This is in relation to covid - the public have never been made to wear masks in shops before.
COVID-19 (Coronavirus) discussion
- Thread starter ThundyCat
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Soldato
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Covid is over so don’t anyone dare wear a mask…. because it reminds me it’s not over? Who knows, I certainly will do everything I can to avoid it for reasons varying from it not ruining a well earned holiday to not knowing what the long term impacts of it are. I mean who are these frothers so obsessed with it being over? I really wish they would move on 
Soldato
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If you close your eyes, strain, and think hard enough it will be over. Just like Brexit will be great. Or the boats will stop. You just need to clench harder
Maybe not in this country recently (it has happened with historic outbreaks or pandemics), in other parts of the world after things like SARS outbreaks, etc. it has happened before and has been routine in parts of Asia going back years.
Studies have been carried out on other respiratory disease for example https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4293989/
Then it should easy to produce studies for covid - so where are they?
The masks don't work crowd really want you to believe it don't they. While a surgical or cloth mask will never give you a decent protection a properly fitted ffp3 will certainly give protection. It's what I use along with decent eyewear. Could not care less what people think about it. I don't get the hysteria if you think masks do nothing why does it bother people they wear them 
I suggest you read the article.The masks don't work crowd really want you to believe it don't they. While a surgical or cloth mask will never give you a decent protection a properly fitted ffp3 will certainly give protection. It's what I use along with decent eyewear. Could not care less what people think about it. I don't get the hysteria if you think masks do nothing why does it bother people they wear them
Lessons need to be learned from covid for next time - if masks don't work we need to know.
Soldato
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The masks don't work crowd really want you to believe it don't they. While a surgical or cloth mask will never give you a decent protection a properly fitted ffp3 will certainly give protection. It's what I use along with decent eyewear. Could not care less what people think about it. I don't get the hysteria if you think masks do nothing why does it bother people they wear them
Because it’s over! It must be over. I want it to be over. It’s over
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No evidence face masks protected vulnerable from Covid, health officials admit
Critics say authorities are failing to prepare for any future pandemics by not examining the effectiveness of maskswww.telegraph.co.uk
So if there is no reliable evidence what are the mask fans on here basing their ‘expert’ opinions on…
Basic understanding of how respirators work would go a long way to understanding what they do as well, but this is lost on certain people.
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Cloth masks and the ones that people made at home have been shown to be less effective, and it makes sense really. ffp2 and above masks were not mandated here and frankly how would people check?
The biggest issue was with fitment and using new ones. I'm guilty of this but that's because I was and still am relatively blasé about it, but also remembering to use a new mask or running out etc... So you just used whatever old one was stuffed in your bag or wear a snood as an interim measure.
I wore a mask when it was mandated. Did I like it? No. However it gave people comfort, it may have also helped a little with reducing spread, and regardless of my feelings at the time it was the social contract that was agreed.
Although I was quite anti all of this and still somewhat blasé at times I've also realised some people are scared/vulnerable/cautious/better than me and take more responsibility to minimise any issues just in case something were to happen.
We don't know what is worrying people and what their situation is so the best thing to do is ignore them if it bothers you or show a little compassion or empathy that they have different perspectives from you.
I know a couple of clinically vulnerable people and always ask them if they want me to put a mask around them (they always say no) but if it makes others comfortable I don't mind a bit of inconvenience. It's something I loathe especially as I find it nigh on impossible to understand people speaking with a mask (hearing problems) but it's the right thing to do. Even if the science proves it's pointless if it makes people feel safe then that's their prerogative.
The biggest issue was with fitment and using new ones. I'm guilty of this but that's because I was and still am relatively blasé about it, but also remembering to use a new mask or running out etc... So you just used whatever old one was stuffed in your bag or wear a snood as an interim measure.
I wore a mask when it was mandated. Did I like it? No. However it gave people comfort, it may have also helped a little with reducing spread, and regardless of my feelings at the time it was the social contract that was agreed.
Although I was quite anti all of this and still somewhat blasé at times I've also realised some people are scared/vulnerable/cautious/better than me and take more responsibility to minimise any issues just in case something were to happen.
