So - now masks protect the wearer?

Good post Aldom. I completely agree.

Lucca no its the whole , my child is sitting on a laptop for 6 hours a day on her own lonely trying to have an education, my son working in a police station dealing with spit and other bodily fluids but it's far too dangerous to go to a gym! It's the having no life for a year over something you've not even seen

There are masks and masks. Obviously we are not wearing the P3 hospital masks as that would deplete their supply. However it is better to wear 3 layer masks, as recently publicised but Which. A single layer face covering may be quite ineffective, as are masks which are pulled out of the pocket and used numerous times without washing.

Another thing, even with medics, is the constant fiddling with, and readjusting masks, and afterwards every surface touched must be contaminated.

I have yet to know anyone with COVID, but DH had a premature discharge from hospital bcause there were so many COVID cases being admitted.

When he was discharged half his ward had already been sealed off and turned into a COVID ward and I suspect by now the whole ward is a COVID ward.

Early in the first lockdown DS and family had to go into quarantine because the parent of DGS's friend had COVID. A couple of bubbles in DGD's school have been quarantined because someone has COVID, although her bubble has been fine. But noon we know has had the illness.

I appreciate that some people have struggled with mental health issues during the lockdown, but could I suggest, with some diffidence, that if they were so seriously ill they were sectioned, that the mental problms must have been pre-existent. I do not think many people who entered lockdown in good mental health, rapidly became so ill they were sectioned. This is not to to diminish the very real problems your family members suffered.

It is all very easy to generalise from our own experience. I am as guilty of doing it as others. I live in an area, where people generally obey the lockdown rules; but this doesn't invalidate other people's experience of living somewhere where compliance is poor. What neither of us must do is assume our experience is universal.

"something you've not even seen" Do you have a CO2 alarm? Carbon dioxide can't be seen either, but people die from running their car engine in their garage, or from a faulty heater..

Radiation is also invisible...

Just saying.

2 million out of 7+ billion is not a high percentage.

Whch is not an argument against mask-wearing, just in case anyone should think it is.

The screenshot is from ourworldindata.org from the page about global births and deaths per year.

Biscuitmuncher When a house or factory is on fire, fire crews will turn out and not only fight the fire from the outside, but venture in to the building in an endeavour to control the conflagration. Meanwhile police will be keeping bystanders well away from the site because of the danger they might he affected by the heat, or fumes or if there was an explosion. Should someone turn up with a cigarette lighter and light a cigarette, they will quickly be hustled away, because of the inherent risk this act contains.

The fact that the fire fighters get up close and personal with the fire does not invalidate the decision to keep other people well away from it because of the danger.

This applies to COVID. Medical staff, police staff, care workers and others, are like the firefighters, needing to deal with a far higher risk of getting the disease than others in order to protect the rest of us.

We, in the meanwhile, are kept well away from any situation where the disease might be passed on. If we do that we are contributing to reducing the chances of this disease being passed to others and helping to protect those facing the worst dangers by reducing the number of infected people needing hospital treatment and the chances that the miscreant the police officer is dealing with will have the disease.

Why are people assuming that the OP is using excuses not to wear a mask? She clearly says that she is wearing one. All she is asking is why the advice keeps changing. The only thing I would say is, that if it is propaganda to push people to wear masks and it works, so be it. However, I have read research which indicates that wearing a mask can give up to 40% protection to the wearer.

It is known that touching and getting the virus on hands is a huge contributor to the spread, hence the advice to keep washing or sanitising hands.

As for getting sore hands from constant washing and sanitising, a good hand cream can deal with that. I have to say that, at the beginning of the pandemic, my own hands were suffering but, they are fine now. I have spoken to others who have found the same thing. I suspect that the skin gets used to it. No! We are not washing our hands less frequently.

Baggs

2 million out of 7+ billion is not a high percentage.

Whch is not an argument against mask-wearing, just in case anyone should think it is.

The screenshot is from ourworldindata.org from the page about global births and deaths per year.

