aaand I’m out.
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How is this not virtue signalling 
It’s exactly what I was referring to
Edit: wears a mask to protect everyone whilst on his own, gets the camera shot, takes it off, gets up close and personal whilst shaking the hosts hand.
Absolute utter nonsense
I mean I know where you’re going with it but even I would bet good money most people re-use the blue masks…
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If I go to Tesco I take a mask from the car, it’s used for that purpose and then it’s put in a bin in the boot when I go back to the car. Obviously that approach is not as practical when “on the high street”, but I can only talk to my own experience.
waves Hi! I use them once and bin them. I’m careful with how I put them on, take them off and I don’t touch them on my face.
Even my reusable ones get worn only once and then popped in a bag to wash.
Masks really help cut down transmission in high risk settings.
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I totally get that, and I know some people do use them once. I still wouldn’t say it’s the norm (or was the norm) though.
Absolutely fair play if you do that, though I still don’t believe cloth or blue masks have any actual effect on transmission.
Of course the downside if everyone were to wear the correct masks properly is billions would end up in landfill or the oceans that affect marine life.
Literally can’t win 
that’s a valid concern with single use masks, but it’s typically just the meltblown filter you can’t recycle. The other components you can recycle, which significantly reduces the waste. There are some companies, like evolve together (whose masks I use), working towards something more sustainable and just as protective as meltblown filters.
As long as COVID is prevalent and the risks of long COVID remain, I’m going to carry on masking up like f***. And social distancing as much as practical still.
I want the pandemic to be over as much as anyone else - but I’m acutely aware that saying “It’s over!” just because we want that to be the case won’t simply make it come true. The daily briefings on TV may have long stopped, but if you go and look for the numbers, there is clearly still cause for concern.
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At what point is it “over” for you?
As there isn’t a straightforward answer, it’s easier for me to link to this article that to try and put my own words together:
I suppose one way of putting it would be when infections are at a steady level and we don’t have repeating waves of variants.
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Is flu ‘over’ ? Might seem like I’m being flippant, but the reality is that covid will never be ‘over’ - it is just about managing personal risk. If I knew someone had the flu I certainly would not want to be around them even if we both wore masks. That is me, managing my risk. You do you and stop worrying what others do.
I have not worn a mask for many months now, but I will review that in winter based on the stats then.
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Flu is endemic, which is a different stage from pandemic. COVID won’t vanish, but the hope is it will also move to an endemic stage. At the moment, though, it is still in the pandemic stage.
ETA: we also manage flu with yearly boosters, while I’m slightly concerned at the moment that there’s no apparent plans for further COVID vaccine boosters.
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That’s what happens when you declare something is over…
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I want to like this to show that it’s a good reply and I get your point. But also, I don’t like this. 
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I don’t worry about what others do.
What gets me the most, is people, and the media never post positive things about covid. Like “infections and deaths have reduced x amount of % of the last x weeks. When things get worse, it’s plastered everywhere.
This thread, the media and social media is extremely quiet when things are getting better.
I’ve not heard any of them even mention covid for weeks now. It’s like it never existed.
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Flu is interesting. Because pandemic is defined as “… except flu”. I think we just gave up on flu as yeah, we have this multi century pandemic which we sort of just live with.
It’s all about monkeypox now in the media, except very recently because covid is ticking back up, but the articles aren’t front and centre anymore, they’re buried lower down the page.
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The JCVI recently gave interim advice on an autumn booster programme for 2022 so groups it will involve (the NHS and care homes) can start the necessary operational planning. The final announcement of the plans will be done “in due course”. Also, the Spring booster campaign is currently in operation or coming to an end.