We don't know what is worrying people and what their situation is so the best thing to do is ignore them if it bothers you or show a little compassion or empathy that they have different perspectives from you.
I know a couple of clinically vulnerable people and always ask them if they want me to put a mask around them (they always say no) but if it makes others comfortable I don't mind a bit of inconvenience. It's something I loathe especially as I find it nigh on impossible to understand people speaking with a mask (hearing problems) but it's the right thing to do. Even if the science proves it's pointless if it makes people feel safe then that's their prerogative.
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Its crazy that the perceived effectiveness of masks comes down to pure blind faith (not science) and anyone questioning that faith must be silenced but I guess thats how religions work..
Anyway hopefully the covid enquiry will look at mask effectiveness to ensure that in future pandemics any interventions are actually effective rather than putting vulnerable people at unnecessary risk.
This is your misunderstanding - the article you linked to even mentions that a 20% reduction in transmission was seen:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/12/face-masks-protect-no-evidence-covid-lockdown/ said:
There are various studies showing the masks can reduce spread https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2119266119 , https://www.thelancet.com/journals/landig/article/PIIS2589-7500(21)00003-0/fulltext , etc. etc.
The problem the article you are linking to is bringing up is the lack of high quality, with a proper control, studies which show the effect of masks to significantly change the course of a pandemic - most observational studies have too many flaws to reliably show what masks are capable of or what they aren't capable of resulting in inconclusive results, while the studies required to produce more conclusive results are beyond the means of the people carrying out these observational studies.
Scientifically there is no problem with masks being able to prevent transmission - as I mentioned there are industries going back decades who've depended on masks working as claimed which backs up their effectiveness technically - the problem is the realities of putting that into best practise in a pandemic - which as was bemoaned in the article:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/04/12/face-masks-protect-no-evidence-covid-lockdown/ said:
EDIT: The answer to your question you aren't going to like because it shows the inadequacies of mask wearing compared to the effect they can produce scientifically but that doesn't mean masks shouldn't be worn, it means that more extensive/intrusive interventions are required along with mask wearing - i.e. stopping or mandating significant modification of many more activities.
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Your selective quote misses out the crucial part..
“Masks did reduce risk of transmission by about 20 per cent and in the early days of the pandemic that was really important,” Prof Hunter told The Telegraph. “But they were never the cast-iron guarantee that some people seem to have been saying. However, since the appearance of omicron masks no longer provide much if any value."
Maybe because mask mandates were relaxed by the time Omicron was taking hold? but also as I've mentioned and the premise at the start of the article simple medical masks have significant limits which aren't being observed in their use and Omicron seems to have changes to how effectively it can infect someone which expose that a little more than before. That doesn't mean masks don't work.
As per my edit above:
The answer to your question you aren't going to like because it shows the inadequacies of mask wearing compared to the effect they can produce scientifically but that doesn't mean masks shouldn't be worn, it means that more extensive/intrusive interventions are required along with mask wearing - i.e. stopping or mandating significant modification of many more activities.
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Mask mandates were much stricter in Scotland with similar outcomes to England - and 'maybe' is not really a word to use when providing evidence.
The article isn't just talking about basic masks.
If better interventions are required then they are required - doing something pointless just to do something is stupid.
Anyway as I said hopefully the enquiry will provide something definitive rather than more maybe's..
I think you've misunderstood my use of maybe there.
Given you've seemed to hold an anti-mask position from the start I don't think you'd like the conclusion there - the effectiveness of mask wearing has been significantly eroded by the human element, being seen to be doing something rather than doing it properly for the right reason and economy/political reasons rather than reasons which would justify not bothering with such measures. Which is one of the reasons Scotland's outcomes were similar to England. As I've said persistently throughout you can't just slap on a basic medical mask and see good results, but they do work when used appropriately with distancing and crowd mobility.
Again what is this 'anti mask' nonsense - my point is that there is almost a religious fervour that masks work for covid yet all the scientific evidence suggests either that they dont or are inconclusive. If someone could actually prove they work then I would have no problem wearing one in similar circumstances.
For any future pandemic interventions need to be based on facts not feels.