Face covering in internal blocks of flats and care homes

EdRush · Post by **EdRush** » 07 Oct 2020, 20:32

Is it just me or does anyone else find wearing a face covering insufferable and suffocating when on delivery?

Being a postman is quite exhausting at the best of times... but now we've been 'advised' to cover our breathing holes whilst lugging our parcel and mail CRAMMED satchels up and down flights of stairs, and corridors whenever we head inside blocks of flats and care homes. Of which i have 3 on my duty

This will probably go on until next October 2021 when BoJo promises to 'end social distancing'!

Id like to suffocate these pen pushers who come up with these hair brain ideas!!

Post by **nutcracker** » 08 Oct 2020, 00:13

They can definitely be stifling, but around care homes in particular, procedures need to be a bit more air tight for obvious reasons...

What type of mask do you wear? I find they blue surgical(?) type masks a bit more breathable than some of the other types?

twoloops · Post by **twoloops** » 08 Oct 2020, 07:48

We no longer enter care homes, we just leave it with whoever comes out to collect it?

Post by **POSTMAN** » 08 Oct 2020, 11:49

What is the advice on delivering to care homes?

Where the current practice is to deliver to each door in a care home, the DOM should contact those care homes to agree to leave the mail at a central point. If the care home does not agree, then deliveries should be made in the normal way.

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Pumpernickel · Post by **Pumpernickel** » 08 Oct 2020, 14:49

I've been masking up when delivering in any building since around March or April (voluntarily, back when "masks don't do anything"). Had strange reactions at first, but since the guidance changed people no longer have an issue with it.

This includes sheltered accommodation, hospitals, clinics, shops, residential tower blocks, and anything like. Haven't been in any care homes (pass mail through a window for those).

It is a bit uncomfortable (esp in the summer), but I wouldn't go so far as to say "suffocating". It's not been much more than 20 mins a time though (for tower blocks), and the mask comes off when I'm back outside.

I suspect we'll be doing this beyond Oct 2021, though would be happy to be wrong.

Woody Guthrie · Post by **Woody Guthrie** » 08 Oct 2020, 15:16

I dare say if NHS staff can manage it for a 12 hour shift us tough as f**k posties can manage it for a care home or a couple of blocks of flats.

EdRush · Post by **EdRush** » 08 Oct 2020, 20:12

Woody Guthrie wrote:I dare say if NHS staff can manage it for a 12 hour shift us tough as f**k posties can manage it for a care home or a couple of blocks of flats.

Load of sh*te. They dont wear masks for 12 hours, and probably change them many times... but i get your point...

I now understand that a face covering doesnt have to mean wearing a surgical mask.
Just a thin material will do. I will give that a whirl and hope i dont get any more complaints/taken off my duty

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 31 Oct 2020, 15:30

EdRush wrote:
Woody Guthrie wrote:I dare say if NHS staff can manage it for a 12 hour shift us tough as f**k posties can manage it for a care home or a couple of blocks of flats.
Load of sh*te. They dont wear masks for 12 hours, and probably change them many times... but i get your point...

I now understand that a face covering doesnt have to mean wearing a surgical mask.
Just a thin material will do. I will give that a whirl and hope i dont get any more complaints/taken off my duty

Why should you your just doing your job.

twiddledumb · Post by **twiddledumb** » 31 Oct 2020, 22:55

EdRush wrote:
Woody Guthrie wrote:I dare say if NHS staff can manage it for a 12 hour shift us tough as f**k posties can manage it for a care home or a couple of blocks of flats.
Load of sh*te. They dont wear masks for 12 hours, and probably change them many times... but i get your point...

I now understand that a face covering doesnt have to mean wearing a surgical mask.
Just a thin material will do. I will give that a whirl and hope i dont get any more complaints/taken off my duty

My wife is a nurse and they do have to wear it for 12 hours, and yes they do change them but that takes 1 minute to do.

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 31 Oct 2020, 22:59

twiddledumb wrote:
EdRush wrote:
Woody Guthrie wrote:I dare say if NHS staff can manage it for a 12 hour shift us tough as f**k posties can manage it for a care home or a couple of blocks of flats.
Load of sh*te. They dont wear masks for 12 hours, and probably change them many times... but i get your point...

I now understand that a face covering doesnt have to mean wearing a surgical mask.
Just a thin material will do. I will give that a whirl and hope i dont get any more complaints/taken off my duty
My wife is a nurse and they do have to wear it for 12 hours, and yes they do change them but that takes 1 minute to do.

But she don't go into 200 shops a day and it is not raining inside of the care home!

ddtc · Post by **ddtc** » 01 Nov 2020, 07:45

k979aaa wrote: But she don't go into 200 shops a day and it is not raining inside of the care home!

Are you actually suggesting that we work in a more dangerous environment than nurses and doctors? Really?

