I heard masks don't protect you

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Apparently the wearing of a face mask only protects others, not you. So basically COVID can get into a mask but not out. I find that rather unsettling, because I've always been told that you can control your actions but you cannot control the actions of other people.
I feel it will be better to be able to only protect yourself, because if you're one to feel paranoid about COVID then it's up to you to protect yourself, if someone else doesn't feel paranoid then it's up to them.

It's impossible for millions of people of all different ages and backgrounds to work as a team in public.

When I worked at a care home and the stomach flu was going around, the residents were the ones that had the stomach flu and us workers had to wear masks to stop us from catching it. So ain't that how masks are supposed to work with COVID as well?

A mask stops others catching a virus if you have one. In the far east, anyone with a slight cough or runny nose will wear a mask. It is what they do.

Now wearing a mask if you don't have a virus will trap virus particles in the mask if one passes someone with the virus... So wearing a mask will for a minute or three stop you getting the virus, but if you stay in the same enviroment the mask will be holding the virus around your face... So it is doubtful if it is any more effective at preventing someone from getting the virus.

Therefore masks are worn not to prevent the wearer from getting the virus, but to prevent the wearer from spreading the virus.... So they do work but not in the ways one may think.

I have difficulties wearing things on my face. Today I wore my sunglasses, but I then had to take them off as I started getting breathing issues. For me to cover my face in a mask will almost guarantee that I will start panicing and have difficulties in drawing breath, so if I have to wear a mask on public transport... I simply won't use public transport. If I have to wear a mask to go i to a shop. Well. I simply wont go i to a shop... As I know my own body and own self. I had to wear gloves where I last worked and the ONLY way I eventually was able to wear them was by cutting all the fingers off.

Most mask, even Halloween masks, will provide you some degree of protection from getting the virus. This is because it puts a physical barrier between your hands and your face (mouth/nose). Therefore if you touch a surface that has virus droplets on it (someone coughed) you will be protected from passing these particles directly to you face by hand contact.

But many masks provide only limited protection to prevent viral particles free floating in the air from infecting you. So if someone coughs and you breath in the particles, you can become infected.

But there are many types of mask. Some masks will provide almost complete protection from the airborne threat. The most prominent is the N95 mask. It will filter out the viruses. But there are others such as the N100s and P100s that will work even better. Then you have the latest technology mask that contain antimicrobial material within the layers of the mask that actually kills any viruses that try and pass through the mask.

It is discomforting knowing that wearing a mask don't protect you. If someone chose to take their mask off for some reason, say in a hospital waiting-room, then everyone else who are wearing a mask are now at risk in case the one person that took their mask off might have the virus and not know it.

I'm glad I knew this after I left working at the care home, because I would be really paranoid whenever a stomach flu goes around, as you can't force elderly people with dementia and a stomach flu to wear masks. So the staff wearing masks at care homes is fruitless.

Obviously there are some heavy duty masks which are very protective. I can just see you having one of those chemical warefare masks from WW1...
To be honest, i don't think there is any harm in wearing a mask as it is probably rare that you will find a virus particle floating in the air... So if you see one heading your way you could duck?

Seriously though. Don't panic. If you feel you need to wear a mask, or if there is a rule that you need to wear one, then wear one and if not don't worry.

That is why wearing masks in public enclosed spaces needs to be mandatory.

I just feel embarrassed because all this time I've been thinking that wearing a mask protects you. I still don't understand how it only works one way though. If you cough in your mask the germs can't get out but if someone else without a mask coughs near you the germs can get into your mask.

To get the best protection, I would say to change masks now and then. Fresh air away from other people is likely to be the best enviroment to be in.

It's mandatory here, despite quarantine having been lifted. Nobody is allowed to go into shops, public transport etc without one.

Shame! some are supposed to have special filtered in, some are more protective than others. it may help limit the pollution we breathe in or protect us a bit, little better than nothing, although we're supposed to naturally breathe in fresh air, it doesn't stop it being airborne.

Even if we don't wear masks and say, our outside in our gardens, are we safe?

I feel very put off of cleaning up vomit now (if I ever have to), if the vomit is caused by a virus, because as an emetophobe I'm always terrified that I will catch something just by cleaning vomit up, by breathing in the air around it. I used to feel protected wearing a mask if I ever had to clean up vomit at work, but now that I've learnt that masks are practically useless at protecting yourself, I'm petrified of going near vomit on a bus (unless I definitely know that the vomit was from a drunk person or travel sickness, because then the bacteria isn't airborne).

My life has literally felt like a lie.

Mask offer self-protection as well as protection from others—maybe to somewhat of a less degree.

Day before yesterday I was wearing a mask because I had to buy something (and the stores are all requiring masks to enter), and the 2 women in line ahead of me at the checkout were not wearing masks at all. We are also supposed to be doing "social distancing" but I figured if they were wearing masks they were non-believers in the risks of COVD19 - so I stepped up closer to them. As close as one normally would pre-COVID19. They kept giving me dirty looks and making soft comments about my non-social distancing. Which I thought odd, since by their response they simply weren't wearing masks because they didn't want to.

So... they don't wear a mask because they don't want to, but everyone else should do that and stay far away from them just in case? I didn't show any reaction to them at all, except I did stand a little bit closer still, after their remarks.

Couldn't help myself. I did keep my mask on, though.

Wearing a mask is an inconvenience that requires effort on the individual's part - social distancing is something they expect OTHER people to do, thus taking no effort and creating no inconvenience.

As far as mask effectiveness regarding COVID, they do protect you. Even though "air gets around them", A properly fitting mask "lets air in" through such tight twisty passages, even though "air can pass through", the odds are greatly increased that the virus will get stuck on the mask, or your face (hence "don't touch your face"), rather than into your mouth or nose where it can actually infect you. As far as people who have covid spreading it, if they have a mask on, it's not like if they sneeze a blast of covid sprays out of all sides of the mask. Most of the dangerous particles would be trapped by the mask, or your own face. COVID has a relatively short lifespan outside a host, that's partly why standing far away from people helps stop its transmission even though people can cough sneeze and spit much farther than 6 feet. A mask like people are using *would* be useless against a stable gaseous toxin that partially or fully saturated the entire air supply, but it is quite effective at blocking / catching short-lived virus particles that people occasionally expel. It works even better if everyone wears them, fewer people give it, fewer people get it.

And when you cough or sneeze wearing a mask, don't turn your head away from people because the loose fitting areas are around your ears. If you turn your head the expelled air goes over the person in front of you. Also don't stand closely behind people because if the cough the air comes out the areas at the ears.

We be breathing in and back bacteria so it's vital to clean the masks after each use. It may breed bacteria too, from heat ect, pollutants. How protective or preventative is it? any protection from an air borne disease, even if minimal surely is better than none at all? although we're naturally made, to breathe through our nose, talk through our mouths and breathe in, clean unpolluted air. none of this is natural or healthy