So masks are to become optional, do you think this is a good idea?

Lucca The reasons I will, generally, not wear a mask run from the trivial to the serious. Let me start with the trivial. I am fed up between having to choose between seeing and breathing. When I wear a mask my glasses steam up, I have tried all kinds of solutions to this steaming up, but none of them work. I either wear a mask and work blind or take it off and see where I am going.

So when I wear a mask, which I have done willingly - and gloves - for most of lockdown, to protect others. But as I don my mask and my glasses steam up, so I keep moving my glasses up onto my head, pulling them down again when I need them, then when they steam up pushing them up again then they fall off, then I, or others came dangerously close to treading on them.

The other reasons are that I am now fully vaccinated as is practically everyone I mix with. I am not travelling on public transport, I am not in contact with children, I am not attending crowded events, inside or out. I understand the mathematics of risk and probabilities.

All together these indicate that the risk level for not wearing a mask in the places I frequent is exceedingly small. I will be in greater danger of a host of other risks from heart attacks to ending up in A&E following a domestic accident than I will of transmitting or catching COVID. So, as wearing a mask is such an inconvenience, I will not wear it where I consder it safe to do so.

Like other non-mask people I will carry a mask with me and wear it if requested or if I find myself in a situation where I deem it necessary.

I hope this answers your question.

Good post by Rosie51 at 11:08.

To those who are saying they are worried about being victimised for wearing masks, just look at the response here to people saying that mask wearing shouldn't be normalised. IMO its not the mask advocates that need to be concerned.

I wear my mask so that the top of it is under my glasses and the metal nose bit is squeezed round my nose ,, I don’t find the glasses fog up , unless going from a cold environment into a warm one , when they would steam up anyway
The bit that bugs me is my hearing aids getting tangled in the elastic of the mask , any tips about that ?

aggie doesn't work for me. My nose and my glasses must be a different shape to yours.

An additional complication?

BBC news today:

Shoppers are starting to return to pre-pandemic habits when it comes to buying food, according to two leading grocers.
Sainsbury's says demand for online sales has fallen from peak levels as people return to shopping in stores. Boss Simon Roberts also said mask wearing in stores would be a matter of "personal choice" after Covid rules are lifted in England on 19 July.

Thank you Monica for replying !

MawBe
Very funny ?

I take steroids for Polymyalgia Rheumatica and although I have had both vaccinations know that my immune system is compromised and that my immunity is lower than most people. I will continue to wear a mask in shops and other indoor places where there are other people. It is such a small thing to do to hopefully keep me safer and if it means I don’t catch colds or flu so much the better!

Well thought out rationale in my view

Presumably this was thought up by a behavioural scientist designed to induce guilt in those who prefer for whatever reason not to wear a mask in safe situations.
Also designed to set mask wearers against reluctant mask wearers, a dangerous path to go down as this country becomes ever more divided on many issues.

I think instead that mask wearing should be compulsory in certain situations eg on public transport, hospitals.

I agree with Callistemon. It's going to be divisive. Leaders aren't paid to be popular; they need to make decisions which will be unpopular with some. It shouldn't be up to individuals, especially as it appears that moves could be afoot to hide some of the data.

I will continue to wear a mask in shops and anywhere I consider crowded or where it would make me feel safer. People can scoff or laugh if they want.

ginny

I will continue to wear a mask in shops and anywhere I consider crowded or where it would make me feel safer. People can scoff or laugh if they want.

They’ll be scoffing and laughing when they discover they have the virus and may have transmitted it unwittingly to hundreds of others?
They may still scoff and laugh when they’re suffering from long Covid 9 months later?

*Lucca aka Emotional Blackmail.

I am getting fed up with people assuming that if you decide to unmask you will have a bonfire of masks and never wear one again and go unmasked anywhere ane everywhere.

That is stupid and making an extreme hypothetical statement so that the person saying this can pose on some mythical high moral ground.

Chris Witty, he is the chief authority on the subject, has said he will wear his mask in crowded places, when required to by a competent authority and when someone requests it, otherwise not.
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/chris-whitty-masks-lockdown-covid-b1878776.html

I have yet to meet any one intending to unmask, including me, who hadn't already placed all these provisos around their unmasking, yes, there will be exceptions, but not many.

I will continue to wear a mask in shops and anywhere I consider crowded or where it would make me feel safer.

As this is what most unmaskers will be doing, how do you differ from an unmasker?

Monica maybe no different from an unmasked .I was simply stating how I feel about the issue.

Yes, I know you were, but I am trying to highlight that the difference between maskers and unmaskers is very little and why alarmist posts like Cleopanda's are so far off the mark because most unmaskers will be carrying masks and continuing to wear them in places they can see are risky.

Those who will be burning their masks are probably not wearing them now anyway.

Problem being MOnica, not everyone is as balanced and sensible as you are. I can’t tell how people will behave, but with some heralding “freedom day”, I’m not confident, that masks on or off, will not spark conflict.

Those who act selfishly on unmasking day are probably people who are already ignoring the rules and taking risks now. I think the majority of people will act with caution and commonsense.

Monica sorry I’ve just come back in …what’s the “. Lucca emotional blackmail “ thing ? I just posted something I agreed with that’s all.

Monica. I just looked again and I see you have out aka in there ?
Please don’t accuse me of emotional blackmail. Totally unjustified. I asked before for peoples reasons for not liking masks and you answered, I thanked you. So no need for any bad manners.

Well I hope you’re right MOnica but judging by the football matches.....which are apparently fuelling an increase, predominantly in infections in men.

Those who are immune compromised will lose being able to go anywhere safely! Many many thousands in fact. If you are on chemo they recon the COVID vaccine is only 10% effective and if you have a blood cancer it is as low as 3% effective. Mask wearing is us trying to protect other people whereas those who choose not to wear a mask “don’t give a dam”.

If you are on chemo they recon the COVID vaccine is only 10% effective and if you have a blood cancer it is as low as 3% effective

Who reckons Oldbat please?

Are there statistics to back that up? If so, I haven't heard them.

If you are on chemo they recon the COVID vaccine is only 10% effective and if you have a blood cancer it is as low as 3% effective

I have just checked reports Oldbat and that is not strictly true and could be alarmist.

It could be true for some patients where response to the vaccine is not as effective as in someone with a normal immune system or in those who are on certain treatments but research is still underway.

bloodcancer.org.uk/support-for-you/coronavirus-covid-19/covid-vaccine-blood-cancer/covid-vaccine-efficacy-blood-cancer/
Doctors do need to be more aware and share the information with their patients.