Wearing a mask?

I`m lucky to have had covid and flu,
jabs but I`ve been wearing a mask since the autumn. I have asthma. I shall continue until I feel safer. I live with my partner and I need to be responsible for him too, as his lungs are asbestos compromised

I'm back in a mask again due to my rotten cough, especially when I'm on the bus or in a supermarket as I don't want to pass my germs on to others. So glad I just put them to one side instead of throwing them away.

Masks before Covid have been rarely worn outside medical settings. Now nobody bats an eye at anyone who chooses to wear a mask entirely up to individual choice.
I choose not to I don't like them I accept they may provide limited protection against illness but short of rarely going anywhere you would have to live a restricted life to avoid everything. I am vacinatted against flu and covid although I have never had flu in my life. But i stay away from others if I am unwell.

MayBee70

Normandygirl

MayBee70

Are you saying that masks don’t help prevent the spread of colds and flu either?

Mask wearing to protect from droplet transmitting virus's makes more sense, if someone was sneezing or coughing directly into your face at close range. The more usual route for a droplet is to fall onto surfaces which are then touched and transmitted to your face. We touch our faces a lot more than we think and sometimes mask wearing makes people do it even more, so becomes more of a hazard than a help.

Then, given the stress the NHS is currently under, it makes sense to wear masks so less people suffer from flu etc. As many people pointed out earl in the epidemic, people forget how dangerous flu is and how many people die from it.

Well the spread of droplet transmitted flu is far more likely to happen within the family and in enclosed spaces than anywhere else, but I suppose every little helps.
I agree that flu [ as opposed to a bad cold] is dangerous as it affects a far wider demographic than Covid did. Little ones are just as likely to suffer really bad outcomes from it as well as oldies. The Spanish flu was the most deadly to the under 5's and the healthy 18 to 40 yr old age group.

Normandygirl

MayBee70

Are you saying that masks don’t help prevent the spread of colds and flu either?

Mask wearing to protect from droplet transmitting virus's makes more sense, if someone was sneezing or coughing directly into your face at close range. The more usual route for a droplet is to fall onto surfaces which are then touched and transmitted to your face. We touch our faces a lot more than we think and sometimes mask wearing makes people do it even more, so becomes more of a hazard than a help.

Then, given the stress the NHS is currently under, it makes sense to wear masks so less people suffer from flu etc. As many people pointed out earl in the epidemic, people forget how dangerous flu is and how many people die from it.

Never stopped wearing a mask , using hand sanitiser and much as I love my friends - I wish that they wouldn't hug and kiss me !

I think that my father caught covid from a well meaning visitor .

I have started wearing a mask in the supermarket on the odd occasion that I do go into one as a lot of people are coughing and I am not prepared to take the risk of catching something. We have also started to use the ‘click and collect’ service again to avoid going into the supermarket.

We always wear masks, we never quit.

I always wear a mask in supermarkets, likewise I still sanitise the trolley handle and my hands. SIL and I are the only people I know that have not had covid, must be doing something right.

MayBee70

Are you saying that masks don’t help prevent the spread of colds and flu either?

Mask wearing to protect from droplet transmitting virus's makes more sense, if someone was sneezing or coughing directly into your face at close range. The more usual route for a droplet is to fall onto surfaces which are then touched and transmitted to your face. We touch our faces a lot more than we think and sometimes mask wearing makes people do it even more, so becomes more of a hazard than a help.

The purpose of masks was never to stop the transmission of COVID, only to slow it down so that hospitals were not reduced to breaking point.

In recent weeks we have heard that hospital admissions and deaths from flu have exceded admissions and deaths from COVID. Until COVID those who were vulnerable protected themselves as best they could, and anyone with a respiratory infection avoided crowded places.

Maya1 Not every one can wear masks. DH has permanent breathing problems. He has difficulty breathing without a mask. Wearing one quickly brings him close to suffocation. When he goes to hospital without a mask, which he must, now and then, he is NOT being selfish. Do not judge people in hospital without masks unless you know their medical circumstances.

I have to wear a mask in hospital. It's compulsory. Recently, surrounded by coughs and colds, I have been wearing a mask on public transport. Bus windows are kept tight shut and are steamed up. I'm happy to continue mask wearing in these circumstances.

