Face masks must be a health hazard as well horrible to wear and of little use

August 20, 2020

I wore a face mask yesterday when I went to a shop for the first time in five months. It was a horrible experience (but not because it was B & Q). My glasses immediately steamed up. Eventually I needed to wipe my nose. The mask must be a fertile breeding ground for bacteria and be a health hazard in its own right. I don’t feel inclined to wear a new mask every time I go shopping.

Unpleasant shopping

The store was doing its best to follow government guidelines with “one way traffic flow”. This made it harder than ever to find my way around and find the special hinge I was looking for. It was surreal. People looked like zombies walking round. No-one could smile at another person and only talk in a muffled voice.

What danger?

All this because I might be one of those people who might cough water droplets two metres into someone’s face and give them a disease which for pretty well everyone who is out and about is no worse than the common flu. Hardly anyone is likely to cough like that! And am I a likely carrier? In the last five months I have only seen at closish quarters (and almost entirely out of doors) three members of our close family and eight friends – all of whom are doing their best to “keep their distance”.

Bad for shops

My experience makes me want to avoid going into shops if I possibly can. Masks must be extremely harmful to the retail trade as well as being almost useless in combatting the disease. In March and April the UK government health advisors were saying that they thought that masks were of no significant use.

It’s all fear, not science

Now we are following other countries in response to the epidemic of media promoted fear of covid. Governments are suffering from fear too. They don’t want to be seen as not caring or not taking the virus seriously. They should be asking is this really helpful? Is it sensible? Is it having bad effects we should consider?