To Mask or not to two - Mask Megathread cont.

greasepalm

I would as trying to keep safe and proper distance from others.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120257663#Comment_120257663

What's this we pale face?

I reckon COVID will be a topic of discussion for many years.

Beasty

xhomelezz threadbanned

greasepalm

I wear mine by choice for my health.

Brendan Bendar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120261528#Comment_120261528

Of course, that’s the sensible thing to do.

corcaigh07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120261528#Comment_120261528

Fair play

Mic 1972

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120150289#Comment_120150289

Yep, masks are on the way out everywhere.

Omicron doesnt pose any threat to society, so no point in keeping the masks going forward

KanyeSouthEast

I don’t wear mine by choice for my health

robinph

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120270310#Comment_120270310

Still doesn't answer the query about where this mythical place is that was so enthusiastic about mask wearing that it could be said by way of comparison that masks are just not a thing in Ireland.

If they are not a thing in Ireland, then they must be all the rage somewhere else. Where is this other place?

Mic 1972

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120270386#Comment_120270386

Masks are not popular anywhere, that's what i was trying to say. They are being abandoned even by the most obsessed people.

niallpatrick

My mums on the at risk health category, so was my dad now deceased. I get/ got all of their meds and daily essentials always masked up when it was law. Now the mask has been lifted I'm still masking up and I'm not the only one, lots of old folk are still masking up in the shops. This flu doing the rounds plus winter vomiting bug (which I have had pre Covid) I wouldn't want to pass it on to my mum or wife so it's only fair if I might have the flu or WVB bug but no symptoms I don't pass it on to others. Other than my job I'm out every day in shops chemists getting the necessaries for the entire family if needs be.

If others don't mask up in health centres chemists or shops it's none of my business but I will move back if they get too close

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120270823#Comment_120270823

One thing to watch out for on the winter vomiting bug is that hand sanitiser doesn't do a good job of killing norovirus.

robinph

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120270430#Comment_120270430

But who are these masked obsessed people?

Nobody was wearing masks for the fun of it.

niallpatrick

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120270841#Comment_120270841

I've chronic eczema and know not to use the alcohol based cleansers supplied in store or in health centres, most are empty anyway I use my own diluted bleach solution at home. With the mask on I can't touch my mouth or nose anyway. Sometimes I have open sores on my hands all taped up with medical tape. Once home I wash my hands with my bleach solution and thoroughly rinse then have to use another one of my concoctions to stop more damage.

Over anxious hell yeah but I don't know where the person handling the money or goods had their hands before I lifted or received it as change, and this stems from where we used to rent. St Stephens day chippies were open for breakfast. I put an order in for two filled sodas bacon egg sausage, the fella serving and cooking was wearing trekkies, straight down the auld ballbag for a good scratch and sniff and he's handling food! 'Back in a minute mate I've to go to the ATM' did I return? like fck I did. I'm pretty resilient even when my eczema is at it's worst but I doubt my body could combat whatever crap was under his finger nails. eeegggh!

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120270430#Comment_120270430

But all people who wear masks are not obsessed.

It's funny how you had a very vocal twitter mob trying to bring back mandatory masks smack bang in the middle of last summer. I find it strange that these vocal individuals who now think a rag on someone's face is going to protect them from an early grave never even thought about masks during the swine flu or the Aussie flu or even in the spring & early summer of 2020.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120273447#Comment_120273447

You seem confused and misinformed on several points.

Nobody thinks a "rag" on someone's face will protect them though.

That's just perjorative language you're throwing in there.

Look back to photos from sars outbreaks... what do you see? Non rag blue masks.

People did think about masks back then in 2020 but there was a shortage of masks and confusion about how covid spread, how much spread was by fomite transmission. This lead to an incorrect emphasis on risk of getting infected from touching a mask rather than their benefits re: respiratory spread.

What changed over 2020 was more (surgical and cloth) masks, understanding spread primarily by respiratory droplets and a switch to thinking about masks as barriers to stop spread from an infected person rather than as irext protection. They are more effective 'at source' due to size of droplets and how they disperse.

This has all been explained multiple times on the thread already. The original mask thread started in march 2020 so you are also factually wrong on timelines.

Mic 1972

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120271554#Comment_120271554

that's not the same as saying "masks are being abandoned even by the most obsessed people"

Mic 1972

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120270996#Comment_120270996

some examples of obsessed people are:

• those screaming from across the road to people wearing a mask over their chin outdoor
• anyone wearing a mask outdoor
• anyone wearing a mask while driving with no one else in the car
• anyone believing that masking prevents spreading of Covid

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120279298#Comment_120279298

There can be many reasons people wear a mask outdoors or driving a car.

Shouting at someone across the road? Really? Because it sounds like something you just made up as an example. I've never heard of any such thing.

They may be wearing mask in a car because they're about to pick someone up, or going between shops and don't want to be taking mask on \ off fiddling with it once they have it on comfortably.

People might even be wearing a mask outdoors likewise because they've fitted it on and are going between shops. They might be wearing it for allergies. Or to keep their face warm like a scarf so rather than put scarf on and off then mask they just put the mask on. Or they're trying to avoid someone.

