Rooster Reports 7: Hello Thai people: The pandemic's over now, pretty please, ditch the face masks!

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[George Bowman]

Almost every day, I see a motorcyclist zipping down the road looking at their phone and not wearing a helmet. But, they have a face mask on for protection.... 

[OneMoreFarang]

If they want to wear a mask, for whatever reason, let them wear their mask. What's the problem?

[transam]

If folk are still going down with C19, then it is not over..........????

[Gaccha]

8 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If they want to wear a mask, for whatever reason, let them wear their mask. What's the problem?

 

* Off topic comments regarding wearing a hiqab edited out *

 

I invite you to think of the consequences.

 

What are the consequences for social solidarity when you can't see the other person? Do we need social solidarity? Do we need society? Can't we just sit in our rooms alone, munching cheetos and date AI chatbots? Why do we  even need to communicate with other humans? Why not upload ourselves and escape our meat bodies? Why not become Skygods?... 

 

In other words, your dismissive "what's the problem?" is exactly the problem. There is always a problem.

 

 

[Skallywag]

Sorry. YouTube guy only has 78 subscribers, cannot listen to a newby like this 5555

 

Masks are good for protecting nose and face from sunburn - skin cancer.  Masks reduce the smell of gas and diesel from the too many cars on the roads when walking,  Masks protect me from the thousands of Russians and Chinese here who may be sick as well.

 

Get used to it....people do things for more than one reason and 99% of the time it is none of your business  5555  

 

It's all good man - to each their own

[VinnieK]

Sheeple are still terrified.

Masks will be around for a long time 

[Skallywag]

3 minutes ago, Gaccha said:

What are the consequences for social solidarity when you can't see the other person

The eyes are the window to the soul.  As long as you can see a persons eyes you can relate to them.  

[spidermike007]

I have a friend who is a surgical nurse at a large, local hospital. She says she cannot remember the last time they saw a covid patient. 

 

It is over. Some have a hard time letting go of the panic. Some don't want to let it go. Masks serve little to no function now, other than preventing inhalation of pollution. 

[4MyEgo]

22 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If they want to wear a mask, for whatever reason, let them wear their mask. What's the problem?

I haven't worn a mask for over a year, caught nothing, am vaxed x 3 with Pfizer and have had Covid after my 3rd jab.

 

Enough fear mongering I say, but yes, as you say, "up to them".

 

https://nypost.com/2023/02/14/face-masks-made-little-to-no-difference-in-preventing-covid-study/

[blackshadow]

39 minutes ago, George Bowman said:

Almost every day, I see a motorcyclist zipping down the road looking at their phone and not wearing a helmet. But, they have a face mask on for protection.... 

I SEEN LOADS of them too........

[DavisH]

For all intents and purposes, the pandemic is over in Thailand. I have noticed a small but significant decrease in masking in bKK shopping centers. Virtually noone is wearing maskes in tourist areas, without any problem evident. I haven't worn one in months, and am not wearing one while teaching now. Virtually all other asian/Thai teachers and students wear them in the classroom though. Peer group  pressure seems to apply to both adults and children here alike. 

They are at more rish from pm2.5 pollution than anything else. They should buy masks that suit this purpose when outside. 

[KhunBENQ]

The problem is that I feel unwell to be the only (farang) without a mask at 7/11, malls etc.

After a few days in maskless Pattaya I do first stop at a pump in Isan and basically all people walk with masks even on the parking lot.

When you see people here without mask it's usually not the rural folks but neatly dressed city dwellers.

 

Down with the masks where they make absolutely no sense!

 

Funny enough: mask on the motorbike can be argued about.

With that amount of dust and stinky Diesel fumes it might make sense

 

Edited March 28, 2023 by KhunBENQ

[Baht Simpson]

42 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If they want to wear a mask, for whatever reason, let them wear their mask. What's the problem?

Quite! Why is it anyone else's business. It's bizarre that it upsets people.  Poor old Rooster. 

[transam]

Mrs.T wears a mask on her bike, as well as a crash hat with visor, because of the cr_p in the air..................Nothing to do with C19.................

[richard_smith237]

2 minutes ago, Baht Simpson said:

46 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If they want to wear a mask, for whatever reason, let them wear their mask. What's the problem?

Quite! Why is it anyone else's business. It's bizarre that it upsets people.  Poor old Rooster. 

I think there ‘could be’ a problem with it.. (everyone wearing a mask). 

 

When society conforms in wearing a mask there is some social judgement against those who do not conform. There have been examples of people speaking out and deriding others for not wearing a mask. 

 

 

Thus, when out and about, in a shopping centre etc and everyone is wearing a mask, we may feel the stares, the occasional ’stink-eye’ and perhaps some ‘colder treatment’ because we haven't conformed and those who are wearing masks may feel some resentment towards us because we are not taking part in the communal ‘don’t put anyone else at danger’ mentality. 

 

I haven’t worn a mask in Thailand for over a year, my Wife has stopped wearing a mask for the past 6 months... And I don't care about the judgement from others when wearing a mask is so clearly no longer necessary.

