The mask debate

[Vidyoyo]

Used a mask the other day for the first time, with the reason being I had to catch a bus coming from a city with a high number of cases. I don’t see the fuss, it wasn’t particularly uncomfortable to wear and although it made me feel safer I definitely did not drop my guard either.

My guess is that it's not the masks; it's more people feeling that masks are a signifier for a general loss of liberty at this time (and for whatever reason they're pissed off about it).

Those who feel disenfranchised for whatever reason are the ones who typically end up holding extreme viewpoint.

Edit: This is not me agreeing with them.

 

[SirAF]

My guess is that it's not the masks; it's more people feeling that masks are a signifier for a general loss of liberty at this time (and for whatever reason they're pissed off about it).

Those who feel disenfranchised for whatever reason are the ones who typically end up holding extreme viewpoints.

That is absolutely bat shit insane, but I do definitely agree that has to be it.

 

[Turnip]

I had to use a bus for the first time last weekend and I couldn't believe that I was the only one on there wearing a mask. I always assumed public transport was going to be about the most risky thing and anyone on there would want to wear a mask there if nowhere else, but apparently not.

 

[arnie_ni]

Whats the difference between answer 1 and 3?

Do the people that answer 1 wear it if they're out for a walk?

Or when do they wear it that answer 3 doesn't?

 

[The Cat]

I won't go anywhere near public transport for some time - fortunately I don't need to so that's easy.

I have no issue wearing a mask in a shop I put it on before I get out of the car and try and get in and out in a couple of minutes - have decided to keep using deliveries for the main shopping.

Biggest pain is I wear glasses and they steam up every time but it's not that much of an issue.

 

[ClaytonBlackmoorLeftPeg]

My guess is that it's not the masks; it's more people feeling that masks are a signifier for a general loss of liberty at this time (and for whatever reason they're pissed off about it).

Those who feel disenfranchised for whatever reason are the ones who typically end up holding extreme viewpoint.

Edit: This is not me agreeing with them.

I agree with your assessment of people. Like @SirAF it’s clearly bonkers, but then lots of people are stupid.

Too many people spend their time looking for conspiracy theories on Facebook.

 

[0le]

Biggest pain is I wear glasses and they steam up every time but it's not that much of an issue.

It may help to wear a tighter fitting and smaller facial covering. Or try wearing the facial covering slightly lower down your face and breathe more calmly and slowly. I find that the latter works quite well.

 

[sewey89]

Whats the difference between answer 1 and 3?

Do the people that answer 1 wear it if they're out for a walk?

Or when do they wear it that answer 3 doesn't?

I wondered this. I went for option 3.

I only wear one when I ‘have to’, in shops etc.. But I have no issue doing so and if I was told I had to wear one every time I left the house, I would..

 

[arnie_ni]

I wondered this. I went for option 3.

I only wear one when I ‘have to’, in shops etc.. But I have no issue doing so and if I was told I had to wear one every time I left the house, I would..

I picked 3 as well.

I basically wear it whenever im around people indoors.

I dont wear one walking from the car to the shop for example but stick it on before i go in

 

[SmashedHombre]

I had to use a bus for the first time last weekend and I couldn't believe that I was the only one on there wearing a mask. I always assumed public transport was going to be about the most risky thing and anyone on there would want to wear a mask there if nowhere else, but apparently not.

$300 fine if you're caught without a mask on public transport here in NZ. Fortunately, all the busses have boxes of free masks that you can help yourself too so there's really no excuses.

 

[0le]

There should be British Transport Police (BTP) on the network issuing penalties to anyone not wearing a facial covering (and without a valid reason) but unfortunately their numbers are too low to be able to do this in a coordinated manner.

 

[Vidyoyo]

I think only 20- 30% of my customers wear a mask. I always do but i stopped telling people to wear a mask like a month ago.

It's really annoying as some of them start coughing and shit on you and really should be wearing one but you cant say anything because you need their sale.

Sounds like they need a nappie too

 

[Jippy]

Outcry as Spanish councillor uses face mask to 'fake speaking English'

Valencia councillor criticised after it emerges speech made in perfect English was dubbed

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...valencias-voice-behind-mask-not-what-it-seems

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Outcry as Spanish councillor uses face mask to 'fake speaking English'

Valencia councillor criticised after it emerges speech made in perfect English was dubbed

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...valencias-voice-behind-mask-not-what-it-seems

The English accent ffs

 

[sebsheep]

Outcry as Spanish councillor uses face mask to 'fake speaking English'

Valencia councillor criticised after it emerges speech made in perfect English was dubbed

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...valencias-voice-behind-mask-not-what-it-seems

How on earth did they catch him out?