I absolutely cannot understand what you mean ?

MOnica my friend had no pre existing mental health problems

NotSpaghetti do you worry about radiation a lot?

Please biscuitmuncher tell us what you are getting at ? Are you saying Covid doesn’t exist ? Or that it does but we shouldn’t do anything about it?

According to Dr John Campbell on YouTube, there is scientific evidence that wearing a mask protects the wearer to some extent. If you are exposed to someone breathing out the virus near you, the mask cuts down the number of virus particles you breathe in (reduces your viral load), so you are more likely to be able to fight off the infection. If you do get it you are likely to have milder symptoms. Heavy viral load = worse illness.

I can really recommend Dr John’s videos. He is a former A & E nurse and nurse trainer with a PhD.

Sorry if I am repeating something already said - I don’t have time to read the whole thread.

I think covid is horrendous a terrible disease but to ruin your economy and not educate your younger generation is terrible

You are determined to equate being aware of a risk with worrying about it and being scared and on edge all the time, aren't you?

We are all (well, most of us) working hard at trying to educate - not only to educate the younger generation, but grownups too. There is a hell of a lot of ignorance about how infections spread and what to do to minimise that spread, So much ignorance that some people deny there is any risk at all of catching the virus, and even if you do catch it, that its seriousness is exaggerated.

My d.I.ls maternal aunt has just passed away with COVID. She was a healthy mid-fifties - please look after yourselves. Stay home, and definitely wear masks if you have to go out ....

Skye17

According to Dr John Campbell on YouTube, there is scientific evidence that wearing a mask protects the wearer to some extent. If you are exposed to someone breathing out the virus near you, the mask cuts down the number of virus particles you breathe in (reduces your viral load), so you are more likely to be able to fight off the infection. If you do get it you are likely to have milder symptoms. Heavy viral load = worse illness.

I can really recommend Dr John’s videos. He is a former A & E nurse and nurse trainer with a PhD.

Sorry if I am repeating something already said - I don’t have time to read the whole thread.

Dr John has got me through this pandemic. Gives links to all the reports he bases his findings on. Will come back and say he was wrong about something (he rarely is though). I despair when I hear politicians tell us things that Dr John has been saying for months eg covid carriers often being asymptomatic. I worry if he doesn’t post some days! Often interviewed by news channels in other countries but largely ignored here.

Interestingly, someone on The Last Leg last night said that mask wearing will continue after the pandemic and will become baked into our culture the way it has been in Eastern countries. I hope she’s right because it is all about courtesy and caring about our fellow humans.

Biscuitmuncher

I think covid is horrendous a terrible disease but to ruin your economy and not educate your younger generation is terrible

Younger generation will have a chance to catch up on at least sone of their education. Those who die can’t catch up on anything.
You still have not answered my questions. Are you saying we shouldn’t do anything about Covid ?

Lucca

Baggs

2 million out of 7+ billion is not a high percentage.

Whch is not an argument against mask-wearing, just in case anyone should think it is.

The screenshot is from ourworldindata.org from the page about global births and deaths per year.

I absolutely cannot understand what you mean ?

What I mean is that while covid19 is a serious disease as it affects some people, getting on for 60 million people die every year. While I understand that knowing this will make some people (many even?) think "so what?", for me it adds a certain perspective that I find useful. That is all.

And what I mean about it being serious for some is that it's not serious for most. Looking at those perspectives helps me to deal with the day to day stuff – lockdowns, masks, other associated limitations on 'normal' life – that covid19 has imposed on us all.

But the deaths are avoidable deaths. And long covid is avoidable.

Biscuitmuncher

I think covid is horrendous a terrible disease but to ruin your economy and not educate your younger generation is terrible

Biscuit's point is a view that is shared by many others, including well qualified epidemiologists.

Voicing it does not make her, or anyone else, a bad person.

It's always good to listen to opposing points of view.

“ it's not serious for most” Tell that to the families of the tens of thousands in the uk who have died, not to mention those who survived but are still suffering the after effects.