 

But, some people do care about confirming and the judgement of others and thus wear a mask even when they’d prefer not to.

 

This is why a sensible official stance matters - In a country like Thailand where social conformity is such a significant facet of society there needs to be clear announcements that people no longer need to wear masks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[markclover]

I love these masks.  They hide my disgusting face and look cool.

[richard_smith237]

5 minutes ago, transam said:

Mrs.T wears a mask on her bike, as well as a crash hat with visor, because of the cr_p in the air..................Nothing to do with C19.................

Thats something completely different. 

 

The majority of the population are still wearing masks for no other reason than everyone else is and they don't want to be the ones breaking with conformity and potentially judged. 

[transam]

Just now, richard_smith237 said:

Thats something completely different. 

 

The majority of the population are still wearing masks for no other reason than everyone else is and they don't want to be the ones breaking with conformity and potentially judged. 

But some here 'think' they are wearing masks on a bike for C19, which is cr_p......????

[richard_smith237]

I was recently in Japan... A lot (most) people there wearing masks in the city but not in the provinces. 

 

Out in the provinces (ski area) no one was wearing a mask, tourists or Japanese... 

Yet, in Tokyo (and on the Shinkansen) everyone was wearing a mask - you stood out if you didn’t.

 

I wore a mask and hated it... why ??....  I felt like I had to and it would be upsetting people around me if I didn’t - this seemed ridiculous to me, yet I conformed... then would walk into a busy bar or restaurant and no one had masks on... madness.

 

[richard_smith237]

1 minute ago, transam said:

But some here 'think' they are wearing masks on a bike for C19, which is cr_p......????

Yeah, I guess that’s a thing now... 

 

Before Covid-19 in countries such as Thailand a minority wore masks because of the pollution...  Moving forwards some may think they are wearing masks because they are scared of Covid-19... 

But, will people get upset with a minority wearing masks ??...  

I have read of examples in the states where people are targeted and ridiculed for wearing a mask when the ‘aggressor’ believes they ‘shouldn’t be’.....  madness again !... 

 

IMO - people should wear what they want... But outside of a pandemic etc I think the societal conformity and lack of individual thought to ‘step out of this mask wearing trance’ seems a little ridiculous...  

 

As others have pointed out, whats the harm?... But there is some harm when people pass judgement based on flawed beliefs or understanding which is only perpetuated by society’s thoughtless & voiceless conformity.

[hotandsticky]

My missus was verbally abused, for wearing a mask, in the UK last April.

[transam]

13 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

Thats something completely different. 

 

The majority of the population are still wearing masks for no other reason than everyone else is and they don't want to be the ones breaking with conformity and potentially judged. 

I am talking bikes.........Mrs.T is 100% proof of why folk wear masks on a bike, and I reckon, as C19 is waning, folk perhaps realise not breathing in cr_p via a mask is a good idea...????

[kennw]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If they want to wear a mask, for whatever reason, let them wear their mask. What's the problem?

It seems our friend Rooster does not listen too or understand scientific information, maybe his brain is a bit clouded from the smoke he now likes to promote.

[bkk6060]

Lots of Thais driving alone in their cars wearing them.

I bet some will wear them for the rest of their lives.

[freedomnow]

Wore a 3M mask N95 both in UK and in Thailand since start of covid...never got any noticeable covid till late 2022 and believe me, anything going, any season before all this masking I got it and bad...no such luck as asymptomatic...I get felled with any respitory bug going around.

 

Dumped masks arriving back in UK 6 months ago and have had two awful 2 weeks+ covid bouts...this after 3x vax doses over 1.5 years...the effect of covid was still super rough.

 

I won't be going back to masking though, after being vaxxed and getting it.

Based on my history of picking up respitory illnesses and zero covid symptoms till I stopped the masking, for me anyway masking seemed to definetly work.

 

I would though maybe wear an N95 on a motorbike in future just to block a bit of the airbourne pollution. So don't assume masking on motorbikes is about covid as people masked up for pollution before, though perhaps not in the numbers we saw after covid.

[James105]

1 hour ago, Skallywag said:

Sorry. YouTube guy only has 78 subscribers, cannot listen to a newby like this 5555

 

Masks are good for protecting nose and face from sunburn - skin cancer.  

Indeed...

 

[Joseph98765]

1 hour ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If they want to wear a mask, for whatever reason, let them wear their mask. What's the problem?

yeah! right? we go to a restaurant and now we feel more confident that the food won't be poisoned with their saliva...555

but it doesn't matter....covid might be over, but now we have another reason more realistic to wear a mask....at least until the rain comes.

 

[Jaggg88]

We spent new year in Bangkok and my Thai mother in law religiously wore her mask all the time, nobody else did. When we returned to central Thailand she didn't feel well and tested positive. Fortunately she only had mild symptoms for a few days but the mask wearing was obviously no help. Nobody else tested positive. 

[Thingamabob]

Nobody should be criticised for wearing a mask if they want to.