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Mask Anxiety

The Problem with Masks

By Gemma FoxPublished 4 years ago 5 min read
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Mask Anxiety
Photo by Ani Kolleshi on Unsplash

Something really weird has happened in the last couple of weeks. People are arguing on social media (and maybe in private, who knows?) about the wearing of masks in a drive to help stop the prevention of COVID-19.

Let’s remember that it’s only now, four months or so into the pandemic proper, that we’re bring told to wear masks in public. This isn’t coming from scientists exactly but from politicians, and let’s be kind to them here, who are trying to stop our countries from failing completely.

Yet people will still argue that we should still be in lockdown. Well, we can’t stay there forever, or we’ll have nothing left. If shops and restaurants don’t begin to trade then they’ll fail and close, unemployment will soar and governments really can’t afford to have millions of people on state benefits.

In the UK the central government has spent billions helping businesses furlough their employees by paying up to 80% if each employees wage. A lot of bigger companies were able to make that up to 100% for each employee but, believe me, many workers were glad to at least be getting the 80%.

There is no bottomless pit of money though, although it may have seemed like that in the early days of the lockdown when the government was throwing billions here and there to try and keep the United Kingdom afloat. As much as we’d like to, we can’t rely on the government to pay for everything until a successful vaccine is found or COVID-19 just simply disappears, which it won’t. Therefore, people need to go back to work, shops need to re-open, restaurants need to start cooking again.

Naturally people were going to be nervous when the governments in the UK started talking about opening things up again. There was a lot of commentary online about it being too early, but also many people saying things have to open up again. We need to start to live again or we’ll lose it all. There is truth in that.

Scotland was the first country in the UK to bring in “mandatory” mask wearing in shops and on public transport, followed about a fortnight later by England. Wales and Northern Ireland have not brought this in at the time of writing.

When Scotland first announced that mask wearing was a must many people took to social media to air their concerns. People with asthma, people with anxiety issues and breathing difficulties. For the first time since the actual lockdown the anxiety levels went sky-high. Really off the scale.

The anomalies in the governments advice is that you “have” to wear this mask to get your weekly shop yet once you’ve finished that shop you can walk into a pub and not have to wear any mask as you enjoy a pint or a glass of wine and a meal. That’s what really stumped people and really got their anxiety levels up. It all doesn’t make sense. There are different messages being sent out, because, let’s face it, people with a few beers in them are more likely to forget about any social distancing than someone with a shopping list in a supermarket.

Wearing a mask is mostly for peace of mind. There’s no right or wrong about it, not really. Several people started posting things like “surgeons wear masks in a twelve-hour surgery”. Yes, but not the same one. Usually surgeons scrub out and take a break while the others in the room carry on then they’ll scrub in with a very new mask and new PPE having had a spell away from wearing masks. Also, surgeons do wear masks to protect themselves though often from blood splashes and such like.

In this strange time now, we have people losing it and calling non-mask wearers really awful names or questioning their intelligence and it’s really sad.

In the UK over the past decade or so we’ve had divisions over many things, the Scottish Independence referendum and the BREXIT referendum being two that have been the most uncivil. People being really cruel to each other online, threatening each other. This is heading the same way.

To see someone on social media say that any non-mask wearer should go home to their families and die together is just not right.

Most of the anxiety over mask wearing is coming from those who are wearing them and are beside themselves that there are people who don’t wear them. You can’t say that they may be unable to wear them without getting a barrage of, maybe not abuse as such but bordering on it.

Another thing that this mask debate has shown up is that people aren’t talking about washing their hands any more. They aren’t talking about hygiene. It’s safe to say that washing your hands and face regularly, certainly your hands, will do way more in the prevention of the travel of COVID than wearing a mask will.

Then there is the disposal of masks. Masks, along with other PPE should be disposed in a clinical waste bag and these usually go for incineration. People generally don’t have clinical waste bins in their homes, or bags, and certainly no one picking them up so that masks go into general waste, maybe the kitchen bin and how often does that get emptied? If it’s got a mask in it then it should be immediately. When you put a mask, or other possibly infected PPE, into general waste all that’s happening is that the bugs and bacteria lurking about on them have a chance to spread.

Take a step back. Masks are okay. Not wearing one is okay and the reason for that is they alone cannot stop the spread of COVID. Look at a person not wearing a mask and think “they could have it on their clothes” and remember that you too could have it on your clothes, your bare arms or legs. Even if you have a mask on.

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About the Creator

Gemma Fox

Freelance writer, blogger. Reader of fiction, writer of life.

After dinner sleeper. Contact for less details.

Visit www.gemmaonline.co.uk for my other witterings.

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