Will you continue to wear your mask when they are optional?

freshpopcorn

AyeGer

Yes in all situations.

What is all situations? I've voted for that as i will wear one when mixing with strangers or anyone i view as high risk.

freshpopcorn

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118670744#Comment_118670744

Busy shops\quieter places. I didn't want to have loads of options on the poll.

touts

I will wear it in busy public spaces where I think it is safer. It will be a judgment call situation by situation. Crowded Luas. Yes. Walking through a shopping center. Maybe, depends on crowds and ventilation. In a shop with just me and the assistant. No unless they are wearing one in which case I will respect their choice by wearing mine.

corny

Not for the foreseeable future.

Gant21

I’ll wear mine while dining out

growleaves

No

No and I will be interested to see if '55%' of people are still wearing masks, as one poll had it.

I'm not a great believer in polls which imo are more about influencing public opinion than measuring it.

Billgirlylegs

No

Hard to understand the ongoing belief or confidence in them. Fairly consistent and widespread use of them, but 10000 odd cases per day doesn't scream success. I also see we are back to the "my mask protects you" line.

Atlantic Dawn

No

No, once it's no longer a legal requirement it's gone.

I'll continue to wear mine but only while robbing Banks and sticking up all night petrol stations.

dalyboy

No

No …. As Andre the giant said “people in masks can not be trusted” and I fully agree with the big fella.

I stopped wearing a mask last weekend and will only don one if requested by security or Garda.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118670774#Comment_118670774

How would you know if a shop assistant is wearing a mask? It seems pointless, going around and then meeting a shop assistant at the counter, see if they're wearing a mask and then put yours on.

freshpopcorn

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671003#Comment_118671003

I take it there referring to smaller shops. Where you can see the shop assistant from the door before entering.

Burt Renaults

Yes in busy Shops/public transport.

If it makes vulnerable people comfortable, yes, I'll continue to wear a mask in certain situations. But I have very strong doubts about their efficacy.

kirk.

No never but I hope all vulnerable people continue to wear them N95 or whatever the latest model is

Better chance a mask mandate will never come back if the vulnerable wear theirs instead of everyone being forced to

AyeGer

Yes in all situations.

Probably a bigger question is will people isolate if they have symptoms or will they even test themselves to see if it’s covid. The prospect of meeting someone with covid out and about unmasked is likely to increase.

No

I've been done with all this nonsense months ago and looking forward to that rule being lifted.

Heaps of us taking vaccines we didn't need either but sure Pfizer in particular have made a tonne of money so that's all good as far as they're concerned.

Just recently a 2 billion dollar lawsuit has been taken against them for falsifying data in their trials but still loads of people drinking the Kool aid.

_Kaiser_

No

Nope. Can't wear something I won't have next week.

Their only real benefit is to act as a placebo for those still concerned, and if anything they will only serve to drag out these unnecessary fears and social division.

Covid isn't the Black Death. It never was and with Omicron it's no more dangerous than the sniffles to the vast majority of people here. It's time to move on and get back to normality.

It's not like we don't have a lot more serious and pressing issues to deal with at the moment!

No

This is worth reading for anyone interested.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/arc38wavyy7pjkh/CCCA%20-%20Pfizer%20Trial%20Breakdown%20-The%20COVID-19%20Inoculations%20-More%20Harm%20Than%20Good%20%28Dec.%2015%2C%202021%29.pdf?dl=0&fbclid=IwAR13qPSUZD0b90dbAF8I5SGXZP57L2WAXymHHF6kRXAYDQbvMcOxir0KVGg

Gusser09

No

No done with them a few weeks now. Its time to move on. Really is that simple.

FlubberJones

Yes in busy Shops/public transport.

Public transport, busy Luas for instance, absolute breeding ground for illness. Happy wear one there. Otherwise, nah, I can usually keep my distance from any of the "sickly looking herd"

Macy0161

Yes in busy Shops/public transport.

