TommySoda ,

I wear one when I'm sick. Outside of places like the United States it's actually very common to wear masks when you are sick. There used to not be a stigma about masks even in the US before COVID. This is because masks were never meant to be used as a way to prevent getting sick but as a way to not get others sick, therefore slowing the spread of disease. Somewhere over the past few years the lines got crossed and everyone started calling masks bullshit because they misinterpreted the actual use for them. Doctors don't wear masks because they don't want to get sick. They wear them so they don't get their patients sick.

scrubbles ,
@scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech avatar

Same here, and I get weird dirty looks. I've heard of people getting verbally assaulted wearing them, my go-to line ready is "I'm sick, I didn't want to get people like you sick, but if you don't care..." starts to pull down mask

TommySoda ,

The fact that there is a stigma in the first place is incredibly silly. Masks are a great tool to prevent getting others sick. It's like if someone made fun of you for using a screwdriver instead of doing it by hand.

Boozilla ,
@Boozilla@lemmy.world avatar

Yup! It's some kind of redneck macho moron thing with some of them. The same types who mock you for using an umbrella when it rains, or wearing a coat when it's cold, etc.

Hugh_Jeggs ,

Imagine a society so fucked up they verbally assault someone for wearing a mask. How fucking barbaric do you have to be to do that?!? 😂

scrubbles ,
@scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech avatar

people so easily triggered that a person wearing a mask makes them have to yell at someone

Susaga ,
@Susaga@sh.itjust.works avatar

A facemask is a visible sign of casual compassion. It's a sign that you aren't going to let your own poor situation make anyone else's life harder, and don't want anyone to suffer needlessly. There are some people who don't care about others, but they also don't want to appear cruel, so their only recourse is to tear apart symbols of kindness and claim themselves superior for being "smarter" or "more honest".

That's my understanding of the "stigma", but I can't judge everyone.

solrize ,

You ought to wear a respirator (N95) rather than a mask (those baggy blue procedure masks). Respirators help keep you from getting sick.

Brewchin ,
@Brewchin@lemmy.world avatar

If I'm sick in public and don't know the cause (i.e. could be COVID), I'll wear a surgical mask. If I'm in an environment where COVID/similar may be likely from others, I'll wear an N95 mask.

I have boxes of each, left over from the coronalypse, so it makes sense to me.

Corno ,
@Corno@lemm.ee avatar

I see wearing a mask in a similar light to washing my hands. It is possible to be a carrier of an infection without having any symptoms yourself, and it doesn't hurt to wear a mask in certain spaces such as crowded streets, hospitals, shops, and public transportation where there are a lot of people. There could be people around me who are immunocompromised, and if wearing a mask will help prevent others from getting sick, that makes it all worthwhile! It's a small thing that can go a long way!

Summzashi ,

[Thread, post or comment was deleted by the author]

    •
    TommySoda ,

    This is a very common thing outside the bubble that is the US. In fact, before COVID it was totally normal to see people wearing masks when they were sick in public places. A little strange to see, but still normal and nobody really cared. People didn't give two shits back then versus now where they stick out like a sore thumb. Before you'd see someone wearing a mask and think "oh, they might be sick" and move on with your life before you even had a chance to put it into your long term memory. It's not that it's weird to wear a mask. It's that everyone forgot that it used to not be weird at all. The fact that they are getting judged in the first place would seem completely ridiculous 5 years ago.

    Summzashi ,

    It's not common the way op describes it.

    Zak ,
    @Zak@lemmy.world avatar

    I'm not immunocompromised or any other kind of high-risk and I wear an N95 mask in most indoor public settings.

    I plan on doing it until something changes. That could mean any of:

    • SARS-CoV-2 mutates into a dominant strain with a low risk of long-term disability
    • A new vaccine is developed that reduces the risk of long-term disability following COVID, or probability of infection to virtually nil
    • Monitoring programs, such as CDC wastewater testing show a low risk of infection

    It seems to me people collectively decided to stop caring about COVID even though most of the risks that were present two years ago still exist. I would therefore ask the inverse: why stop protecting yourself before the danger is over?

