Will you keep wearing a mask when you don't have to?

essex man · Mar 4, 2021

Masks are a uniform which people put on, to show they are doing their bit.
Having done they feel that they can go out and bend/break all the other rules.
Most people I know always wear a mask but also have broken other rules frequently.
Anyone who waited til national mask day to put one on and then started looking down on those who didn't, is a hypocrite imo
It was clearly stated for a week leading up to the day that masks were coming in and were needed to control the virus.
Yet very few did...

Highland Mule · Mar 4, 2021

hoff135 said:
If that is the case can we assume that ALL restrictions will be removed fairly soon. There will also be no need for a so called vaccine passport given only a small percentage will refuse the vaccine and wont over burden the nhs?

No, because no one measure has absolute effectiveness. It's all about adding up lots of little contributors until such time as the compounded effect of all is enough to bring the reproduction rate down below unity and let the damned virus burn itself out. Vaccines help, but they're not 100% effective. They help more when more people have them, but again it's not 100% as you can still get the virus, spread it and die from it even if you've been vaccinated - but far fewer than would without being vaccinated. Masks help, by reducing droplet spread if someone is an asymptomatic carrier, but again they're not enough on their own. 2m distancing helps, but not enough on their own.

Get the picture? At some point there will be enough measures that we can keep going without all of the measures, but we still likely have some of them. I'd guess that time will be when there's confidence that the inevitable flare-ups will be within NHS capacity.

Pasty · Mar 4, 2021

The Agrarian said:
Same here. I wear a mask going into a shop, because I'm required to do so. I don't like wearing it, and I am fairly sceptical about the benefits of doing so. But I am prepared to go along with it, not because I am a spineless, weak-minded doormat, but because to not do so is to show willful arrogance in the face of people dying from the disease. It also breeds contempt for the genuine efforts of government to control the disease. And it's a signal that, if even one vulnerable person in the whole pandemic was saved by me not passing the disease on to them, either directly or indirectly, then the year of mask wearing would have been worth it. Have some compassion folks.

Virtue signalling then.

Pasty · Mar 4, 2021

Highland Mule said:
No, because no one measure has absolute effectiveness. It's all about adding up lots of little contributors until such time as the compounded effect of all is enough to bring the reproduction rate down below unity and let the damned virus burn itself out. Vaccines help, but they're not 100% effective. They help more when more people have them, but again it's not 100% as you can still get the virus, spread it and die from it even if you've been vaccinated - but far fewer than would without being vaccinated. Masks help, by reducing droplet spread if someone is an asymptomatic carrier, but again they're not enough on their own. 2m distancing helps, but not enough on their own.

Get the picture? At some point there will be enough measures that we can keep going without all of the measures, but we still likely have some of them. I'd guess that time will be when there's confidence that the inevitable flare-ups will be within NHS capacity.

So why haven't the govt. made click and collect or supermarket delivery mandatory because I can tell you in my town, they go into Morissons with their masks and social distancing is absolutely out the window. meanwhile I do click and collect for myself and my father and it's hardly used. You order online, park up and the person will either load your shopping for you or they leave it at the back of the car and you load yourself. All decently distanced. She told me yesterday that one day last week they had 3 customers in 1 day and yet the shop is packed with morons handling food, putting it back, lining up 2 feet apart but they are safe because they have their face nappies.

I can't wear one. I have a badge of shame because sometimes you need one. I went to Lloyds the other day and this stupid woman called her (masked) kids over because I was standing in the queue at least 6 feet from anyone but without a mask. This is in the SW where it no longer really exists. It's kind of unreal how stupid people are but nothing surprises me much any more. I have never worn a mask and I will not. I'll leave the country if it comes to that.

zero · Mar 4, 2021

Still think I'll keep wearing a mask as I haven't had a winter cold this year so it must stop some covid germs, though that could also be due to school age relative's not visiting?
One unexpected benefit of a mask, it's made it easier to sneak past folks in town that waffle on for all evers when i bump into them! Think I'll have saved quite alot of time this winter!

yellow belly · Mar 4, 2021

hoff135 said:
If that is the case can we assume that ALL restrictions will be removed fairly soon. There will also be no need for a so called vaccine passport given only a small percentage will refuse the vaccine and wont over burden the nhs?

Vaccine passport within the uk will not be needed if enough people get vaccinated to give enough people immunity to prevent the uncontrolled spread
in Europe it is likely that vaccination passport will be mandatory because it is the only way enough Europeans will get vaccinated due to the politicians making such a mess of vaccine rollout

Highland Mule · Mar 4, 2021

Pasty said:
So why haven't the govt. made click and collect or supermarket delivery mandatory

Because some people live very long distances from the nearest supermarket? Who knows, but I guess it’s a risk balance and they have to draw a line somewhere. There will be some modelling done to estimate the difference each of these things makes, including an estimated level of disobedience, and that model will be refined and updated as knowledge grows. I haven’t shopped in store for months myself, we get delivery easily enough too, albeit the drivers tell me they are very busy still.

Pasty said:
I can't wear one.