You really don't know.

That doesn't make them 'obsessed', just shows how limited your thinking is \ consideration you've given re: why people act as they do.

Mic 1972

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120131059#Comment_120131059

There is also lots of evidence that masks don't prevent the spreading of Covid.

Surgical masks are not fit for purpose, they may or may not reduce the spread, sure they don't stop it

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120279345#Comment_120279345

The evidence I have seen is misrepresented evidence, usually studies into the wearing of them as direct protection rather than why they were mandated.

They don't have to stop it fully to reduce transmission, reduce viral load and infectious droplets in environment and act as a barrier.

There is no one single measure that 'stops' covid. By that strawman standard, we would deploy none of them.

elperello

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120279298#Comment_120279298

Those groups of people presumably don't know you think they are obsessed so as long as you don't start bothering them I suppose there's no harm done.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120279298#Comment_120279298

It's 2023 and you still don't understand.

People can be going from shop to shop, so they wear a mask outdoors.

Again someone might be picking up someone or dropped off someone, or driving home from the shop and they might have forgotten to take their mask off.

I think you're telling porkies with your first point. People weren't getting angry at others outdoors. Not here in Ireland.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120279345#Comment_120279345

So what are your thoughts on masks that give better protection, such as N95 masks?

They’re potentially useful if you’re in a very high risk environment or are immune compromised / at high risk.

I agree though there are some people, and it’s a tiny minority, who seem to have tripped into OCD like behaviour around this.

I walk on a beach every few days. It’s a lovely spot. Several km of stunning sand, freshest of Atlantic air and there are a couple of older folks who are doing that walk, on their own, wearing surgical masks. It’s literally impossible to pick anything up in the air there. It’s windy, there are very few people around and it’s outdoors, yet they’re masked up in their FFP3.

I’m all for improving indoor air quality with adequate ventilation and filtration where necessary, and even think wearing a mask on a crowded bus if you feel the need is completely reasonable, but it’s inevitable that some people are going to interpret the risks very oddly. Humans in general are terrible at risk analysis - we either completely ignore very serious risks or we completely overreact to risks that are in reality of little consequence or concern.

From what I can see though masking in Ireland is almost entirely gone outside of healthcare settings and a few ppl taking precautions in publicity transport.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120286043#Comment_120286043

If its for covid concerns seems OTT outdoors at beach. But the mask might be for the wind and blown sand, like a scarf. Some people got used to masks and repurpose them.

It’s definitely not repurposing the mask and it’s also not just a cloth thing keeping their face warm - it’s a disposable cone shaped full filter respirator mask like you’d see worn in a hospital.

It’s unfortunately inevitable that a small % of people will have tipped into fairly extreme responses to this after what we’ve been through over the last few years.

I’m also aware of a couple of people who just quite literally haven’t socialised at all since the lockdowns. One guy in particular who won’t even meet anyone at all unless it’s outside for a walk, won’t take flights, wont stay in hotels, only shops online, works from home etc etc. He has no underlying health issues, but spends his life sitting on Twitter and Reddit reading every single report on variants etc and talks about nothing but COVID to the point I’m actually fed up listening to it.

Another person I’m aware of has been having very severe panic attacks when in public ever since they had a bout of COVID, which they’re convinced they brought on themselves by socialising. That’s triggered a whole cascade of other issues, which they already had, but were able to cope with. Now they can’t cope at all and most people are being extremely dismissive and the support services here are very weak at the best of times.

Another acquaintance has gone into full conspiracy theory mode and seems to spend their time posting nonsense from various and increasingly far right “news” sources on Facebook. It’s gone from anti-lockdown conspiracy content, to literally posting mad anti NATO and pro-Putin material. I’m not kidding. The world is one giant conspiracy theory to them now and they’re off on their protests every weekend etc etc

I’m not trying to feed trolls here but I think some of what went on in 2020 and 2021 left some people with quite significant mental health issues, and they’re just not being discussed because it immediately either attracts the attention of various conspiracy theorists etc or you get people online (mostly Americans on international forums) telling you that you’re a horrible person for not wearing masks absolutely everywhere and those two extreme and polarised points of view tend to result in hijacking and shutdown of any attempt at pragmatic or nuanced discussion.

You’d be amazed at the kind of stuff people are engaging with and absorbing on bigger social media platforms - everything from far right conspiracy theories about social control on the one side of it, to people who are parsing every line of any report anywhere, in the most negative and alarmist possible way and some people are absorbing those points of view completely uncritically, often with a sense they’ve more knowledge than the “so called public health experts” and they’re drifting into paranoia on both extremes.

I’m seeing it a lot from a few people I know and it’s actually actually becoming quite worrying in a couple of cases, where I genuinely think they’ve lost the ability (or maybe never had the ability) to make reasonable assessments of risk and reality.

KanyeSouthEast

The front story on the Irish Indo makes for very interesting reading today.

Coolcormack1979

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120286769#Comment_120286769

Interesting is an understatement.basically telling anyone who dared question the whole bs that perhaps they weren’t off their rocker.the questioning of the sainted one not allowed and that hackneyed phrase “follow the science “ was all bull.