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]

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    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.

    tal ,
    @tal@lemmy.today avatar

    I talked to a Baskin Robins ice cream shop manager during a summer (not peak time for the disease) in the pandemic who was wearing a mask (surgical, not the N95 variety) and asked him when he planned to stop, and he had an interesting point. He said that it was that some customers got upset if they saw someone working at the store not wearing one, that it affected their sales. It sounded like for him, it wasn't so much whether-or-not he thought that the mask was providing much of a benefit, but a straightforward computation as to what brought in customers: like, if he could get more sales by wearing a fluorescent outfit, he'd wear fluorescent.

    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

    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.

    Little_mouse ,

    Probably until either the nurses stop panicking in my local area or the immunocompromised people in my life die of a preventable illness.

    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.

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