How long do you plan on wearing a mask for? Will it be for the rest of your life? What will change your view?

This isn’t meant to be inflammatory. There’s someone at work who wears one everyday and I’m too afraid to ask them.

  • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    I wear one when I’m sick. Outside of places like the United States it’s actually very common to wear masks when you are sick. There used to not be a stigma about masks even in the US before COVID. This is because masks were never meant to be used as a way to prevent getting sick but as a way to not get others sick, therefore slowing the spread of disease. Somewhere over the past few years the lines got crossed and everyone started calling masks bullshit because they misinterpreted the actual use for them. Doctors don’t wear masks because they don’t want to get sick. They wear them so they don’t get their patients sick.

    • Scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech
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      5 months ago

      Same here, and I get weird dirty looks. I’ve heard of people getting verbally assaulted wearing them, my go-to line ready is “I’m sick, I didn’t want to get people like you sick, but if you don’t care…” starts to pull down mask

      • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        The fact that there is a stigma in the first place is incredibly silly. Masks are a great tool to prevent getting others sick. It’s like if someone made fun of you for using a screwdriver instead of doing it by hand.

        • Boozilla@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Yup! It’s some kind of redneck macho moron thing with some of them. The same types who mock you for using an umbrella when it rains, or wearing a coat when it’s cold, etc.

      • Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee
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        5 months ago

        Imagine a society so fucked up they verbally assault someone for wearing a mask. How fucking barbaric do you have to be to do that?!? 😂

    • Susaga@sh.itjust.works
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      5 months ago

      A facemask is a visible sign of casual compassion. It’s a sign that you aren’t going to let your own poor situation make anyone else’s life harder, and don’t want anyone to suffer needlessly. There are some people who don’t care about others, but they also don’t want to appear cruel, so their only recourse is to tear apart symbols of kindness and claim themselves superior for being “smarter” or “more honest”.

      That’s my understanding of the “stigma”, but I can’t judge everyone.

    • solrize@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      You ought to wear a respirator (N95) rather than a mask (those baggy blue procedure masks). Respirators help keep you from getting sick.

      • Brewchin@lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        If I’m sick in public and don’t know the cause (i.e. could be COVID), I’ll wear a surgical mask. If I’m in an environment where COVID/similar may be likely from others, I’ll wear an N95 mask.

        I have boxes of each, left over from the coronalypse, so it makes sense to me.