Masks in school, yes or no?

[miasmum]

I've never been scared I dont think. Scared for Luke and the vulnerable but not for me. That said my friend lost her fit healthy 70 year old mum and I lost a 46 year old friend, so yes I have respected it.

But that was Alpha and Delta, Omicron is a completely different beast and we need to learn to live with it and accept it. I wish to goodness I had had it instead of this bloody awful virus I have. No sleep, no voice, feel tired, coughing incessantly and only on day 6, have at least another 6 to go it would seem. Those with omicron couple of days feeling a tad unwell, then all tickety boo.

[Suff]

Well it appears the tide is turning. Because the MSM is starting to run down the track of "is this nearly over" the government is starting to get ready for the "live with it" path. Of course it is leaking like a sieve. Probably because some don't want to and others want the public to get used to it.

So we get back to normal. Labour promising low tax and fund it from the "rich" companies; Tories surfing the public mettle too.

It will end with a whimper, not a bang, with the MSM fip flopping along the way depending on whether they can sell a story or not.

[JoM]

You could have described the situation with my parents there Crommers with your neighbour and his daughter. They’re terrified. Throughout the pandemic they’ve hardly been out of the house, apart from for medical appointments, and granted they’re in their 80s but up until this hit they were very active. They’ve aged ten years in less than two. My Dad will go for an occasional walk but my mother stays in.

I’ve shopped weekly for them, so has my sister, the brother of the woman next door gets them a loaf during the week, Diane on the other side knocks to see if they want anything whenever she’s off to Tesco, the woman up the road works in Home Bargains and they give her a list, my 83 year old aunt helped them out until she had a minor stroke before Christmas (she’d fall firmly in your stubborn category, the pandemic didn’t stop her one bit).

They made a feeble excuse to stay home at Christmas when we invited them here for dinner. They made excuses not to go to a much loved close family member’s funeral. We went around 14 months of standing at a distance on the drive while dropping shopping off. Even on the coldest Winter nights when there was snow on the ground, there was no way that they’d take the risk of allowing us inside.

[Workingman]

I am not confusing anger and frustration with fear.

If anything it is the anger and frustration, and lack of fear, with the pingdemic and isolation rules that have driven the recent changes from ten days down to seven and now five.

Wearing a mask and social distancing are not fear driven. They are sensible things to do for little cost and hardly any inconvenience for most of us. Yes, some people wear them stupidly, but they are not hurting anyone, well the chin-strappers might be, but hey-ho. People are not out and about meeting and chatting because there is nowhere to go and nothing for them to do; it does not mean that they are scared.

If people were as scared as is being ascribed to them then why are the blogs, "have your says", "letters to the editor" full of calls to open up more, cancel vaccine passports, fewer travel restrictions and so on? Scared and fearful people would not be doing that.

It is ordinary people asking these things not politicians or the media. They are having to get on board because their postbags are full of demands from people who are not scared or panicking driving the changes.

Jo, it is sad to hear about your mum and dad but in the early days they were ordered to shield for 12 weeks and it looks as though they have never got over it. There are others like them but they are not in anything other than a small minority. If you read the paper in Cromwell's link you will see how and why they came to be there.

[cromwell]

Jo that is so sad. I do like the sound of your Aunt though.

[Suff]

Jo my parents don't fall into the Stubborn category as they allowed #3 son to do their shopping for them before the vaccine came out. However, they are fatalistic. In their 80's, had a good life, have no intention of closing the doors and failing to live. What's the point?

If my mother hadn't had a very serious ankle break and is in litigation with multiple doctors appointments, they would probably be over for the Summer when it becomes easier to travel. They are certainly out and about in their camper right now.

My brother, on the other hand, has holed himself up in his house and is unlikely to leave any time soon. All the vaccines aside, he has decided he is too vulnerable.

[Suff]

Wearing a mask and social distancing are not fear driven.

Wearing a mask in your own car where there is nobody else about and you are totally isolated, is fear driven stupidity.

Don't try and justify it, it is just stupid. It means the person wearing the mask has no clue why they are wearing a mask and that they are only doing it because they are scared not to. That isn't being prudent or sensible. It is running scared.

I'll give the people on the street a by on this one. They "might" "just" meet someone infected, on the street, who might, just, sneeze in their general direction and might "just" wind up with a viral load large enough to infect them. It is possible. So is winning the lottery. So I can live with that.

Wearing a mask in your own car on your own. NO!

[Workingman]

I did say that wearing a mask in the car was stupid - it is in my other post. It is completely stupid. It is about as daft as things get. Crackers! Bonkers!

Is it fear driven? I do not know as I have never stopped and asked the minuscule and statistically insignificant number of idiots who I have seen doing it.

[Kaz]

I have never felt afraid for myself, but I have for D with her COPD, and the kids as the three of them could be deemed to have underlying issues in different ways. I've been out and about almost every day, even during the lockdowns, but have been scrupulous about wearing a mask, and distancing etc.

I consider these measures to be common sense, rather than living in fear. If masks are unnecessary, why do doctors and other health professionals wear them?

[Suff]

I did say that wearing a mask in the car was stupid - it is in my other post. It is completely stupid. It is about as daft as things get. Crackers! Bonkers!

Is it fear driven? I do not know as I have never stopped and asked the minuscule and statistically insignificant number of idiots who I have seen doing it.

OK apologies for pulling your tail. I know you've already said this....

For the fear factor I've seen several people here in France doing this and two of them, I know, it is because of the fear factor, from what they have said.