The Face Mask Controversy

[bee]

19 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

P.S. my dad is in a nursing home and no one has been allowed in to visit since the second week of March, until recently they were all confined to their rooms, no congregating.  He also has no memory any more so I suppose one day is the same as another to him, but it is sad.  I do have to say, though that no one in that nursing home or any of the workers have contracted the virus.

that's rough your Dad being confined to his room for weeks... my Mom was isolated for about 10 days after she coughed when the doctor was on skype... but the test came back negative so she could mix with the other residents again... I'm lucky that Mom has a room at the front of the building on the ground floor... that looks out on the car park... so every day I swing in and park right in front of her room for a short visit through the window... and pass chocolate, newspapers, flowers and whatnot through  and put the dog on the ledge for her to give it a stroke and a kiss... .....   (it's a small dog )

 

 

[bee]

6 minutes ago, Hammerclaw said:

It could very well have been the flu, Bee, you don't know.  I was sick about the same time, too, but I don't know either. Don't kid yourself and chance it. I'd rather be silly than sick.

 

even though I'm pretty sure I've had it..... I behave as if I haven't - but I don't really feel stressed and vulnerable -

even when they isolated my mom after she coughed I wasn't really worried because I'm pretty sure she's had it - and the test came back negative --- 

in fact with the conversations I've had in the town where I live I think it swept through here at the end of last year..
but of course people are just behaving as if it didn't because you cannot say 100% for sure... and without a reliable antibody test will we ever know..?

 

 

[+Hammerclaw]

3 minutes ago, bee said:

 

even though I'm pretty sure I've had it..... I behave as if I haven't - but I don't really feel stressed and vulnerable -

even when they isolated my mom after she coughed I wasn't really worried because I'm pretty sure she's had it - and the test came back negative --- 

in fact with the conversations I've had in the town where I live I think it swept through here at the end of last year..
but of course people are just behaving as if it didn't because you cannot say 100% for sure... and without a reliable antibody test will we ever know..?

 

 

Having the Sword of Damocles dangled over one's head is the stressful part, not the fear of contracting the disease itself. I'm over all the Covidiocy, too, but have to endure it. Be safe, Bee.

[+OverSword]

1 hour ago, odas said:

So, at work you don't have a problem wearing a mask? Guess it is ok otherwise you would get fired and we don't want that, right?

Why not have the same attitude in private, for someones life's sake?

I don't wear one at work, there is only me and one other person actually in the office and I'm on one end of an entire floor of a mega office building and he's in an office on the other end. Everyone else is still working remotely.  I wear it where required.  If you can maintain six feet of separation and are not in a business (like a shop) it is not required.  I do wear one in the lobby and on the elevator at work and once other people start coming back to the office (not in the foreseeable future currently) I will wear one then. I will not restrict my breathing outside if I can maintain the required space from others.  If that makes other people outside nervous then they should stay home, I'm following the rules.

Edited July 15, 2020 by OverSword

[TigerBright19]

4 hours ago, Setton said:

But we're not talking about NI are we? As you've already said, masks are not required there. You also said shops, not airports.

Can you just let me know when you've decided which hill to die on? It'll save a lot of time.

There are shops at airports, train stations and port terminals.  Shops are shops.  Those locations would have higher security to deal with the threat of terrorism, even more so during the midst of a terror attack and everyone is on high alert.  If security see a man running through a terminal without a mask on, he will become a prime target, especially if he is running with a bag.  If he resists arrest then security may haveno option but to treat him as a potential terrorist and shoot on sight.  Remember the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.  I don't want to see that kind of horrific accident happen again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes

 

Edited July 15, 2020 by TigerBright19

[Setton]

1 hour ago, TigerBright19 said:

There are shops at airports, train stations and port terminals.  Shops are shops.  Those locations would have higher security to deal with the threat of terrorism, even more so during the midst of a terror attack and everyone is on high alert.  If security see a man running through a terminal without a mask on, he will become a prime target, especially if he is running with a bag.  If he resists arrest then security may haveno option but to treat him as a potential terrorist and shoot on sight.  Remember the death of Jean Charles de Menezes.  I don't want to see that kind of horrific accident happen again.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shooting_of_Jean_Charles_de_Menezes

 

Like I said, let me know when you settle on a hill 

Edited July 15, 2020 by Setton

[odas]

9 hours ago, OverSword said:

I don't wear one at work, there is only me and one other person actually in the office and I'm on one end of an entire floor of a mega office building and he's in an office on the other end. Everyone else is still working remotely.  I wear it where required.  If you can maintain six feet of separation and are not in a business (like a shop) it is not required.  I do wear one in the lobby and on the elevator at work and once other people start coming back to the office (not in the foreseeable future currently) I will wear one then. I will not restrict my breathing outside if I can maintain the required space from others.  If that makes other people outside nervous then they should stay home, I'm following the rules.

