fyi: a mask is not a respirator.

I rather like what the Japanese do, which is to mask up if you are sick, thereby preventing the spread to others. I would like to see statistics to know if it is effective. This could have the same net effect, but impact a smaller population.

Slightly tsngental, as a severe allergy sufferer, I appreciate how the pandemic somewhat normalized masking in public so I can just wear one without people asking me prying questions, assuming I'm a freak (I am, but don't assume it until you get to know me), or moving to a different seat on the bus when I sit down.

N95 is not a respirator,

Was expecting a post about how people should be wearing sith masks everywhere and I am now sorely disappointed.

If you're keeping well thanks to a mask, you should keep wearing them. People getting used to the idea of wearing n95 masks is probably one of the few benefits of COVID.

I haven't had that experience. I usually get sick once every few years. Elderly friends and relatives are similar. I haven't found there to be many benefits to wearing a mask. I'd be fine with masking up the next time there are mask mandates.

Even if I would get sick for 2 weeks every year, that would be preferable to wearing a mask all the time.

I work in disability support. I leave the house, drive to my client, then don my mask and wear it until I leave the client and get back into my car. If I have a client all day I can just wear the mask all day, eating before and after my shift. I have not gotten a cold, flu, or other disease for the last 4 years and I have worked with people who actively have covid, influenza, RSV, and other illnesses.

My mask is a pm 1.0, so a little better than pm 2.5 which is what n95 is, and it works very well. Honestly I can't see me changing my behaviour around masking ever. I don't get sick, I don't carry illness to vulnerable clients, and I don't have to change my behaviour day to day so habit is solid and easy to maintain.

While it didn't help my endocarditis last year it has definitely protected against covid and even now I have not gotten it once. I think it is a good deal overall.

I've gotten sick less often since masks & WFH, but when I do get sick now, it feels much, much worse. These days, if I think I might be sick, I stay home as much as possible, and wear a good mask when I do have to be near other people, but if I'm feeling well, haven't knowingly been around anyone sick, and am going somewhere that masks aren't expected, I just don't want to wear a steam room on my face.

Also, I live in an area where masking is still very acceptable. I know there's many other areas where masking is either illegal or just very frowned upon, so I'd probably be pretty hesitant to mask up there, even if I was sick.

Not being sick occasionally is foolish.

Your immune system doesn’t go away when it’s unused. Instead, it goes haywire, resulting in allergies and autoimmune disorders.

It’s better to have the immune system responding to the sort of environment it evolved in (dirty) than trying to respond to the sort of environment it didn’t evolve in (clean), as if it were the one it evolved in.

I used to wear KN95s every day as a cashier during the height of the pandemic. It was noticeably more difficult to breathe through them, especially when I was working carts duty in the dead of winter. It also doesn't help that masks like this would need to be replaced pretty frequently for maximum effect because the moisture of my breaths will make them wet after a period of time. I could feel the condensation building in my mask throughout my 4-6 hour shifts.

Oh yeah, and if you want your mask to work properly, don't have a beard. Those will impair the filtration because air will get through your beard instead of your mask.

If youre looking for a good looking, protrctive, and comfortable mask/respirator my daily use is the black kn100. It has nose foam, threaded headstrap, and it comes in multiple sizes https://ppeo.com/goods/black-kn100-mask/

Well, even before the 'vid I got sick enough to miss work maybe once every few years. The past couple years I have been going to clubs and music festivals again and have not gotten sick. Despite not wearing a mask. For the record, I am up to date on flu and covid vaccines. I do think people should mask up if they're feeling under the weather.

I still see a few people wearing masks in public. I know some local / state laws can be problematic. If you want to wear one, more power to you!

Im often the only person I see still masked in the supermarket or even doctors office. It's so fucking dumb, you're in there for like 20 minutes just be considerate of others. The hilarious part is its mostly dinosaurs coughing unmasked 😂. Like imma be fine but y'all need all the help you can get and you can't even wear a mask in high risk places, suit yourself 🤷‍♂️

I'll rather deal with fever once a year than with a mask every day

Do I have a comm for you: hexbear.net/c/covid

Get vaccinated and boosted.

Because science, facts, and caring about other people's health mean nothing to a lot of people.

Ignoring the pandemic, I don't bother unless the air quality is very bad. I get sick about once a year, around the beginning of winter.

Fortunately I'm not the kind of person who refuses to wear one around vulnerable people

if you're trying to protect the others, I'm pretty sure a medical mask is more effective than an n95, especially since a lot of n95 have exhalation vents

I don't get sick except once every two years. Perhaps I'm a carrier in rare cases though? The fact that my wife gets sick independent of me from her workplace every now and then but not me suggests that I'm not a carrier either. Otherwise she'd get sick from me despite my being healthy when her workplace wasn't passing germs around.

Logic is great, people are not logical.

Logic: wearing a mask is easy, beneficial to society and saves lives.

People: but I'm uncomfortable 😭😭😭

Fuck people.

In my state/country it has reached a point where people hate masks so much that I can't wear one without being ridiculed, someone getting angry or be harassed about how they are actually bad for my health and it was all a hoax

I just assume that anyone still wearing surgeons masks in 2024 has a pointedly bad case of stockholm syndrome.