    Rhynoplaz ,

    For what it's worth, it's not exactly the same COVID. I'm no scientist, but as I understand, the majority of COVID viruses are less dangerous than the 2020 batch. Millions of people died that year. If that were still the case, we'd be seeing a lot more death.

    Zak ,
    @Zak@lemmy.world avatar

    That's correct; the omicron variant that became dominant a bit over two years ago was more contagious and less deadly than those that preceded it. Current variants are similar to omicron in those respects.

    The rate of long-term disability is still high.

    wesker ,
    @wesker@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    I only wear one if I'm sick, or travelling by plane.

    scrubbles ,
    @scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech avatar

    I always wear them in airports. Airplanes I have stopped caring, but airports have so. many. people.

    My story is I was in Denver, sitting in a chair. This was long before covid. The only chair left was one by those moving walkways in the middle of their concourses. I was sitting there reading and some guy literally turned to his right and just sneezed directly in my face. Wet drips literally down my cheek. He just casually rolled away on it, never said anything. I was sick the next day.

    Fuck that guy, fuck gross people. Mask won't protect me against that, but ffs if your sick just wear one.

    macarthur_park ,

    The exact same thing happened to me while I was deplaning, a few years prior to Covid. Full face sneeze with no effort to cover their mouth or nose, at like 1 foot away. So I still wear a mask on planes and in the airport.

    scrubbles ,
    @scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech avatar

    Yeughh, I'm sorry, it's the absolute worst. I begudgingly understand if you need to fly when you're sick, after all - what if you get sick while on vacation? Most people can't just not go to work for an additional 2 weeks while you recover, and buy a hotel room for that long. At the very least though get a mask and just keep it contained.

    Sure I have an immune system, it doesn't mean I want to use it when I'm going on vacation!

    user224 ,
    @user224@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

    I don't for quite a while anymore, but I did longer than most others. I had to stop because people were laughing at me at that point as I was basically the only one.

    I simply felt more comfortable with it. It felt good to have a large portion of my face covered, people not seeing all of my face, most of my face expression. I didn't have to worry if I got too carried away with my thoughts and imaginary conversations while walking in public so much that I started quietly whispering to myself, and of course moving my lips. Or doing something else weird like licking or biting my lips. Or inappropriately smiling against my will.

    When I stopped wearing it, it basically felt like being naked in public. An awful feeling so bad I wished for another wave of the pandemic only so that masks would seem acceptable again.

    Maybe I wasn't the only one. Perhaps it's such psychological thing for someone else.

    yyyesss ,

    let them laugh, wear it anyway

    KillerTofu ,

    The way you phrased the question is a tad bitey.

    That person may or may not be immunocompromised or they are caring for someone who is and are taking precautions.

    Why does it matter if someone chooses to wear a mask or not? Maybe it’s a great excuse to avoid facial recognition software.

    Change the view that if you have a contagious illness that wearing a mask helps prevent the spread of it? Never gonna change. I don’t wear one daily but choose to if I start showing signs of a respiratory illness because it works and I care about people around me.

    solrize ,

    Why does it matter if someone chooses to wear a mask or not? Maybe it’s a great excuse to avoid facial recognition software.

    Sunglasses are better for that. The idiots trying to ban masks aren't trying to fight crime, they just want to normalize spreading illness.