 

[lsd]

How privileged do you have to be to think being asked to wear a mask is taking away your freedom ?

 

[Pogue Mahone]

I’ve seen quite a lot of people wearing Perspex face shields. Obviously the jury it out on how effective they are but it occurred to me that their existence instantly rebuts any argument about masks making it hard to breath or increasing their CO2 levels. If you can’t handle a covering on your face, wear one that doesn’t even touch it. And shut the feck up.

 

[Wibble]

I’ve seen quite a lot of people wearing Perspex face shields. Obviously the jury it out on how effective they are but it occurred to me that their existence instantly rebuts any argument about masks making it hard to breath or increasing their CO2 levels. If you can’t handle a covering on your face, wear one that doesn’t even touch it. And shut the feck up.

I din't think there is that much research out there but I think most are assuming it isn't as good as a mask but better than nothing. Main benefit is for health workers at high risk when wirn with a mask.

 

[Snowjoe]

I’m in a&e right now, have been wearing my mask for 5 hours and am asthmatic and funnily enough my o2 levels were 100%, I thought these masks were meant to kill you...

 

[jojojo]

I’m in a&e right now, have been wearing my mask for 5 hours and am asthmatic and funnily enough my o2 levels were 100%, I thought these masks were meant to kill you...

I hope all is well now and that you're safely not in A&E anymore. Unless of course you're working there.

 

[Snowjoe]

I hope all is well now and that you're safely not in A&E anymore. Unless of course you're working there.

Yes all good! Well still feeling rough but something that should resolve itself so all good

 

[Attila]

I’ve seen quite a lot of people wearing Perspex face shields. Obviously the jury it out on how effective they are but it occurred to me that their existence instantly rebuts any argument about masks making it hard to breath or increasing their CO2 levels. If you can’t handle a covering on your face, wear one that doesn’t even touch it. And shut the feck up.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...g-aerosols-japanese-supercomputer-coronavirus

Face shields ineffective at trapping aerosols, says Japanese supercomputer

Simulation using world’s fastest supercomputer casts doubt on effectiveness in preventing spread of coronavirus


Plastic face shields are almost totally ineffective at trapping respiratory aerosols, according to modelling in Japan, casting doubt on their effectiveness in preventing the spread of coronavirus.


A simulation using Fugaku, the world’s fastest supercomputer, found that almost 100% of airborne droplets of less than 5 micrometres in size escaped through plastic visors of the kind often used by people working in service industries.

 

[0le]

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2...g-aerosols-japanese-supercomputer-coronavirus

They didn't need a simulation to tell them this. 5 micrometer sized particles or less are used regularly in PIV experiments to measure the velocity of the air. You "seed" (add to) the air the particles and because the particles are small and dense, they follow the air motion well. You can then assume the velocity of the particles is equivalent to the velocity of the gas at that point. PIV then uses correlation to obtain a 2D planar velocity field. This has been known since the 90s and the technique is widely used in industry (aerodynamics testing) as well as academia and has commercialised systems ready to buy off the shelf. An analogous point based measurement called Laser Doppler also uses the same concept of small particles to measure the air flow velocity and this was developed in the 80s.

Larger particle sizes are more difficult to characterise, and depend significantly on the background flow conditions.

I don't know why they say "it somehow works for the droplets larger than 50 micrometres ". The reason it works partially for larger sizes is because the particles have inertia. They don't follow the instantaneous streamlines of the air flow particularly well. The larger the particle size, the greater this affect, but as I said, it depends greatly on the background flow. So what is happening is that the air flow exhaled from the mouth, in combination with the surrounding air flow, is imparting velocity fluctuations on the particle. However they are not strong enough to perturb significantly the particle from its original trajectory. Therefore these particles, if they are heading towards the inside wall of the shield, will simply impinge on the wall, rather than deflect away from it as the air would (and create a stagnation point).

