Covid becoming just another bug

People may have reasons for wearing their mask outside or in their car, so it’s better not to judge them. My Dh also wears hearing aids and glasses and the three contraptions cause all sorts of tangles! He’s twice lost a hearing aid when removing his mask. Fortunate, each time it was found after a long search but if it hadn’t, that would have been an expensive loss.

Thus, if we’re just going from a shop to the PO, say, he’ll keep the mask on rather than risk losing a hearing aid. I sometimes forget I’m wearing a mask. Today we’ve had workmen in the house. After they’d gone, I realised I was sitting here looking at GN still with my mask on!

Effalump I am not sure where you get your masks, but the ones I buy, and make fit closely round the face.

Nothing is perfect but you, like many others of your ilk, are rejecting the better than anything else in search of the perfect. A perfect mask, would kill you anyway, because if there is no way the air you breathe out can escape, then there is no way you can breath air in.

An ordinary mask that will certainly protect you from having your face washed in the particulate matter an infected person will produce and reduce the amount of infection that reaches you and protects others, equally from you. The main way that the virus infects people is through breathing it in through the nose, yes, a few may have contacted it through touching something or through their eyes, but ordinary masks can still reduce the amountof infection in the air significantly.

Today I have had to have a tooth removed...now need another tooth attaching to my metal dental plate...wont be ready until Thursday afternoon...so for now I'm so very happy to be able to wear my mask..?

I still wear my mask in public places and avoid crowded areas, but has anyone noticed how ‘flu seems to have been eradicated this year. It appears that all deaths were attributed to COVID and not one person died of the ‘flu. AMAZING!!!!

Flu hasn't been eradicated. However, the measures people have taken to avoid Covid have helped reduce the transmission of flu.

If you're suggesting that some deaths which were attributed to Covid were actually flu, the viruses are quite easily identifiable and it's highly unlikely.

I agree with you MOnica. Covid isn't like a highly toxic gas which stays in the atmosphere and which could kill if even a few particles are breathed in. In that case, specialist masks are needed.

Coronavirus is actually very fragile and doesn't last long in the atmosphere. The biggest risk is when people project droplets from their mouth or nose (from sneezing). Even a mask with gaps will stop droplets from travelling far because they'll be caught in the mask.

Masks don't stop the virus 100%, but they reduce viral load by reducing the number of particles lingering in the atmosphere. Obviously, a crowded space will have more particles than an uncrowded one and people are more at risk if they spend more than a few minutes very close to an infected person. However, they've been shown to have an effect.

Edith81, my sister’s son in law-who is anti-vax/Covid doesn’t exist, swears he had flu in early July. He was ill for quite a while and is still suffering the after effects now. His wife says he has long Covid!

Interesting question posed just now to Chris Whitty. If we were ahead of other countries vaccinating older people why have we now left it to when 12 year olds have gone back to school to start vaccinating them when they could have been vaccinated during the school holidays especially as they’ve just said that, unlike adults, 12 years olds seem to develop good immunity soon after having their first vaccine.

I think they have been studying the evidence so far, Maybee and taking all factors into consideration, including the fact that most children would not develop severe symptoms from Covid. A few have developed Long Covid which can be devastating for some.

If they may not become ill or even develop symptoms then the question we should ask is: are 12-15 year olds being vaccinated for their own benefit or for the benefit of society as a whole?

Given that we now know that the vaccine doesn’t completely prevent infection or transmission I think they are doing it purely for the children’s benefit. I just think that they could have started it weeks ag given that America has. I think Whitty is far better when he’s not standing next to government ministers.

I am glad they have taken time to think about this it’s much harder to weigh up the benefits with children who rarely get seriously ill from this virus
I think parents will think hard about this and the uptake will certainly not be 100%

…a lot of ‘thinks’ there….

I was referring to me by the way! Think wise.

All anyone can do is protect themselves as much as they feel they need to - I still wear my masks indoors and stay out of crowds as much as possible. Between the ill-informed, the misinformed, the 'bored with Covid now' brigade and the 'never believed it in the first place brigade' I don't much trust people in general anymore.

I was at an antique fair in Builth Wells a few weeks ago - it's still law in Wales to wear a face mask indoors and I was staggered by the number of people who, despite constantly being asked to by the organisers, refused to wear one.

I overheard one trader telling another that his wife was at home with 'that Corona thing that's been doing the rounds' so she wasn't there to help him. We avoided going anywhere near him but we did end up wondering how many people were there who should have been at home, isolating.

Another woman told me 'it's okay because we've mostly been vaccinated and there haven't been any new mutations'. When I mentioned there were actually sixteen but I wasn't sure if the latest had hit the UK yet (it has now) her jaw dropped and she replied 'well, no one has told us about them so they can't be important'.

If someone I lived with tested positive I would isolate as well even though it is no longer required

Amberone I was at a Welsh hospital last week and the number of staff not wearing masks when sitting chatting at break time was astonishing.

Me too Rosie. My husband walks our daughter’s dog in our local park. He sometimes stops to talk to other dog walkers. He says they stay socially distanced. One day a couple of weeks ago he told me that one of the other dog walkers told them all that his wife and daughter were at home with Covid. I asked him to stay well away from him and the other dog walkers.