Fair enough. However, the point is that you are following rules and policies of your company, whatever they are. In my company we are spread out too in the office but once we leave our desk masks are mandatory. The people on the manufacturing floor can take the mask off only during breaks outside and lunch. Every morning temperatures are taken. If you leave the premisses for lunch, you have to disclose it ahead of time and your temperature will be taken again upon entriy by security.

Now, we are fine with a private companie runing our life during this pandemic, but we are yelling about "freedom of choice" when governments try to do the same in the name of safety? That is a double standard in my eyes that is absolutely not justified.

Remeber all the pomp in Detroit Michigan a month ago? I bet the same guys are quiet when faced with same policies and rules at work. All off a sudden no problem wearing a mask.

[+OverSword]

1 hour ago, odas said:

Now, we are fine with a private companie runing our life during this pandemic, but we are yelling about "freedom of choice" when governments try to do the same in the name of safety? That is a double standard in my eyes that is absolutely not justified.

Yeah, that’s not me. Whatever the regulations are I respect them. For instance, every day I walk for one hour during my lunch break and bring a mask with me. It’s been hot so I don’t wear a mask but today as I walked along the waterfront there was no easy way to keep distant enough from groups of people so during that time I masked up. As soon as there was enough room the mask was back in my pocket. 

I will say that if there was a mandate to wear it outside no matter what I wouldn’t if there was nobody else around. If it makes sense I’ll go along, if it doesn’t then they can suck it.

[bee]

22 hours ago, Montmorency the Dog said:

@bee might appreciate this article. People you see a lot on this forum very clearly demonstrate the characteristics noted. https://www.spiked-online.com/2020/07/14/muzzling-the-public/

Another thing I think it very clearly is a glorious opportunity for pure, guilt-free puritanism. "Thou must not!" written large on everything. 

 

good article... ....

quote...

"Within hours, mask sceptics have become the new climate-change deniers. They’re granny-killers. They’re sociopaths."

 

and we saw on this very thread that when someone made an amusing joke about masks they were practically accused of threatening the life of someone's parents and gran.. .. who would then die alone in hospital.... 

 

Edited July 16, 2020 by bee

[Space Commander Travis]

12 minutes ago, bee said:

 

good article... ....

quote...

"Within hours, mask sceptics have become the new climate-change deniers. They’re granny-killers. They’re sociopaths."

 

and we saw on this very thread that when someone made an amusing joke about masks they were practically accused of threatening the life of someone's parents and gran.. .. who would then die alone in hospital.... 

 

I've always wondered how that chain of logic is supposed to work. By not wearing a Mask when one submits to the humiliating ritual of shopping in Morrisons in, say, Wednesbury, you're going to kill their dear old gran in Woking. How do they envisage that this chain will work? You'll give The Virus(TM) to someone else unsuspectingly, and they'll give it to someone else, who'll give it to someone else, until eventually it kills their poor old gran? (Who, as a rhetorical poor old gran who exists only for the purposes of emotional blackmail, has probably been killed by Covideniers several times already, much like Kenny from South Park.) Do these people understand how slim the likelihood is of passing The Virus from one individual who doesn't display any symptoms to another, who also doesn't display any symptoms and then passes it on to someone else, and so on all down a great long chain? The likelihood is so slim as to, well, not exist, that none of these hypothetical people would notice at any point in the chain. 

[Space Commander Travis]

@bee You may like this one as well

 

[Space Commander Travis]

Meanwhile, Walmart has created lots of new job opportunities for would-be members of the Stasi:

Quote

…Walmart has created the role of Health Ambassador and will station them near the entrance to remind those without a mask of our new requirements. Our ambassadors will receive special training to help make the process as smooth as possible for customers.

"Mask on! Mask on! Schnell!"  What a glorious charter this is for little Hitlers. 

[+and-then]

23 hours ago, Hammerclaw said:

It's already killed upwards to 135,000 to 140,000 thousand, here in the States alone. 

I really don't accept those numbers as verified.  When a high ranking health expert says she doesn't trust numbers out of the CDC and says they've been juiced as much as 25%, let's just say I'm skeptical.  The virus IS deadly for a very small fraction of those who become infected and who have co-morbidities and I take it very seriously.  I just get tired of the propaganda pushers in media.

[+and-then]

16 hours ago, RoofGardener said:

I find the masks awkward, and make my glasses steam up. 

