I don't wish to be critical but....I saw this tweet
Making the most of @Pret's price cut in response to the VAT reduction that takes effect today for the tourism and hospitality sectors.
As part of our #PlanForJobs this temporary cut will help over 150,000 businesses protect the jobs of 2.4 million people. pic.twitter.com/mSh6jOvBlp
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) July 15, 2020
Getting people to wear masks is going to be a problem.
And with glasses they are a pain, I can tell you, because the glasses steam up.
But wearing the wrong mask really does not help. Medics tell me that Sunak's mask will let unfiltered air straight in. He might as well not be wearing it for all the good it does.
If ministers can't get masks right what hope is there?
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Very little………………..
I thought the idea of the valve was to allow air out more quickly, to make the mask more comfortable to wear for longer, not to allow unfiltered air in?
I suppose it depends on what you think the purpose of the mark is – to protect yourself, to protect others, (without necessarily protecting anyone) to display your virtue or increase consumer confidence, or an unspecified combination of all of them at the same time. A bit like the deliberately undefined purpose of Brexit.
Aren’t you supposed to put glasses on last – over the mask?
Alyson Pollock thinks government should have already been funding research into masks’ effectiveness – there is some research – a summary:
https://www.zoeharcombe.com/2020/04/covid-19-do-masks-help/
but – and I agree – not sufficient for the current Covid -19 pandemic.
Face coverings (which is what the government mandates) rather than masks – perhaps to obviate them having to issue them as some countries in Europe have, may not be effective. And as the government now says we may be wearing them for a long time, the least they could do is fund and organise research.
I promise you, they still fog
You have to pull the mask lower on your nose so it just sits over the tip. That’s what I’ve found.
I keep trying….
Then go for the vanity option – contact lenses.
FWIW (nada) I am most likely to be the one that lifts my mask to cough – i Just know it will happen. I recall rubbing my eyes quite often in the days before I got Covid 19, even though I knew I shouldn’t be doing it.
I have no desire to do contacts – ever
“fund and organise research” what – re-invent the wheel? Or is it only valid to UK Govt if they have discovered something for themselves. England’s messaging SO poor! Take a minute to watch our former Scotland CMO Sir Harry Burns ( in May ) explaining a) why masks are just one part of the action we take b) why masks are helpful to others if we unknown to ourselves have the virus. I think a slip of the tongue when he implies if we have the virus we wear them. If we know we have the virus – we isolate and don’t go out.
I don’t have a YouTube account so can only give you the beginning point of the clip. Stop it when you need to. Or, if you have half an hour, the whole programme is a worthwhile watch .
https://youtu.be/Ab-wKPLuboA?t=1519
The point of wearing face coverings is to protect others – not the wearer, follow Devi Sridhar for lots of public health info:
https://mobile.twitter.com/devisridhar
And note how exasperated she is about how there is still a debate about face coverings in England. I’m not happy with having to wear a mask in the shop – glasses steaming up, getting hot, difficulty breathing after a while – so can only manage half an hour at a time. But I made some of my own with a shaped fit round the nose and a good bit of shaping-wire so glasses steaming up is minimised. I’d prefer if everyone just stayed locked up, but apparently people want to get out and about so it’s the price we have to pay – and in the grand scheme of things, a small price. It means the more vulnerable people can get out and about and you don’t put their lives at risk. It turns out getting people to wear masks isn’t so hard when you emphasise the social responsibility aspect, and make it mandatory; well, it worked in Scotland.
This is the pattern I used to start off from –
https://www.craftpassion.com/face-mask-sewing-pattern/#face-mask-pattern
(they update with other patterns and I see they now have one with a clear window). I have adapted it for a bigger nose,,, and a few other things, in fact, it’s still at the prototype stage. One of the main things for me is the wire at the nose to lessen the glasses steaming (I used coated gardening wire, just because I had some, but have bought some flat aluminium things – still to try it out) and an alternative holding mechanism – my ears don’t hold loops of elastic. This pattern allows a choice of tying on – I have used shoe laces, and also some flat elastic (from an old fitted sheet) – so you can bypass the ears and have a neck and a back of the head ties
Get creative!
Try breathing out through your mouth?
It akes no difference – – warm, moistair is still shot upwards
A tip for your glasses, a nurse told me to smear the lenses in undiluted washing-up liquid lightly, then just wipe lightly too.
As for the mask Sunak wore, it can make things worse. They really don’t talk much to doctors or nurses do they.
To a well known 80’s pop song by Toni Basil (1981? Hey Mickey):
Hey Rishi
You’re so blind
You’re so blind
You blow our minds
Hey Rishi!
Hey Rishi!
‘Cos guys like you Rishi
Make us ill Rishi,
Ill Rishi
You really do Rishi!!