You’ve mentioned this before - PTSD I think you wrote. My sympathies. It’s a psychological thing though, so perhaps a change of attitude and not referring to them as

Pasty said:
face nappies

would help. If nothing else, those of us who are able to wear them don’t deserve the mocking you’re giving us - bearing in mind that a mask protects everyone else but the wearer.

essex man · Mar 4, 2021

Yes, people draw their own lines.
Just like they did last summer when they wore their muzzles in the supermarket then crowded into restaurants without them.
Instead of herd immunity we managed to achieve herd stupidity.

essex man · Mar 4, 2021

Mandatory masking is popular.
That's why it's happening

Highland Mule · Mar 4, 2021

essex man said:
Yes, people draw their own lines.
Just like they did last summer when they wore their muzzles in the supermarket then crowded into restaurants without them.
Instead of herd immunity we managed to achieve herd stupidity.

Any reason to insult the majority of us by calling them muzzles?

Stuart J · Mar 4, 2021

teslacoils said:
Don't care. Mines going asap. This isn't a new normal. Will just take it off - noone dare challenge you as they all assume they will insult your hidden disability. I'll actively avoid any requirement to toe the line. Not interested in producing a line of folk with no immune system.

See what happens when you withhold school testing consent. They get quite excited.

Masks proven to protect others...but you 'dont care'.

Selfish and ignorant.

essex man · Mar 4, 2021

Highland Mule said:
Any reason to insult the majority of us by calling them muzzles?

I am simply stating their purpose.
Take it as an insult if you must
Did you wear one before they were compulsory?

essex man · Mar 4, 2021

Stuart J said:
Masks proven to protect others...but you 'dont care'.

Selfish and ignorant.

Nope, mandatory masking is counterproductive, chief medical officer told me and boris and whitty

Stuart J · Mar 4, 2021

teslacoils said:
Just saying that if the government cares so much for people's health....

Perhaps obese people should have their children taken into care to protect their future health? You can pass on heritable diseases. Perhaps those people with high likelihood of passing on certain health defects shouldn't be allowed to breed?

The "needs of the many" argument is not a good one. Govt is rubbing it's hands. No crime, no demonstrations, no fires as everyone's at home, no traffic. Easy life. Just bring out a scientist every fortnight and jobs a good un.

And no economy. Borrowing more than any peacetime era.

Not sure how this grand plan is working out for the government.

Highland Mule · Mar 4, 2021

essex man said:
I am simply stating their purpose.
Take it as an insult if you must
Did you wear one before they were compulsory?

I bought a few in March and have worn them maybe half a dozen times since - not a lot of point when I don’t go anywhere. I have no idea when the rule came in, but I suspect I had them before it did.

And no, you’re not calling them muzzles because that’s their purpose - you’re calling them that to try and feel clever. Sorry but it doesn’t work - it just makes you appear like an idiot and devalues the rest of your posts.

essex man · Mar 4, 2021

Why did everyone put them on on national mask day not in the lead up??
They said it would protect people to wear them and that it would be compulsory in a week's time.
Only 10%-20% wore them the day before mask day.

The Agrarian · Mar 4, 2021

What the heck is this national mask day?

Highland Mule · Mar 4, 2021

The Agrarian said:
What the heck is this national mask day?

He’s trying to be clever - the day when face coverings became required.

kiwi pom · Mar 4, 2021

ollie989898 said:
None of this has ever been about the number of deaths. I've explained many times on this forum that the number of deaths was never the sole concern of the government. If it could be computer modelled, I bet the number of deaths each country genuinely has by the end of this was probably always going to be what it was going to be regardless of what measures were taken. We know that UK populace is pretty unhealthy- over 60% of adults are obese or overweight. We know the incidence of diabetes, respiratory and cardiovascular disease because they are extensively recorded and have been for years. We also know that at portions of our society were genuine morons who were going to disobey government/medical warnings and continue to behave in a way that spread the virus. I don't think any of us here are genuinely surprised at the scale of the infection in the UK nor in comparable European countries- we have a high population density relative to our land mass like most countries on the continent.

All these coronavirus policies were only ever about trying to retain some capacity in the NHS. The second people were left to die in corridors following road accidents etc because there was no capacity for them, the political cost would have stepped up to a whole new level. People would have understandably been upset by such an event. Hence the panic initially to setup the nightingale hospitals. I would suggest the government and it's advisers planned for a worst-case scenario at the outset and thought the number of infections early on would have been a lot larger. They knew that the virus had been in the country for some weeks by January and it was already too late in some ways.

I agree, it's only ever been about people getting sick and dying and countries health services and the government looking bad. Which is why I think once everyone has been offered a vaccine and any repeat doses have been agreed upon, the government will step back with requirements because they can't be blamed any more if people get sick. "we got the vaccines and we told people what to do, not our fault".
It will just become another thing that kills people like the Flu or being overweight. They'll be guidelines but I don't see the huge levels of control that some fear. Businesses will be free to refuse services if they want, but it will soon wear off when people take business elsewhere.

essex man · Mar 4, 2021

July whatever it was last year when mask wearing became mandatory in shops.
On that day mask wearing went from 10-20% to 95-99%.
Despite being widely trailed as preventing the spread of virus and doing good, 80%of people waited for the day.
Fair enough if you don't believe they do any good and are just following the rules I guess.

Will you keep wearing a mask when you don't have to?

Still wear mask when not compulsory?

Yup

Nay

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100% I’ve had enough of farming!

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