Same here.  I've found that spitting on the lenses and wiping them down with it tends to reduce the fogging.  It sounds gross but it works  

[+and-then]

16 hours ago, bee said:

 

jeeezus - it sounds like you would like to bring back hanging for anyone not wearing a mask...

or maybe make them wear a big yellow star .... ?

perhaps even for daring to make a little joke about it.... 

 

It makes me wonder if they actually consider the reality that setting such precedents with forced compliance based on rules that are created by a single politician (governor or mayor) is something that can and will bite them HARD one day.  

[+and-then]

15 hours ago, acute said:

Gun control is something Americans will never understand

I think you mean it's something we'll never agree with you on.  We understand who wants it and why.  Don't you find it the least bit contradictory that the cities run by Democrats, cities with the toughest gun laws, tend to be the bloodiest in America?  Why do you imagine that is the case?

[Setton]

2 minutes ago, and then said:

I think you mean it's something we'll never agree with you on.  We understand who wants it and why.  Don't you find it the least bit contradictory that the cities run by Democrats, cities with the toughest gun laws, tend to be the bloodiest in America?  Why do you imagine that is the case?

Because you can't get a handle on the rest of your country.

[+Desertrat56]

9 hours ago, OverSword said:

Yeah, that’s not me. Whatever the regulations are I respect them. For instance, every day I walk for one hour during my lunch break and bring a mask with me. It’s been hot so I don’t wear a mask but today as I walked along the waterfront there was no easy way to keep distant enough from groups of people so during that time I masked up. As soon as there was enough room the mask was back in my pocket. 

I will say that if there was a mandate to wear it outside no matter what I wouldn’t if there was nobody else around. If it makes sense I’ll go along, if it doesn’t then they can suck it.

That is smart.  Yesterday I saw a woman running with her mask on, no one else around, just a few random cars driving by (like mine).  When you are doing heavy exercise like running it makes it harder with a mask.

[+OverSword]

42 minutes ago, Desertrat56 said:

That is smart.  Yesterday I saw a woman running with her mask on, no one else around, just a few random cars driving by (like mine).  When you are doing heavy exercise like running it makes it harder with a mask.

I see people alone in their cars wearing them 

[+Desertrat56]

6 minutes ago, OverSword said:

I see people alone in their cars wearing them 

JP Searl has a spoof vidoe about that.    He is so funny.

[Setton]

41 minutes ago, OverSword said:

I see people alone in their cars wearing them 

I'm the flip side, you also see them scrambling onto trains or shoving past each other in shops.

But not to worry, they're all safe because they are wearing masks!

 

Around their chin.

[+Desertrat56]

6 minutes ago, Setton said:

I'm the flip side, you also see them scrambling onto trains or shoving past each other in shops.

But not to worry, they're all safe because they are wearing masks!

 

Around their chin.

I took my 87 year old Auntie to lunch recently and she had her nose hanging out of her mask so I chastised her, then turned to see the greeter wearing his mask the same way so I chastised him as well.  I told them it doesn't do any good if your nose is hanging out.  The young man was careful to be sure that he had his mask on properly around me and other customers after than.

[+Hammerclaw]

Monday, the place where I work is going to start requiring all customers to wear masks or no entry. I'm glad I'm off on Monday.

[Free99]

It’s a real pain in the a$$ to wear it I have to wear one at work. But when someone exhales if a simple cloth or paper mask could catch even 50% of the moisture that came out of the persons lungs then you just got a 50% chance at not catching it. Or you just gave someone a 50% chance at not catching it if your a carrier of it. I think it’s real selfish of people not wearing one in public. And puts people at risk trying not to catch it.

[Golden Duck]

19 hours ago, Montmorency the Dog said:

Meanwhile, Walmart has created lots of new job opportunities for would-be members of the Stasi:

"Mask on! Mask on! Schnell!"  What a glorious charter this is for little Hitlers. 

Godwin's law alert.

From the pictures it looks like Walmart hasn't installed clear shields to offer some protection at the checkouts.  No mandatory masks here in Brisbane, but they do have limits on the number of patrons at any one time.  Just like they used to have at pubs, bars and clubs before the pandemic.

I've been back in the office since the beginning of June.  I have caught public twice in the last to months in the middle of winter too.  It mercury barely hit 24C on the days I was on the train.  I haven't worn a mask and I barely see others wearing them.  It not surprising to see them, it's just not common.

While working from home I walked down the street to get some fish and chips.  There was a sign that said I could eat them at the picnic tables, so I suffered the great impost of walking back home and eating them there.

Here in Queensland we had one new case a couple of days ago; but, we're locking out those bloody Victorians who had 400 new case today!  If worse comes to worst I'm scared of wearing a mask.

You need a bit more of that bulldog spirit (Not my Canterbury Bulldogs though - they've only won one game.) 

There's nothing to fear except fear itself.