Danny B

GO 'WAY WITCHYA

Danny B

I'm on your side regarding masks, I really am.

The trouble is with all the mixed messages we have been receiving in BC. When the top BC Health official say things like this, it's not really helping promote a 'wear a mask' culture is it.

Pulaski

I don't take my advice from the provincial government in BC, nor the state government in NC, the federal government in DC, or the British government, or the CDC (US) or WHO and I recommend you don't either.

All of the above have, at various times, stated that masks are (at least) unnecessary/unhelpful, or may actually be harmful. Thirty seconds reading behind the soundbite headline immediately explains why, with various reasons such as not wanting to divert scarce supplies away from health professionals, that touching or adjusting your mask might lead to contamination, that people wearing a mask might stop bothering to SD, etc. Basically governments are saying that people are too stupid to be trusted to wear and "manage" a mask, and it appears that they are right.

Danny B

Too right. I get all my scientific data from Facebook

Pulaski

BristolUK

At various times that etc has also included reducing the hand washing as well as not distancing. But there is already an acceptance (the latest study) that it's not necessarily the case. It was found that hand washing had not reduced.

It seems to me that by merely encouraging mask wearing but not requiring it, the resistance to it has been allowed to grow and that when it's inevitably made mandatory it's going to be a whole lot more difficult to enforce than had authorities made it mandatory at the earliest practical time.

It might also have been useful to have established the wearing of masks and then follow up with wearing properly.

MillieF

I do realise that those of us in more populated areas should wear masks 'properly', but I do think on the bigger picture issue if we just 'required' every Tom, Dick and Harriet to stick one on and just shut up and get on with it, it would be better. Get over yourself and put one on! Personal choices stop, when your choice can impinge on the life of my family and vice versa. At the present, certainly here, the the etiquette of the wearing can be learned...it's the few who won't listen who are the problem.

Siouxie

In Japan they reduced the level of Covid 19 by .............. yes, wearing masks (and social distancing). Unlike the western cultures, they were perhaps more culturally inclined to wear them.. .. early mask wearing appears to have made a difference..... https://globalnews.ca/news/7075024/m...avirus-deaths/. and https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/06/w...rus-masks.html

Pulaski

I agree with all of the above, and the various contradictory advice about wearing masks has been one of the biggest blunders this year, and apparently in most countries outside of the Far East. IMO it would have made more sense to issue a short list (not necessarily in this order) of ways to protect yourself [1] basic hygiene [2] SD, [3] wear a mask , [4] stay home whenever you don't need to be out, including going out alone unless two/ multiple people are required for the task, such as grocery shopping. And it should have been made clear, from the outset, that doing one does not exclude the need to do the others, and that doing all of the above is the ideal goal for the duration of the pandemic.
Er yeah. There's still lots of room for improvement there. I was in a local pharmacy yesterday, and one of the pharmancy assistants - behind the pharmacy counter, handing over prescriptions, was wearing a mask that didn't cover her nose!

BristolUK

Yes, that's really what I was aiming for; not suggesting a lot of people weren't wearing them properly, but really meaning fine tuning once mass wearing had been achieved.

Pulaski

"Few" I am not sure what compliance is like in your neck of the woods, but I saw a report a few days ago that in the US compliance is somewhere between 60% & 70%, and that it is only about half that in the UK.

printer

Yes yes yes. So i ask again, what affect do masks have in places such as pubs, clubs, private functions and restaurants where we have seen the biggest spikes and where they are extremely unlikely to be required? If the facts are that these places will always be considered worse for transmission then surely any mandate for masks in stores and public buildings will have very little effect on the numbers. The numbers that everyone is saying need to be bought down. Seems we are agreeing on the principals but its just that some see masks as a way to bring down infections yet the biggest cause of infection spikes seem to be in the above places.
Spain is currently considering further strict lockdowns and they put the blame of the recent spikes firmly on the young party crowd who get together at night and drink and party. Clearly masks have had no affect in this scenario because they have a very strict mask mandate.
And to add last time i looked we still have social distancing, arrows and lines on floors and plexi screens and signs on doors stating maximum numbers allowed so nothing has changed in that respect.

Pulaski

Is this like a trick question or something? ...... The answer to the question as you wrote it is surely "if you're not wearing a mask it won't be effective."

The question I think you're trying to ask is "Why do we allow places where wearing a mask is impractical, to remain open?" And that is, indeed, a damn good question!

BristolUK

You appear to be saying that with bars and restaurants open and where mask wearing isn't practical that there's not much point in wearing masks in, say, grocery stores. Well what about those people that do get exposed to the virus in those places and may or may not develop the illness but may still be infectious and then want to go to the grocery store?
If they wear a mask and follow the other rules when doing so, then it's far less likely that they will infect other shoppers. That's a good thing isn't it?

You may argue it won't change the numbers but it changes what the numbers would become if masks were not mandated in the grocery stores.

printer

Ok yes that's another way of putting it although i think i said similar earlier on. If its a serious exposure risk and cannot be managed (masks, distancing) there are little more options available.
Clubs in UK are still closed as far as i know because of this very threat, however illegal street raves and the like are obviously harder to control. We just seem to see this current spate of people demanding masks be made mandatory in shops when shops don't appear to be the bigger issue. Naked dancing ladies however might be a problem and sadly i will admit i haven't frequented this one as yet.
https://cfjctoday.com/2020/07/28/cov...na-strip-club/