" assault Rape survivors say they are being stigmatised for not wearing masks"

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I had thought your one month "vacation" from this Forum might have caused you to re-evaluate your conduct on this site. But I see you continue to intend to make these discussions into petty, personal feuds rather than honest exchanges of views.

Therefore, I will return to my policy of ignoring your posts.

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Both things duly noted, but

Note that Lemondrop implies that it's always justified or worthwhile to sacrifice
the interests or rights of 'a miniscule percentage of people' for 'the public good'.

I would have thought that Lemon Drop's position would be entirely consistent with the Chinese Communist Party's, and their efforts to fight COVID-19 have been wildly spectacular, surpassing each & every country in the West.

Or am I wrong?

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It’s an interesting question:

Suppose that wearing a mask is a life-death choice. Yet one is not able to wear the said mask.

How do you solve such a problem?

Say the person in question is in a WW1 trench during a mustard gas attack. A panic attack or death?

I don’t know.
There is no clear cut answer to it.

As for COVID, the mask is there to protect others from you, in case you’re infected.
Perhaps one should refrain from entering mask-wearing situations, if wearing a mask is so problematic? You know, to guarantee other people’s safety?

Is it fair that this person, through no fault of her own, is being punished even more than the general population?
Is it fair that the general population should be put more at risk because of this person’s individual circumstances?

@shavixmir said
It’s an interesting question:

Suppose that wearing a mask is a life-death choice. Yet one is not able to wear the said mask.

How do you solve such a problem?

Say the person in question is in a WW1 trench during a mustard gas attack. A panic attack or death?

I don’t know.
There is no clear cut answer to it.

As for COVID, the mask is there to protect others fr ...[text shortened]... the general population should be put more at risk because of this person’s individual circumstances?

There have been 738,000 deaths due to this infectious and highly contagious disease this year with the number growing every day. Until there is a vaccine, mandatory mask wearing is an absolutely necessary public health measure. If someone for whatever reason has a problem wearing a mask, they should refrain from going into public during the duration of the pandemic. And there is no requirement and should be no requirement that one test positive or exhibit symptoms of COVID BEFORE a mask is required; the disease can be contagious in a person well before any symptoms manifest.

As I said, there is no "right" to spread a deadly disease.

@no1marauder said
There have been 738,000 deaths due to this infectious and highly contagious disease this year with the number growing every day. Until there is a vaccine, mandatory mask wearing is an absolutely necessary public health measure. If someone for whatever reason has a problem wearing a mask, they should refrain from going into public during the duration of the pandemic. And t ...[text shortened]... son well before any symptoms manifest.

As I said, there is no "right" to spread a deadly disease.

In the Netherlands a mask is only mandatory in public transport (and since last week in certain city areas during certain times).

The effectiveness of wearing the masks is even debatable.

This being said, I do agree with the general gist of what you’re saying.

The problem being, as well, that the exception Dutchess makes, is revealing medical information (even though not exact) of an individual to people who have no right to that information.

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(1) I thought that Taiwan is China?

But exactly whom does Philokalia believe that China's
government 'sacrificed' in fighting the pandemic?

It had some of the strictest travel restrictions that I have heard of, and at times was even barricading people into their apartments [1].

It has even been reported that the Chinese had sent drones out to tell people to put on their masks [2].

I wonder how many people with legitimate phobias pertaining to assaults they suffered (perhaps even at the hands of Japanese Imperial soldiers) were then forced to don these suffocating protective masks -- add to it the absurdity of walking about in the open.

[1] https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7960471/Police-BARRICADE-screaming-woman-home-iron-bars-Wuhan-stop-coronavirus-spreading.html
[2] https://nypost.com/2020/02/01/drones-scold-chinese-residents-without-masks-as-coronavirus-spreads/

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You have no idea who I do and do not care about. Don’t even go there.

In Europe we have privacy laws (unlike China I may add) and medical information is considered exceptionally private.
If her behaviour leads to people having to hand over proof of health to enter a shop, it’s behaviour that has to be tackled.