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 01 Nov 2020, 15:24

ddtc wrote:
k979aaa wrote: But she don't go into 200 shops a day and it is not raining inside of the care home!
Are you actually suggesting that we work in a more dangerous environment than nurses and doctors? Really?

No just that you should change the mask for each place you visit or your defeating the object and they don't work when wet by the rain!

Post by **TrueBlueTerrier** » 02 Nov 2020, 12:08

k979aaa wrote:
ddtc wrote:
k979aaa wrote: But she don't go into 200 shops a day and it is not raining inside of the care home!
Are you actually suggesting that we work in a more dangerous environment than nurses and doctors? Really?
No just that you should change the mask for each place you visit or your defeating the object and they don't work when wet by the rain!

Why should you change your mask.

The advice to wear a mask is to try and stop you infecting others. Not to stop you being infected. Nearly everyone will be infected at some point but the idea of wearing a mask is try and reduce the infection rate that's all.

You wearing the same mask all day, in a non medical situation, will not increase your chances of infection, nor will the mask getting wet have an impact on the chances of YOU being infected. If you are infected you cant catch it again from your own mask, and if you are not infected, continually changing a mask between shops will increase the chances of infection rather than reduce it. You have to touch the mask to remove it, and the more times you touch it the greater the chance of infection. The mask being made wet by rain can lessen the risk as it may wash away any infectious residue that may have got on to the outside of the mask.

I'll be blunt, I think I see why you are into the Covid Conspiracy Theories you've post on here. Its a misunderstanding of the science, and the risk factors involved.

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 07 Nov 2020, 02:22

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
k979aaa wrote:
ddtc wrote:
k979aaa wrote: But she don't go into 200 shops a day and it is not raining inside of the care home!
Are you actually suggesting that we work in a more dangerous environment than nurses and doctors? Really?
No just that you should change the mask for each place you visit or your defeating the object and they don't work when wet by the rain!

Why should you change your mask.

The advice to wear a mask is to try and stop you infecting others. Not to stop you being infected. Nearly everyone will be infected at some point but the idea of wearing a mask is try and reduce the infection rate that's all.

You wearing the same mask all day, in a non medical situation, will not increase your chances of infection, nor will the mask getting wet have an impact on the chances of YOU being infected. If you are infected you cant catch it again from your own mask, and if you are not infected, continually changing a mask between shops will increase the chances of infection rather than reduce it. You have to touch the mask to remove it, and the more times you touch it the greater the chance of infection. The mask being made wet by rain can lessen the risk as it may wash away any infectious residue that may have got on to the outside of the mask.

I'll be blunt, I think I see why you are into the Covid Conspiracy Theories you've post on here. Its a misunderstanding of the science, and the risk factors involved.

The air you breath in is on the front of the mask if you visit 20 or 30 or two 200 places you will spread the infection around the idea behind masks is use one on entry take it off dispose of it safely and ware another one when visiting another establishment the whole point of masks is to reduce transmission of the virus. But people are not nurses doctors or epidemiologists masks are fine in an environment with snatiation and due care and process if you can ware one I don't go against medical science but they the masks are ok for most but the lack of care in disposing of them using them and what can de done with them ie two in a van sharing! and touching one's face every ten seconds is a big downer for masks you only have to look in vans down the street and frames with discarded masks as to know they do not work as people don't know how to use them!

k979aaa · Post by **k979aaa** » 07 Nov 2020, 02:57

TrueBlueTerrier wrote:
k979aaa wrote:
ddtc wrote:
k979aaa wrote: But she don't go into 200 shops a day and it is not raining inside of the care home!
Are you actually suggesting that we work in a more dangerous environment than nurses and doctors? Really?
No just that you should change the mask for each place you visit or your defeating the object and they don't work when wet by the rain!

Why should you change your mask.

The advice to wear a mask is to try and stop you infecting others. Not to stop you being infected. Nearly everyone will be infected at some point but the idea of wearing a mask is try and reduce the infection rate that's all.

You wearing the same mask all day, in a non medical situation, will not increase your chances of infection, nor will the mask getting wet have an impact on the chances of YOU being infected. If you are infected you cant catch it again from your own mask, and if you are not infected, continually changing a mask between shops will increase the chances of infection rather than reduce it. You have to touch the mask to remove it, and the more times you touch it the greater the chance of infection. The mask being made wet by rain can lessen the risk as it may wash away any infectious residue that may have got on to the outside of the mask.

I'll be blunt, I think I see why you are into the Covid Conspiracy Theories you've post on here. Its a misunderstanding of the science, and the risk factors involved.

I will say one thing other conspiracy theories I like to debate on here I do respect the rules but put forward ideas and content even I don't agree with all that has been said or not said on here for that is our democratic rite and long shall it be so!