Not being told what we must or can't do; not being dictated to by people who make absurd arguments.
Being able to do everything we did before the pandemic seems normal to me, if sometimes it involves wearing a mask it doesn’t change that.
That's your choice but to others masks are not normal. You cannot impose that on us as a new normal. If you want to wear masks indefinitely that is your choice. You can choose to wear an effective mask, an ineffective mask or none at all. But what I won't accept is people telling us that we must or should wear a mask to "protect" others or other such nonsense.
We may well have found the Asian visitors the UK odd when we saw them wearing masks pre-COVID, we may have thought the same of cyclists wearing masks against traffic pollution. But we accepted that these were something culturally acceptable for the Asians and pollution inhalation control to be sensible.
If they want that to be their normality that's up to them.
As for masks that filter pollution, that's an entirely separate concept, and again it's by choice. It's not like cyclists board trains, enter pubs etc while wearing them! It's another false equivalence.
Why shouldn’t we have a more cultural acceptance that mask wearing helps reduce the spread of airborne viruses within normal life?
The wearing of tight fitting FFP2/3 masks would reduce the spread of viruses, however the case for the wearing of loose fitting flimsy masks is very weak. If people don't have good immune systems they could choose to wear an effective mask for additional protection if they wish.
It is the anti-maskers who are positioning mask wearing as something against their rights, or of some sort of totalitarian regime, that are the problem.
It is the pro-maskers who are positioning mask wearing as being the norm to the extent that people who do not go along with their cult are deemed to be "inconsiderate" or "uncaring" that are the problem.
It is they who have made a simply ask to wear a mask into a divisive issue.
People should not be asked or told to wear a mask. It should be a personal choice; in settings where it is made clear it is a personal choice, the vast majority of people choose not to wear them.
The amount of aggression from some of them in situations where they are asked to wear a mask is unbelievable.
The amount of aggression from some of them in situations where they are telling people to wear a mask is unbelievable.
The people trying to coerce others into believing that wearing a mask is something terrible is the catalyst.
The people trying to coerce others into believing that wearing a mask is a paneaca and that failing to comply makes them "uncaring" or "inconsiderate" is the catalyst.
You constantly refer to flimsy cotton masks as if every mask was totally ineffective, simply to support your anti-mask views. Any mask, worn over the nose and mouth, will provide some reduction in the amount of airborne particles the wearer exhales and inhales. I think everyone will accept the FFP3 being the best, but FFP2 is highly effective too and any multilayered mask almost as effective as FFP2. We can all also agree that a single layer is less so, but any reduction is a reduction
Wearing a high grade FFP3 mask can almost entirely protect health workers from Covid, research finds.
www.bbc.co.uk
Wearing a high grade mask known as an FFP3 can provide up to 100% protection.
By contrast, there is a far greater chance of staff wearing standard issue surgical masks catching the virus.
[standard] masks are relatively flimsy and loose-fitting and are not meant to screen out infectious aerosols - tiny virus particles that can linger in the air and are now widely accepted as a source of coronavirus infection.
FFP3 masks have a close fit and are specifically designed to filter out aerosols.
An image contained within the article states that fabric masks "do
not protect you, but
may protect others if you are infected" (my emphasis; the word "may" is because the evidence is very unclear on this)
The vaccines are highly effective for the vast majority of people. Only a small proportion of people are immunocompromised; the vaccines are still effective in this group, though not as highly effective as they are for other people.
If people are immunocompromised, or simply distrusting of vaccines, or want additional protection for any other reason, they could choose to wear a highly effective FFP3 mask if they wish to do so. It is their choice.
Given that such people can be well protected, there is no case for others to be told/coerced or even asked to wear any sort of mask, whether that be an effective FFP3 mask (or similar) or an ineffective fabric or surgical mask.