Obviously, all of those on here wearing and promoting others to wear, masks have very good hearing.

If someone wearing a mask tries to talk to me, I cannot understand what they are saying. Their speech is muffled and I cannot see their lips. I do not actually lip read, but seeing smeones face and lips does help me to 'hear' what they are saing. Even the so-called 'transparent' masks are not much better - as speech is still muffled.

I'm shocked at the amount of people that do not wear masks in hospital. We have had to visit 4 different hospitals during the past 14 months and l would say a quarter of the people are not wearing them.
Surely in a hospital where people are vulnerable everyone should be wearing one and not be so selfish.

My DH is almost 80 and has heart disease. He has been very strict about us staying isolated and wearing masks the few times we go to shops. Two male relatives, ages 77 and 79, died suddenly from Covid. One before vaccine was available and the other after vaccinated and boosted. Neither one felt very sick before dying. I went to my book group in person last week for the first time after only having Zoom meetings. We all wore masks. I was in a fabric store a couple days ago and there were at least 100 older women in there because many were taking a quilting class. I was the only one wearing a mask and it was a well fitting N95 type that my doctor wears and recommended.

One advantage of me wearing my mask keeps my face warm in the cold weather. I wear one on the bus and in shops. The other day a man sat by me on the bus and smelt strongly of cigarette smoke haven't smelt anyone that strongly for years. He proudly told me he was in his 70's and never had a flu or Covid jab. If he smokes as much as he smelt if he gets either probably end up in hospital very poorly.

We all have a choice I choose to wear my mask I have health problems . I don't see why some people object to people wearing masks if they want to . I have noticed an increase of people wearing masks on the bus, people that normally don't wear them.

Are you saying that masks don’t help prevent the spread of colds and flu either?

The WHO have changed their views since then and have now finally acknowledged that Covid is an airborne transmission rather than droplet. This means that the original handwashing, surface cleaning, perspex shields, distancing advice was wrong. It was understandably assumed that the virus was spread by the same droplet method as the other well known RV's such as colds and flu etc, A lot has been learned since then.
. As far as mask wearing goes only a properly fitted n95 mask would offer the minimal protection. Surgical masks are about as useful as putting up a chain link fence to stop mosquitos. Also bear in mind that n95 masks with a valve do not stop the wearer from spreading the virus, they only stop the wearer from inhaling it, so as a method of stopping the spread it has no use at all.
The main benefit of mask wearing is psychological and for those people who have been brought up on the "coughs and sneezes spreads diseases" mantra, a hard thing to let go of. I find it so ingrained into my mindset, it's become almost an instinct.
Having to accept that there is very little we can do in terms of protecting ourselves is extremely difficult for many people and even harder, I imagine, for government health officials to admit. It is all just theatre now, but if wearing a mask makes you "feel" better, less anxious etc, then perhaps for your own MH you should carry on regardless and to hell with the science!

The Chinese vaccination is not as effective as the ones we have and they are too proud to admit that and buy in the ones we use.

GagJo, you are right, vaccination rates away from big cities and especially among the elderly, are very low.

I have heard that the Chinese vaccine is not as strong as the ones in Europe. A nephew of someone I know had to be re-vaccinated after tests in France.

varian

The Chinese population, especially the older people, have not been vaccinated in the way we have. And the strict lock downs which kept covid at bay meant the there is little natural immunity.

All my Chinese friends and family have been vaccinated. Several times. Possibly out in the countryside they haven't, but in the cities, vaccinations were mandatory.

The ffp2/3 masks do protect against getting Covid. The ordinary blue masks protect others from you passing on disease.

I can’t help wondering if the amount of flu and other illnesses around is due to our immune systems taking a battering from avoiding germs. I can understand why you’d wear a mask if you had a cold, if you were vulnerable or required to, but not otherwise. Our general immunity relies on reactions to the latest germs.

someone i work with is wearing one all the time
it is up to people what they want to do?

I haven't worn a mask for ages and have no intention of doing so unless asked to in a medical setting. Everyone now has their own choice and I think Maybe has hit the nail on the head the vast population have given up being worried about contracting Covid.