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Masks Are Here to Stay


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This may shock you - I think masks are here to stay, forever. Yup - for the rest of your life when you go out in public, you'll wear a mask.

What do you think? Will this statement be true? Why or why not? Based on what? 

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I think some people may very well chose to wear masks going forward even after there is a vaccine for what we're currently dealing with, at least in certain situations.

But I don't see it being something governed by rules or laws, way too many people are fighting against it right now when the infection/hospitalization/death rates are still increasing.  

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It's too late to edit my OP, but I don't mean everyone will wear masks - only some.

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In the early stages of a new virus the masks have been useful. They stop us coughing and sneezing on each other and are a cue to social distance. 

Will we wear them always? No. Other contagious pandemics ( apart from HIV ) have burned out within a couple of years. People will stop wearing them then or when a vaccine is available.

 

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14 minutes ago, Ellener said:

Will we wear them always? No. Other contagious pandemics ( apart from HIV ) have burned out within a couple of years. People will stop wearing them then or when a vaccine is available.

 - but what about the next virus?

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3 minutes ago, Fletch Lives said:

 - but what about the next virus?

'Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof'!

( Sermon on the Mount, Jesus )

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Happy Lemming
35 minutes ago, Fletch Lives said:

 - but what about the next virus?

Considering the pandemics seem to be about 100 years apart, (last one was Spanish flu - 1918) I doubt I'll be around for the next virus.

As for mask wearing, I'm getting used to wearing a mask each time I go out.  I am getting tired of hand washing it and hanging it to dry, but that is a small price to pay for the protection it offers.  If I'm able to receive an effective vaccine, I still may wear my mask for a few months (just to be on the safe side).

I  was thinking about buying some extra cloth masks and stashing them in the glove box of each vehicle, similar to when I was younger and had condoms stashed in each vehicle.

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47 minutes ago, Happy Lemming said:

Considering the pandemics seem to be about 100 years apart, (last one was Spanish flu - 1918) I doubt I'll be around for the next virus.

As for mask wearing, I'm getting used to wearing a mask each time I go out.  I am getting tired of hand washing it and hanging it to dry, but that is a small price to pay for the protection it offers.  If I'm able to receive an effective vaccine, I still may wear my mask for a few months (just to be on the safe side).

I  was thinking about buying some extra cloth masks and stashing them in the glove box of each vehicle, similar to when I was younger and had condoms stashed in each vehicle.

I would say they are here to stay, until the vaccine, which is our only way out of this pandemic.

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JustGettingBy

Unless you're going to die within the next year or so, you won't be wearing a mask the rest of your life.

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Ruby Slippers

No, I don't think people will be wearing masks forever. I think people at higher risk of complications from Covid and other viruses may continue to wear them and that's not such a bad idea. But most people will ditch them as soon as possible.

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5 hours ago, Fletch Lives said:

I think masks are here to stay, forever. Yup - for the rest of your life when you go out in public, you'll wear a mask.

Do you mean like Halloween masks as a trend? 👹👺👽👾🤖💀🐷🐶🦁🤡

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Most people drink alcohol, smoke cigarettes, many of them 1 pack, 2 packs, 3 packs a day, for a whole lifetime, and most people don't even eat healthy. Do you honestly believe people care themselves enough to actually wear a mask? 

Even to this day, with the world going through a huge health crisis way too many people don't wear a mask because of their own childish reasons.  No, people will ditch wearing a mask and washing/taking hand sanitizer with them when they go outside and actually using it.

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The last pandemic in my lfetime ( excluding HIV ) was a global flu pandemic affecting England in 1968. 

It originated from China, and caused an estimated 1 to 4 million deaths worldwide.

 

 

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I don't know but I do believe that the world will never be the same on many different levels.  2020 is a turning point in human history for better or worse.  Let's all hope for the better in the long run.

  

 

 

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6 hours ago, Fletch Lives said:

This may shock you - I think masks are here to stay, forever. Yup - for the rest of your life when you go out in public, you'll wear a mask.

What do you think? Will this statement be true? Why or why not? Based on what? 

Very unlikely IMO. One big issue from masks is that it makes it hard to identify those who have committed crimes, meaning they are far more likely to get away with it. For this reason I think governments will not be very keen on encouraging mask wearing after this. 

The fear of crime I think is one reason those wearing masks, at least in Western countries were treated with some suspicion before this year. After this I think this become the case again. 

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I was one of the very earlier adopters of masks, just as soon as the Chinese doctors leaked to the international news the existence of a new corona virus, I got masked up. People looked at me funny at the local grocery store and coffee shop and restaurant, but that's because people thought I was overacting, but it sure didn't take long for people to begin to wear masks when the Italians became the European plague center for the virus. People didn't think I was a thief. Wearing a surgical mask doesn't make people think the guy wearing one is about to steal the latest Iphone model.

They simply believed I was taking this virus way too seriously. Not me, tho. I have family of mine who got infected with the Spanish Flu and survived it. I have family who got afflicted griveously with the black plague all of those hundreds of years ago, and survived it. I want to be the first man to live to an age of 150 years. If wearing a mask for the rest of my life makes people think I'm a weird guy?  Who cares. I already think people are mentally ill for smoking and drinking alcohol, and eating what they eat.

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People in Asian countries have been wearing masks when they are not well for a long time now, long before COVID.  Now that (most) of the rest of us have 7 or more months of experience with it as a regular part of life, I can see some people choosing to wear masks at certain times.  I agree with the poster above that this experience has changed things.

Although there have been other pandemics in the last 50 years, they haven't had such side-spread and drastic effects.    

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6 hours ago, Fletch Lives said:

It's too late to edit my OP, but I don't mean everyone will wear masks - only some.

They've been doing that anyhow, just a much smaller % in the US, than recently. Mostly asians I think, in some parts of the world it's considered a form of politeness if you think you might be sick.

Nothing wrong with some folks doing it once they're no longer required to (in places where they currently are) IMO. Freedom...

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Yeah, but people have never been in a situation like this before. People didn't wear masks in their day to day life because almost no one alive today went through one of the worst healthcare crisis in the last 100 years. My great-grandmother got infected with the Spanish Flu, and survived it, and went on to never again leave the house until her dying day without a face mask.  Most people need to go through something terrible, first, before they learn to be as careful as possible.

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CaliforniaGirl
1 hour ago, Wiseman2 said:

They thought mullets were here to stay, too.

 

This spread fast and was an extreme scourge but the difference between this and covid was that the world was nowhere near as divided. The U.S. definitely all got on board fast with wanting to eradicate mullets. Today only a few areas of the nation cling to their right to wear them.

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They will be in one form or another. At a minimum people will wear them if they're unwell and need to go out, just as it has been in many Asian countries for years already. Western countries were resistant to it as some people see it as some form of oppression, but now that the evidence is there that they have some effect they were slowly and reluctantly adopted.

 

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