    I wear a respirator whenever I'm in an indoor public space like a store, and I also don't spend more time in those spaces than I have to. I go into the store and get what I need, but I generally don't linger around browsing stuff. That means I probably buy less stuff, which is good for my wallet as well. But politicians hate that. They want us out there spending. That's why they are trying to play down covid risks. So they hate mask and respirator usage since it reminds others that the virus is still out there.

    pelletbucket ,
    @pelletbucket@lemm.ee avatar

    also the most disarming response when somebody asks "why are you wearing a mask" is, "because I don't trust the government".

    pelletbucket ,
    @pelletbucket@lemm.ee avatar

    if I have something contagious, I'm going to wear a medical mask, because that's the purpose of medical masks. That's considered standard etiquette in other parts of the world, and I think it's a little rude that people walk around with colds and flus without masking up. if I'm going to be in a tube with a bunch of other people, like an airplane, I'm wearing an N95. That's not even about COVID, that's just about fuck that shit

    also, I'm autistic, and there are times where I really don't feel like having people see me. COVID made it socially acceptable to wear facial coverings indoors, so I might be at the grocery store wearing a hat, sunglasses, and mask, just because I'm not in the mood to be perceived. in this case it's usually not a medical mask or n95, it's either a decorative mask, or a neck gaiter pulled up.

    I still masked up everywhere for a lot longer than most people did, before deciding exactly what I was and was not comfortable with. I figured, now that we've got the vaccines, and more than one antiviral that can treat it, plus other treatments in the hospital, I'm comfortable treating it more like influenza. not something that I'm going to avoid like the plague, but something that I still want to avoid, and when other people have it, they should be going out of their way to not give it to others.

    oh and with the autism thing, if you have a place that's blasting some oil diffuser, it helps a lot. people walk around blasting scent like it smells good and it's just a headache

    Tazerface ,

    Most scented products give me a headache or hurt my throat. I noticed during Covid that my N95 was blocking much of the smells in the stores.

    Most likely I'll be wearing a mask for the rest of my life.

    A cashier at Walmart asked me why I'm wearing a mask. I had no problem telling him why. Ask your co-worker

    Edit: Also, I'm a privacy enthusiast and facial recognition is going to be one of our biggest invasions of privacy.

    solrize ,

    https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/04/the-people-who-plan-on-wearing-masks-forever.html

    I'm still wearing mine and we are in a covid surge right now. We can talk again if there are a few consecutive months with no significant spread. That might in fact be never.

    BlastboomStrice ,
    @BlastboomStrice@mander.xyz avatar

    I tend to wear them on public transportation:

    a) in my city I wear them because we have bad public transportation and people tend to be dangerously packed inside the buses (this issue recently has started to be alleviated), so to protect my self (and also show that things arent well inside) I wear the mask.

    b) in other foreign cities I wear the mask in public transportation because:

    1)I dont want to be sick on vacations

    2)Different countries probably(?) have kinda different strains of viruses and such, so it may be more dangerous for me.

    Catoblepas ,

    I have asthma (is that technically immunocompromised?) and before COVID I used to just get bronchitis every year or two. I haven’t had bronchitis since 2020, except when I caught COVID by taking off my mask. If wearing a mask means I don’t deal with that shit again you better believe I’m not raw dogging public air anymore. Feeling unable to get a full breath is the worst feeling in the world.

    morphballganon ,

    You should feel more threatened by covid than by masks.

    Covid kills people. Masks don't.

    Your focus should be on how we can get rid of Covid rather than when you'll stop seeing bits of fabric that don't affect you (other than protecting you from germs).

    jordanlund ,
    @jordanlund@lemmy.world avatar

    It's been nice not getting a cold or the flu for a couple of years...

    KeepFlying ,

    I've started to skip the mask for small groups for short time periods but I still mask up for the grocery store, and large gathering, and any time I'm in a smaller room with people for a long time.

    I get sick so rarely now, it's great. And it's so much less socially exhausting to wear a mask and be able to hide my face. I dont have to take a smile or watch my expressions nearly as much.

    And it helps support my friends who are immunocompromised by normalizing mask wearing.

    I don't plan to stop for a long while. And I plan to always mask up if I'm sick, even just a cold, to avoid spreading it.

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