewise people can choose not to wear one.

No it hasn’t! The Covid enquiry concluded that had lockdown begun just one week earlier, many more thousands of premature deaths would have been prevented.

Please stop spreading misinformation.

And people were given advance warning of lockdowns so they then went out and partied for the whole weekend. Had people in this country acted in a more public spirited way the death rate would have been much lower. I don’t agree that people in eastern countries just wear masks because their governments are authoritarian, I think they are far more conscious of protecting others.

I wore the mask during the covid outbreak where it was required. But as a specs wearer the fogged up lenses as I came indoors (yes tried the wipes at some expense) was a bit of a nightmare I felt stifled and blind for a few minutes every day.

I’m sure though they prevented me from spreading germs to those more susceptible than me, that and careful handwashing, and sterilising habits.

MayBee70

And people were given advance warning of lockdowns so they then went out and partied for the whole weekend. Had people in this country acted in a more public spirited way the death rate would have been much lower. I don’t agree that people in eastern countries just wear masks because their governments are authoritarian, I think they are far more conscious of protecting others.

That last point says it all. Wearing a mask isn't all about you - it's also about protecting others, especially those who are more vulnerable to infection. Clearly many couldn't give two hoots about that though.

I’ve still got dozens of masks left over from COVID. All different colours following a pattern from one of the American hospitals. I quite liked matching them to my clothes, had to do something when we were locked up for 2 years through our stupid government here. I could make one in about 15 minutes in the end, lined and pleated. All my family were given them.

MayBee70

I want to start using public transport again and would like to wear a mask. But I feel self conscious about wearing one and feel that people would laugh at me. So I continue to drive everywhere instead. I thought after the pandemic people would get into the habit of wearing masks to protect others the way they do in eastern countries but it never happened. If masks don’t work why do eg surgeons wear them?

Please don’t feel self conscious. You must do what is right for you. Nobody will be judging you. I totally believe that a face covering, however flimsy, must stop some, if not all, germs. As you rightly point out, surgeons wear them.

Had the four week coughing g cold before Christmas. Stayed in and asked folk to not visit. Went out once, to Surgery. Wore a mask. The following week, found out that the Surgery instructed patients to wear masks.
If you can do something to stop disease spreading, then why not try?

VANECAM

If we were meant to have masks, God would have provided them.

So god meant us to catch all these, sometimes deadly, diseases?

While wearing a mask may help to reduce the spread of respiratory infections and flu, we were all threatened during Covid that we would kill "Granny" if we didn't wear one. I am 74 and we have never had to wear masks until the last four or five years, we got through bad colds, severe illnesses etc. If I am unwell I stay indoors. I cannot control selfish members of the public and oh dear, there are many of them, but I will not be wearing a mask again.

Just to say unless it's a totally sealed mask with a tank in your back to breathe they are useless. The particulls of viruses are small enough to pass right through or under the paper masks. They do next to nothing to stop transmission and actually aid transmission if you use it more than once in one area only.

I have a hospital procedure coming up and am very grateful if any coldy people are wearing masks. I don't want to miss my appointment by being ill,it's a hurriedly arranged colonoscopy...time could be important.
If I'm unwell myself and have to be amongst people I wear a mask, you don't know who is vulnerable out there.

I find wearing mask difficult. My glasses steam up impairing my already far less than perfect sight.

I prefer to abide by the rules I was taught as a child these being as far as possible to stay at home if suffering from a cold, cough sore throat etc. or running a temperature. To always cover my nose and mouth when sneezing, coughing or yawning, and if suffering from anything infectious to stay as far away from other people as possible, if I have to go out.

Nor do I have any difficulty about moving away from those who sneeze, sniffle cough etc. in public without using a handkerchief or simply requesting them to do so.

Those attending people with serious medical conditions should obviously wear a mask, or report sick if they have or fear they are coming down with a cold.

Another good rule we all should follow is to to hang our outdoor clothes to air when we come home, and wash our hands properly before touching anything except the outdoor garments we are removing.

I've always admired how the Japanese for example wear masks if they have colds etc.
Also, I really disliked those TV adverts selling cold 'suppressants' that implied that you should take them and go to work howver ill or infectious you were.
But the animosity towards masks for many, I believe, stems from the lies, deceit and manipulation that was practiced during Covid.

4 weeks ago I sat in A&E for 27 hours. It was packed with at least 80 people. There were signs everywhere asking public to wear a mask and if you had diarrhoea, sickness, covid etc please go home. The following day (27 hours later) I was finally admitted where I promptly started having projectile sickness and awful diarrhoea, it went on for 10 days and nights, felt extremely ill, I’d not been out for a week before I was admitted as I knew I’d damaged one of my knee replacements and couldn’t walk but before they could sort my knee out or take me to theatre for an aspiration for infection I had to stay isolated for 10 days basically bed blocking because I’d obviously picked something up in A&E!! Only last week was I finally transferred to the orthapeadic hospital where I’d had my original knee replacement done so they could operate and sort it. It’s totally selfish to go to hospital especially A&E and sit there with other vulnerable patients when you know you’re unwell with a virus.