Re: Coronavirus
 

Because you could be carrying it, be asymptomatic and be around those who are either unvaccinated or in an at risk group ?

You know, basic consideration for fellow people?

Re: Coronavirus
 

That’s going to be the case for the rest of time. It has long been the case with other respiratory illnesses that make vulnerable people seriously ill. We have never previously considered it basic consideration to wear masks in case we give someone a nasty cold or flu.

Unless you’re proposing a major, permanent cultural shift so we become a people who routinely wear face masks in public, you must have a time in mind when you will acknowledge the time of mask wearing is past. When, for you, is that likely to be?

Re: Coronavirus
 

Remind me, which other respiratory illnesses in our lifetime have caused the levels of severe illness & death that covid has ?

When covid becomes endemic and correct me if I’m wrong but the last I knew we were still in a pandemic & when we have cases in the hundreds a day rather than 30,000 a day and when deaths are at the same level as winter flu then I’ll probably stop wearing a mask.

I’d suggest you’re going to be wearing them in certain situations for a while yet, flights etc.

Wearing a mask to protect others isn’t a hardship really is it

Re: Coronavirus
 

hmmm

Re: Coronavirus
 

Don’t be daft. You are only supposed to be considerate of other people where failure to do so might expose government failure. Only buy the fuel you need, we have adequate food. Otherwise it’s every man for themselves.

Re: Coronavirus
 

You’re not comparing apples with apples, as I think you know.

We’re not discussing mask-wearing during the novel infection for which there was no natural immunity and no vaccine. We’re discussing mask-wearing in the present context, in which the link between infection and serious illness has demonstrably been broken.

The heightened level of hospitalisation compared to winter flu is overwhelmingly being driven by younger people who thought they knew better and didn’t bother getting jabbed when invited to do so. That will change. We know the vaccines work.

And actually, wearing a mask is a hardship for a great many people. I’m dealing with it week in, week out at church, with a lot of people who have been isolated for a long time, who are craving social contact and who are finding it very difficult to reconnect from behind a mask. Sunday morning worship is also extremely meaningful for them and it’s being hindered by the fact that everyone in Scotland is still meant to be wearing a mask in church even while singing (no masks required on the sweaty dance floor up the road on a Saturday night though). We’re thankful that the masks can at least come off for a few minutes afterwards over tea and biscuits.

There are other things than covid that are injurious to human health. The pandemic has exacted a serious cost in terms of mental well-being and the worst thing we can do now is exacerbate that problem with unnecessary restrictions on daily life.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Sorry, you’re the one who brought cold & flu into this in the first place.

Whilst the vaccines work you’re missing a key point, protection degrades over time. Have a look at the latest figures coming out of Israel over five times the cases in those double jabbed vs those with a third booster jab (the majority still being unvaccinated of course)

To those that having difficulties reconnecting from behind a mask, I’d suggest they would have greater difficulties reconnecting whilst either on a ventilator or, worse, dead.

Wearing a mask is about as difficult as wearing a seatbelt, or a crash helmet.

Re: Coronavirus
 

It patently isn’t. A seatbelt restricts social contact in a car no more than being in the car does. A crash helmet is worn in situations where no social contact is occurring at all. A mask over half the face and muffling conversation in situations where such things are important is obviously very different.

Your point about ventilators and death is precisely the hysteria we need to be avoiding. Yes, protection wanes, as it does for all vaccines against these sorts of infections. There is a role in this for booster vaccination but also for repeated natural exposure to the virus in the wild. In the meantime, the fear of something awful happening carries a bigger health risk for some than the thing itself.

I fear that as a nation we are losing our sense of proportion and our ability to assess risk.

Re: Coronavirus
 

A role for repeated natural exposure? It’s a been a long crash to Earth for our world beating vaccination programme,

Re: Coronavirus
 

You are aware that this is how the human immune system actually works, yes?

Re: Coronavirus
 

I’m not aware of it being a stated objective in among all the wartime rhetoric of the early months of the year.

I’m unaware of how “repeated natural exposure” is even likely for the vast, vast majority of the population once the herd immunity threshold is reached as small outbreaks fizzle out before large numbers are infected.

Essentially the Government (and you) are disingenuously selling the Great Barrington Declaration to top up the vaccination campaign. Which as I say, is quite a crash to Earth.

Re: Coronavirus
 

It’s that herd immunity principle, jfman.:D

Re: Coronavirus
 

It patently is, just you don’t see the circumstances to match, I’ve done thousands of miles riding across both the U.K. and europe on the bike in convoy two abreast, plenty of times at speeds where I could of had a conversation with the rider next to me. But I wear a lid, why? Because if I come off or someone hits me it significantly reduces my chances of severe injury or death.

My point about ventilators/deaths isn’t hysteria it’s fact. there are still too many people who are falling seriously ill and dying from this disease.

Now, I can appreciate and agree that lockdowns and a lot of other restrictions are damaging both to the individual and to the country as a whole but at the time were necessary. Hopefully they won’t be again.

Wearing a mask really isn’t. However, it’s the individuals choice. All I did was as answer the question posed.

Re: Coronavirus
 

Either it can’t spread, in which case we have no problem, or else it can, and we use the evolving science to determine whether it’s better to use booster jabs or natural reinfection (or a combination) to keep it at bay. Studies continue, and you might find it more profitable to read some of them than to rehearse pompous quasi-political attack lines in your bathroom mirror.

Follow the science, I’m sure someone on this thread used to say.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-58270098

Re: Coronavirus
 

The Vaccines work. If you’re vaccinated it is extremely, very extremely, unlikely you will die.

No more likely than dying from any other respiratory disease, or any other illness that affects the human race.

It is not March 2020.

There is no need to wear a mask. Unless you’re unvaccinated and in an “at risk” group or just paranoid and affected by 20 months of media and governmental social engineering.