To Mask or not to two - Mask Megathread cont.

Watch a huge drop off in mask wearing now. Happened in the UK the minute they announced an end date.

Same quacks constantly repopping into thread, posting with "authority", mostly fabricating and bending truth, always with a twist, an agenda.

At least with the old search function, one could hang their soiled underpants on the line for all to see very easily by pulling up the mistruths and avoided questions and bizzarre selfish mentality from their previous posts in thread.

Masks have been mandatory for good reason and should remain so for the next few months.

The wearing of masks should be data driven.

Mask wearing needs to be enforced more by AGS.

It's (almost) over Sean - time to let it go!

Wear your mask if you feel safer/better/more comfortable, but they have done little to help with Omicron so it's a good thing that it's so mild anyway. They weren't mandated in the early days when we knew nothing about Covid and had more "dangerous" variants, but there have never been mass outbreaks in supermarkets either.

Covid is, and never really was, a significant threat for the majority of people in this country (as evidenced by the numbers and those who were affected) and while the 6000 people who died is sad and a loss to their families, the reality is that the majority of those were very elderly and/or near death anyway and/or at risk from a host of other complications that were likely to kill them. We cannot prevent death no matter how many restrictions and grades of masks we come up with!

As for the notion that AGS should enforce mask-wearing more.. please! AGS can barely deal with real criminal behaviour and problems that cause people and communities a LOT more problems than whether someone is wearing a piece of (likely dirty) cloth over their mouth in Tesco!

But here's the thing you (And others) keep forgetting - no-one has said that YOU can't wear your mask. You just can't expect everyone else to, or feel your level of threat/concern/risk from Covid as you do, and do you know why that is? Because most people aren't at any significant risk from it- which is again a very good thing!

The deaths have been a factor of the restrictions, including masks.

It has never been about preventing all deaths, strawman nonsense. It's also about the numbers being sent to hospital and ICU - numbers which have included thousands of people not at "significant risk". It is a numbers game.

The sheer numbers are a "significant risk" to the ability of the health service to cope, here and elsewhere. This is not just the HSE levels of coping but the best health services in the world. And having health service to treat people of all ages is important.

Masks are about protecting other people as much as others, containing your infectious droplets.

In Spring 2020 we didn't have mask mandates, but we had lockdowns and everyone voluntarily social distancing. Measures which could not be sustained and the voluntary compliance would not be sustained with distancing, limiting of shops, capacity limits etc. Masks could be sustained as a low cost measure.

Every major health authority in the world backs masks as a measure to reduce transmission, and at various points in the pandemic have backed mandatory masks to achieve this.

In most cases, the people not wearing masks are the same scumbags causing the other issues, I'm not fussy about what AGS crack down on them for.

So it is entirely legitimate for governments in a pandemic threatening public health capacity to mandate masks as a measure, and for it to be a matter for police enforcement. Ireland is not an outlier in this.

Happy to wear a mask on the LUAS and possibly in the supermarket if its busy... so many unhealthy people around, not just with COVID either.

If it helps in stopping me getting colds or the flu then I'm good with it.

The people in the packed clubs or gyms arent the people at high risk one imagines. People choose to go there.

Masks are still in place for 'essential' services, transport retail chemists etc where all demographics interact.

Serious question, "what's almost over"??

Once again _KAISER_ dishing masks("they have done little to help with Omicron"). Cause youv'e got a magic ball that can allow you to say that?

Your magic ball somehow alllows you to say "there have never been mass outbreaks in supermarkets either". Data collection has not been up to par to assume this as you do. Not all shops are supermarkets.

Your AGS comment just shows how ignorant you are of how much of a problem Covid has been.

Don't make projections that keep forgetting things. your I know it all attitude is dillusional.

I think nullzero summed it up best above... "Some people are having a difficult time coming to terms with this pandemic drawing to a close it would seem"

The above reads like someone who will really struggle with a return to normal society and there will be a lot of others the same unfortunately. Stockholm Syndrome on a national scale.

Missed the announcement today. High level, do we have to wear masks now?

What I find most concerning is how the Pro-Mask folks on this thread just lash out every time they are confronted with a different opinion. It's not good enough for them to do what's right for them - everyone else must feel and act the same way too!

It's a very Irish thing really - lash out at anything different that doesn't just go along with the status quo while preaching "the message" to all around them. It's something that's been around for generations and has really held this country back. This attitude over the last 2 years is extremely reminiscent of behaviours when the Church was running things here.

But just like then, so too are we finally emerging from the shadow of the Covid "crisis" and it's time to move on and return to normal living and society.

Nobody is stopping YOU from wearing a mask. Get yourself some n95s and there's no need for anyone else to wear them. 90% of mask wearers are using cloth/crappy ones anyways. Worry about yourself. Two years in, it's time to get off that high horse.

Sorry pal but I've been a compliant person through all of this pandemic and I won't be mourning the passing of mask wearing.

As for people wanting to get back out drinking, let them away at it. I'm past that phase of my life, a night out is a rare occurrence, I have a family and if I'm doing anything beyond that it's usually going to the gym. All in all people breathing all over each other in pubs and clubs isn't much of a issue for me. I had my wild nights and I think younger people probably have earned theirs by now particularly in light of the fact that they're not really at risk from the virus as it currently exists and those of them who are can make decisions based on their circumstances.

If masks dissappeared in shops tomorrow I would feel I'm danger. If you are vulnerable then wear your mask or get a home delivery there's options for people but the incessant nagging can and should stop ASAP.

That constant push by certain people to view everyone as some murderous disease spreader who should know better and think about others is ridiculous.

Saying that I suggested vulnerable people should just stay at home isn't an honest reflection of their hat I was saying. I think you've gotten a little lost in this argument if I'm honest. We'll agree to disagree. Take care of yourself.

So "get a home delivery" is just a nicer way of stay at home then? We obviously do disagree. The simple act of wearing any sort of mask to help prevent the spread of a still prevalent and, to a lot, deadly yet preventable virus is beyond the comprehension of selfish people. You mind yourself too, and others, by wearing a mask in shops and on public transport, please and thank you.

@Irish Aris Yes, I am prepared for that day, but we're not there yet. Not by a long shot, according to most health and virologist experts. But with the removing of these restrictions, people will behave as if it is. And yes, I use selfish a lot because that's what it is, but nobody calls it out, because everyone is selfish in their own way and doesn't want to get caught out. There's talk of seasonal requirements going forward, Asians have been at it for decades...