Was in London a couple of weeks ago, and somehow they managed to have it optional without people being dicks about it (I wouldn't be confident our anti-maskers will be the same tbh). I had hoped we'd be mature enough to move to people taking mitigation, such as face coverings/ remote working rather than coughing and spluttering being a martyr in the office, when people had non-covid coughs and colds, but again I wouldn't have much confidence.

As for their efficacy, well not sure they ever worn properly by a lot of people (notwithstanding face covering v proper face mask).

zell12

Yes in all situations.

Yes.

I have not had a cold in two years! And I already notice people not weeing masks on public transport, talking loudly openly mouthed, shouting, etc. Something that never bothered me before C19

DLink

No

I've picked up bugs on planes a few times, and I don't do public transport...

However, I'll take my chances with catching something and go facially naked rather than wear something that won't protect me, but sends out the "right signals".

bucketybuck

No

Anybody answering yes should have to clarify what mask they intend to wear.

Because anybody continuing to wear a **** cloth rag isn't very bright if you ask me.

Xander10

No

No. My observation on current mask wearing is , lots wearing them incorrectly . Also, see people wearing the same dirty cloth mask all year and taking the rank thing off when seated and leaving them on tables with food etc.

Wash hands etc, don't go out coughing and spluttering when you have a cold etc

Plus, we have children leaving in such sterile conditions that they have lost the ability of the immune system to build up natural resistant to some germs.

Lumen

Yes in busy Shops/public transport.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671971#Comment_118671971

YOU MUST ANSWER OUR QVESTIONZ!

Fine, FFP2/N95, like I have been for the past year (after I stepped it down from FFP3).

growleaves

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671058#Comment_118671058

How you considered the possibility that anxiety-soothing placebos do more psychological harm than good?

Del2005

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118670774#Comment_118670774

What mask will you wear? Unless you are wearing a FPP2 or similar mask, which you donned correctly, you have no protection and once the legal requirement is gone then lots of others won't be wearing a mask so your surgical or cloth mask is not going to save anyone, if you have symptoms you should be staying home not putting a mask on and going out to crowded places.

Ubbquittious

Yes in busy Shops/public transport.

I'll be wearing a special mask in the pub that has a hole for a straw

No

Voted no. The main place I wanted them gone is schools. So delighted they’re gone.

In terms of the other locations, I said no too. Unfortunately the vulnerable are always going to be vulnerable. Covid won’t ever go away, so if you wear a mask now for the vulnerable, logic dictates you’ll be wearing them forever. A vulnerable person is vulnerable regardless of whether ‘de numbers’ are 1,000 or 10,000.

fun loving criminal

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118672656#Comment_118672656

How about people who are infectious before showing symptoms? How do they stay at home?

thefallingman

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671194#Comment_118671194

I'd say that's happening for a long time already Ger, i've never tested myself but worked all the way through in the office

theteal

Yes in busy Shops/public transport.

I've picked the first option but it's a bit too encompassing for me. The only place I've worn a mask for a while now is on the Tube (not that I'm on it anywhere as much as in the past) and I would expect that's likely to continue.

crossmolinalad

No

No

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118671926#Comment_118671926

Do you have a special personal characteristic that makes it so that masks won't protect you, or do you think that they offer no protection to anyone?

If you think it's the latter, would you have an theories as to why doctors and nurses and medical people wear them in general? I mean not just for covid but you would have seen them being worn often in hospitals

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118672656#Comment_118672656

The thing that I never understood were the gobsh1tes who would wear a mask under their nose. By doing that you basically have all of the hassle and inconvenience of wearing one but none of the benefit. Either wear one properly or don't wear one.

growleaves

No

'Do you have a special personal characteristic that makes it so that masks won't protect you'

Yeah a brain

'would you have an theories as to why doctors and nurses and medical people wear them in general?'

Not all surgeons even wore them in surgical theatres prior to 2020. They stop spit from visibly flying from the surgeon's mouth and landing on the patient but can't prevent infections sorry.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673147#Comment_118673147

You might want to reassess your source of information

2 seconds finds a photo of doctors wearing masks as protection against respiratory infectious diseases. Long before there was covid19

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23710697

growleaves

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673127#Comment_118673127

It allows people to breathe easier.

