I Really Didn't Want To

[teacake44]

Say again that I've been right about face masks all along, but, I thought I would, it seems Boris has also come round to my way of thinking after 6 months of telling us, and his mate Hancock, that they don't make any difference. Regarding the argument, face coverings or masks, it also seems that Boris calls them masks, has if it really mattered either way. :0)))

[albaqwerty]

NJ '' most of whom don't know the difference between a virus and a bacterium''
Agree which makes me wonder why on earth wiping down surfaces after you've touched them makes any sense either

(the 'you' being generic, not you, personally)

[jim360]

// Disagree, Jim. The country needs to return to normal. //

I'd argue the country needs to find a "new" normal. And I'm not being flippant here. This isn't going to be the last global pandemic, and it wouldn't surprise me at all if a future pandemic was deadlier. If the global economic system crashed because of a few weeks' pause, I'd say the lesson isn't to never have such a pause but to make it more resilient in future.

Meta-argument aside, though -- and besides, that's a long-term view, although one I hope will be taken seriously (and by people who can figure out *how* to effect such changes). But in the short-term, if people are nervous about going outside, then telling them that there's nothing to worry about is never going to work anyway. Masks may help to slow the spread, and encouraging or mandating their use may therefore make it easier for people to feel confident about going outside in the way that the economy needs.

[Peter Pedant]

// which makes me wonder why on earth wiping down surfaces after you've touched them makes any sense either//

because you do the expt
remember cough plates with and without mask, no difference
here
swab - ugh dirty
wipe and then swab - still dirty but much less
wiping therefore works

these expts are so simple there were first done 1850-1900

[ummmm]

I know you say you get it in the neck, Peter, but when did you lose the ability to spell? Try spelling correctly and watch peoples attitudes change,

[10ClarionSt]

Jim @ 23.18: "mortality rates that would certainly have lasted for far longer and killed far more people had we carried on as normal."

After the introduction of lockdown, the infection/death rate rocketed.

When the lockdown was eased off, the
infection/death rate plummeted. Those are facts.

[Old_Geezer]

That would be expected delay, maybe ?

[rowanwitch]

If course it is OG, infected before lockdown, developed after it started..
Wipe down with bleach it is what we used in theatres
I will wear a mask. Home made 3 layers because I have asthma and I cough ... It makes people anxious and it's easier than explaining. Have to wear one on the bus anyway.

[iluvmargie]

I hope they give us a choice, I really do not want to wear one. Bloody do-gooders win again! I've managed all this time without one and go to the supermarket twice a week!

[teacake44]

23.13 NJ. Your post, quote. government pandering to the lockdown maniacs, who are scared to death, hiding behind the sofa, well its never going to be safe, get over it.
Question, Why were you coming on here during the lockdown complaining that you couldn't get a delivery slot, when you were allowed to go too the supermarket. Were you scared to death and hiding behind the sofa?

[New Judge]

//Why were you coming on here during the lockdown complaining that you couldn't get a delivery slot, when you were allowed to go too the supermarket. Were you scared to death and hiding behind the sofa?//

No I wasn't hiding, tc. I'd been to a number of supermarkets, queued up outside in the rain only to find, when I eventually got inside that they had few of the goods that I needed. I saw a delivery as a way of perhaps getting some of those goods. I rarely have online supermarket deliveries; I might have two, perhaps three in a year. I simply don't need them by and large. I have behaved as near to normal as I can throughout the last three months or so. I've been out shopping as normal; I've travelled around on buses and trains; I've continued with some of the voluntary work I do; I would have gone on holiday had I been able to; I would have had at least two or three UK short breaks in that time had I been able to.

//This isn't going to be the last global pandemic//

Indeed not. And it is by no means the first or the worst. But it is the first where governments have taken to effectively closing down their economies to combat it. I have asked why when it was not done in the previous (and sometimes worse) pandemics but nobody seems to be able to provide a reasonable answer.

//Masks may help to slow the spread, and encouraging or mandating their use may therefore make it easier for people to feel confident about going outside in the way that the economy needs.//

I think exactly the opposite. Up to now nobody has had to wear masks in shops. Now people are being encouraged to go out, as soon as they do so it seems likely masks in shops will become mandatory. What does it tell people who don't perhaps think things through? It tells them that shops aren't safe places to go into. They can go into a pub or a restaurant without a mask (though I imagine some bright spark will devise some ridiculous guidance involving masking up between mouthfuls before too long). But you mustn't go into a shop unclad. QED, shops are more dangerous than pubs.

[Prudie]

The reason masks are becoming the next directive thrust upon us are nothing to with the government advising us. Scientific support still varies widely and who is to know who is right. The reason is the clamouring from Joe Public who have been terrified by this virus thanks to the media and sites like this. Lots of surveys are showing it's the public who are scared to travel, scared to shop, scared to get anywhere near anyone else - so this a response to try and allay those fears. It irritates me immensely but I will of course comply.

[Old_Geezer]

Better if there was an outbreak of civil disobedience. Since the mask thing is more paranoia than sense, best not to comply; but it'd have to be by all.

Unless, of course, the imposition on the public really is that shops really are getting more risky than pubs, and they simply don't want to admit it; in which case you'll be glad of those tinned survival rations over the next 12 months. Get into the basement, baton down everything, emerge next July.