Face masks on public transport.

[cookiemonster]

It's not the masks that are a worry on public transport - it's all the hand rails - that you'll need to use to move down a moving vehicle, which everyone has touched.

Just have some hand sanitizer handy when you travel.

 

[cookiemonster]

But economists are clearly not doctors. People with heart conditions, breathing conditions, even anxiety conditions are physiologically incapable of safely wearing a face covering, and to not permit reasonable adjustments for these disabilities is unlawful. Mandatory face coverings in public will never, ever happen.

The regulations re face coverings on public transport are not wishy washy - they are in fact very simple. The problem is people have not taken the brief moment required to read and understand them, instead preferring to spend that time to either recoil in feigned terror, or stick their noses in where it's not wanted.

Doctors here say that wearing a surgical mask does not affects asthmatics, those with heart conditions etc. There is no evidence at all of that being an issue. No-one here with one of the medical conditions mentioned has been made more ill/died as a result of wearing a mask.

 

[dodgy]

I just came here to say the same @cookiemonster There should be no exemptions for the mask.

 

[PeteXXX]

More people trying to wriggle around the rules.. Just wear one, if the rules say you should. It's quite simple, really.
And that means cover all of your breathing orifices.
Covering your mouth and leaving your hooter exposed is not much use, is it!?

 

[dodgy]

Far too much emphasis on masks and not enough on surfaces. I even carry sanitiser on bike rides in case I need to help fix someone's bike!

 

[fossyant]

Far too much emphasis on masks and not enough on surfaces. I even carry sanitiser on bike rides in case I need to help fix someone's bike!

I take a bottle everywhere !

 

[vickster]

Just have some hand sanitizer handy when you travel.

Indeed this, there’s now gallons of stuff Everywhere in the shops 👍

 

[cookiemonster]

Far too much emphasis on masks and not enough on surfaces. I even carry sanitiser on bike rides in case I need to help fix someone's bike!

I take some in case I need to fix mine, which is more often than not recently.

 

[tom73]

Indeed this, there’s now gallons of stuff Everywhere in the shops 👍

Don't mean people know what to do though most I see just pour it on and slap it about. Which is pretty pointless really.

 

[Flick of the Elbow]

I wonder if the direction to wear a mask when out and about is partly just to make things feel abnormal, ie to serve as a constant reminder to follow all the other directions too.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

@Drago ?

 

[Dave7]

It shouldn't cause any anxiety. By the WHO's own reckoning their benefit is "very slight", reducting the chances of virus transmission by between only 3 and 11%. It makes little difference whether the person next to them is wearing one or not. And then the mere act of an untrained person handling one as the repeatedly take it one and off actually increases the chances of transmission via the hands instead.

And why should they feel anxious if my asthmatic daughter got on the bus without a mask? Some people really need to get a grip.

Indeed, I've designed my own card for her in case we ever get on the bus. It reads, "I'm not wearing a mask - you can either a) mind your own business, or b) discuss the matter with the very large gentleman who is sat next to me" We have an absolutely toxic culture in the UK of sticking our noses into other peoples business instead of ensuring our own behaviour is correct and setting an example.

You are assuming all people are as 'with it' as you. A lot of elderly people are petrified of this virus and would p*ss themselves if someone without a mask sat next to them.
We need to have empathy for people.

 

[Joey Shabadoo]

This is what I don't get. You don't wear a mask for your own protection, you wear it for others. Not wearing one says a lot for how you view others.

 

[roubaixtuesday]

It shouldn't cause any anxiety. By the WHO's own reckoning their benefit is "very slight", reducting the chances of virus transmission by between only 3 and 11%. It makes little difference whether the person next to them is wearing one or not. And then the mere act of an untrained person handling one as the repeatedly take it one and off actually increases the chances of transmission via the hands instead.

Evidence on masks seems to be pointing more in the direction of their usefulness.

WHO guidance is now cautiously in favour

"WHO has updated its guidance to advise that to prevent COVID-19 transmission effectively in areas of community transmission, governments should encourage the general public to wear masks in specific situations and settings as part of a comprehensive approach to suppress SARS-CoV-2 transmission"

https://www.who.int/publications/i/...of-the-novel-coronavirus-(2019-ncov)-outbreak

Recent Review

"Medical or surgical face masks might result in a large reduction in virus infection; N95 respirators might be associated with a larger reduction in risk compared with surgical or similar masks"

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)31142-9/fulltext

Also, the problems you relate, whilst real, refer to protection for the user. Whereas, at least as I understand it, the main benefit is protecting others if you are unknowingly infected.

 

[Rocky]

It shouldn't cause any anxiety. By the WHO's own reckoning their benefit is "very slight", reducting the chances of virus transmission by between only 3 and 11%. It makes little difference whether the person next to them is wearing one or not. And then the mere act of an untrained person handling one as the repeatedly take it one and off actually increases the chances of transmission via the hands instead.

And why should they feel anxious if my asthmatic daughter got on the bus without a mask? Some people really need to get a grip.

Indeed, I've designed my own card for her in case we ever get on the bus. It reads, "I'm not wearing a mask - you can either a) mind your own business, or b) discuss the matter with the very large gentleman who is sat next to me" We have an absolutely toxic culture in the UK of sticking our noses into other peoples business instead of ensuring our own behaviour is correct and setting an example.

I’d be interested to see the WHO document that you are quoting from. Can you post a link?