They're wearing it in the first place to dodge a €2,500 fine.

brick tamland

No

I would have voted yes until recently when i got a very light dose of what i can only assume was Omicron, but now after having it, its so unlikley that i'll get it again, so I wont bother as it'll wont of any use

GeneralMudkip

Yes in busy Shops/public transport.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673147#Comment_118673147

And where'd you get this genius intel? Surgeons have always been required to wear masks during surgery, especially during delicate procedures such as neurosurgery.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673212#Comment_118673212

There is no fine for walking on the street without a mask.

If you don't want to wear one then don't. If you're going to wear it, at least do it in a way you get benefit from it.

But if you want to wear one under your nose so as to just annoy yourself for zero benefit then fire ahead. Ha'penny Matt Talbot wannabes perhaps? They could also put a small sharp stone into their shoe to cause them similar discomfort for no benefit.

growleaves

No

'A contemporary questionnaire-based study, which attempted to assess the attitudes of surgeons, revealed that 96% of responders wore facemasks.1 About equal numbers did so with the primary aim of protecting the patients compared to protecting themselves. However, it was also found that 20% of responding surgeons wore the mask for the sole purpose of respecting tradition. Furthermore, 30% of responding surgeons felt that masks could make surgery more difficult by increasing breath condensation on spectacles, endoscopes and microscopes and thereby obscuring vision.'

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4480558/

growleaves

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673252#Comment_118673252

As has been said a million times about people wearing them in cars, these people may be going from shop to shop or public transport to workplace etc and not bother taking them off in between.

I doubt if they are trying to annoy sincere believers in masks. I suppose that is a good troll if they are but would anyone bother?

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673267#Comment_118673267

So your proof that medical professionals never wore masks before covid mandates is a survey of surgeons who replied that 96% of them wore masks? Fair enough.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673281#Comment_118673281

Can you not appreciate how retarded even that "excuse" is? They don't bother taking them off but do bother pulling them down.

When you pull it down, you are basically inhaling everything that might be on the outside of the mask. "Here johnny, here is a piece of fabric that might have captured some of the virus on its outside as air was being filtered through it. Would ya like to put it up there with the virus side against your nose and take a few good inhales off it 🤣

growleaves

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673322#Comment_118673322

I said that not all surgeons wear masks even in surgical operating theatres prior to 2020. I was asked to prove what I said and now I have.

The most interesting finding from the survey to me was that one fifth of surgeons wear them 'for the sole purpose of respecting tradition'.

So almost a quarter (24%) of surgeons - what people think of the prime 'mask-wearers' in the medical profession - don't believe in masks at all.

Yet you and others would have us believe that the belief in masks within the medical profession is unanimous.

GeneralMudkip

Yes in busy Shops/public transport.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673267#Comment_118673267

The conclusion of the paper was that "Given that there is no evidence that they cause any harm either, proponents would rather err on the side of caution and encourage their continued use, stressing that there is no room for complacency when it comes to ensuring patient safety. This opinion is similarly echoed by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines which assert that mask usage contributes towards ‘maintaining theatre discipline’."

When looking at a paper that specifically focuses on Covid-19 transmission in a public setting, we can find that "Based on these studies, all people, regardless of physical conditions and professions, should wear masks at all times in prevention of COVID‐19. In this regard, inhalation protection via masks is particularly important in order to reduce the transmission of viruses that are potentially carried by droplets and aerosols." Even looking at some of the figures in the paper can give you a good idea of what exactly masks do with Covid.

DOI: 10.1002/mds3.10163

growleaves

No

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118673360#Comment_118673360

I'm aware of that thanks.

I provided what you asked for. You're welcome.

See my reply to Donald Trump above, belief in masks within the medical profession is far from unanimous.

Sleeper12

Yes in busy Shops/public transport.

As part of my job I'm in 20 to 30 homes per week. About 5% of homeowners wear a mask while I'm working in their home. I don't believe the 95% of homeowners will wear a mask in shops when they don't when tradesman is in their home. I think we will see a massive drop of from next Monday with less & less wearing masks as days turn into weeks