 

[Brwned]

I’ve seen quite a lot of people wearing Perspex face shields. Obviously the jury it out on how effective they are but it occurred to me that their existence instantly rebuts any argument about masks making it hard to breath or increasing their CO2 levels. If you can’t handle a covering on your face, wear one that doesn’t even touch it. And shut the feck up.

Also worth noting that there are far fewer complaints of difficulty breathing in the countries where mask use is required in a much wider range of scenarios. At the height of it in Spain you were wearing a mask wherever you go, so you'd expect many more people protesting about it there than the UK. I'm in Turkey at the moment where mask's are mandatory in all public areas, with the heat added on top, and mask-wearing is near-ubiquitous. Then you look at the mask-wearing in SE Asia with their humidity, and they get on rightly. Seems it's just the UK where these undiagnosed breathing illnesses are particularly prevalent!

Generally I thought people were good with the masks in shops and stuff in the UK cities, particularly London but Belfast was pretty good too, and it didn't reflect the online backlash against lazy folks. Out in the country in each of NI, England, Wales and Ireland it wa another story altogether. Seemed like the locals took the position that they knew everyone in town, they're all fine, they've been fine the entire time, so who needs this mask nonsense. Every now and then you'd get dirty looks for being the only one walking into the shop with the mask on!

 

[Dante]

Just speaking anecdotally here, but it seems as though (obviously) young, fit and (probably) attractive women are wearing masks in higher proportions that the rest of the population. It's almost like they're using the face mask the same way that certain muslim women have used the burka for centuries to draw away attention.

By the way, I'm not some old lech who's desperate to look at them or anything. It's just something I've noticed when I've tried to figure our what ages/races are the most likely to wear the mask (for what it's worth, chinese students seem the most likely).

 

[Mr Pigeon]

Just speaking anecdotally here, but it seems as though (obviously) young, fit and (probably) attractive women are wearing masks in higher proportions that the rest of the population. It's almost like they're using the face mask the same way that certain muslim women have used the burka for centuries to draw away attention.

By the way, I'm not some old lech who's desperate to look at them or anything. It's just something I've noticed when I've tried to figure our what ages/races are the most likely to wear the mask (for what it's worth, chinese students seem the most likely).

It's because you're drawn to their eyes, which generally are the tastiest best looking part of the face. For all we know the rest of their face is inedible like a badger's arse.

 

[Dante]

It's because you're drawn to their eyes, which generally are the tastiest best looking part of the face. For all we know the rest of their face is inedible like a badger's arse.

It's not even that. I'm not normally someone who makes eye contact with strangers on the street. It's very much a quick glance and then look away.

It started out with me being curious about how often people from black and asian backgrounds wear masks around my area. There's definitely an under-adherence in those communities, but an over-adherence from young-ish women.

It even seems to be the case in parks when nobody else is wearing a mask.

 

[Mr Pigeon]

It's not even that. I'm not normally someone who makes eye contact with strangers on the street. It's very much a quick glance and then look away.

It started out with me being curious about how often people from black and asian backgrounds wear masks around my area. There's definitely an under-adherence in those communities, but an over-adherence from young-ish women.

It even seems to be the case in parks when nobody else is wearing a mask.

Ah. Fair enough.

 

[Raoul]

Fun Times

Fight Breaks Out On Flight To Provo After Passenger Refuses To Wear Mask

https://ksltv.com/446490/fight-breaks-out-after-passenger-refuses-to-wear-mask-on-allegiant-flight/

 

[calodo2003]

Fun Times

Fight Breaks Out On Flight To Provo After Passenger Refuses To Wear Mask

https://ksltv.com/446490/fight-breaks-out-after-passenger-refuses-to-wear-mask-on-allegiant-flight/

Every Allegiant flight I have ever been on has been a cesspool of occupants.

 

[Tarrou]

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11606-020-06277-0

On average, the number of excess cases per 100,000 residents in states reopening without masks is ten times the number in states reopening with masks after 8 weeks (643.1 cases; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 406.9, 879.2 and 62.9 cases; CI = 12.6, 113.1, respectively). Excess cases after 6 weeks could have been reduced by 90% from 576,371 to 63,062 and excess deaths reduced by 80% from 22,851 to 4858 had states implemented mask mandates prior to reopening. Over 50,000 excess deaths were prevented within 6 weeks in 13 states that implemented mask mandates prior to reopening.

 

[Fully Fledged]