Face mask poll

[John Luxton]

Perhaps it is time for a poll on masks in England given the lively debate on another thread?

 

[Fragezeichnen]

I am not sure what you expect from this. I think anyone who browses this forum can easily guess:

1. What the result will be
2. That the result will not be representative of the general population

 

[John Luxton]

I am not sure what you expect from this. I think anyone who browses this forum can easily guess:

1. What the result will be
2. That the result will not be representative of the general population

I would say this is a fairly representative poll.

Railway enthusiasts come from all walks of life and political opinions.

There is a healthy discussion going on about Masks on another thread where some are pro and others anti.

Therefore how can you predict what the answer would be?

I have been a member of YouGov for some time and taken part in many polls.

Does that offer a better cross section of opinion as I have noticed over past few months once one answers a lead question the next questions are options targeted at those who responded in a particular way.

 

[Annetts key]

I’ve been wearing a face covering when travelling on the tube in London anyway.

Some business venues have been requesting face coverings are worn while in crowded areas, or when moving along corridors or stairs etc.

 

[adc82140]

I've said no, because there is no such thing as a face mask requirement. There is a face covering requirement. A mask requirement would be a matter for further debate, but bits of old cloth, forget it.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Surprising early results...

 

[jfollows]

I've been wearing a face covering when in shops anyway, so the most recent change will make little difference to me. I've not always worn a face covering when I've been on a train, but only not when I was sitting and with nobody else within close vicinity, which hasn't been a problem during off-peak times when I've generally been travelling. I will simply change to ensuring that I wear a face covering on trains all the time as well, if that's the revised regulation. It's not a problem nor a major imposition to me to do so.

 

[Annetts key]

I am not sure what you expect from this. I think anyone who browses this forum can easily guess:

1. What the result will be
2. That the result will not be representative of the general population

There are quite a lot of members here who don’t like wearing face coverings or who don’t think they do any good, and are quite vocal about it.

But that is unlikely to representative of the views of the general membership here.

I’m personally undecided on how effective they are (or not). I’m no sheep, I make my own mind up. But decided the possibility that a face covering may help even if only a very little bit means that when required, I will put one on.

 

[kristiang85]

I will because I don't want to cause a fuss, but I will just wear my old bandana covering which doesn't affect my ears and is very breathable.

I am 100% against the mandation though.

 

[birchesgreen]

I will, doesn't bother me one way or the other.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

I have been advised that as I have a registered disability, I can legitimately claim an exemption - I wish someone had pointed that out to me in June 2020... Apparently just having any disability of any kind falls under the "disabled people" exemption.

 

[Smidster]

I mean - Yes , Because it is the law and I can't handle arguments about it.

Very annoyed that I had booked a couple of things over Black Friday that I will now probably abandon.

 

[yorkie]

I mean - Yes , Because it is the law and I can't handle arguments about it.

Very annoyed that I had booked a couple of things over Black Friday that I will now probably abandon.

I said before I won't be wearing one and I'm sticking to that.

I'm not changing my life because of authoritarianism and I would encourage others not to do so either.

We must not allow ourselves to be restricted again in any form whatsoever.

I have been advised that as I have a registered disability, I can legitimately claim an exemption - I wish someone had pointed that out to me in June 2020... Apparently just having any disability of any kind falls under the "disabled people" exemption.

There is no requirement to have a disability or medical condition; anyone can self declare an exemption for a wide range of reasons and that includes if wearing a face covering would cause distress or anxiety or if it is difficult to do so.

There is no need for anyone to explain what their reason for exemption is either.

There is no need to wear anything to indicate being exempt, but people who don't wish to be challenged may prefer to wear a sunflower lanyard which should avoid being asked any questions.

Based on the poll so far around 50 per cent are planning to wear face coverings. Seeing such high proportion of people wear them gives a sense of dystopia and makes me feel upset and angry, but I will not change my lifestyle and will just have to put up with this dystopian world we live in.

I'm not staying home or canceling plans and I urge others not to so either.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

There is no need to wear anything to indicate being exempt, but people who don't wish to be challenged may prefer to wear a sunflower lanyard which should avoid being asked any questions.

There's one on the way to me...

 

[John Luxton]

I said before I won't be wearing one and I'm sticking to that.

I'm not changing my life because of authoritarianism and I would encourage others not to do so either.

I'm not staying home or canceling plans and I urge others not to so either.

Well said Yorkie - my your views correspond with mine.

Most people such that become so worked up about the issue of face coverings and restrictions ARE suffering from stress induced by the requirement to wear them, plus those of us who wear spectacles have steaming problems. I get hot very easily even in cold weather and steaming is a big issue for me.

If we can sign ourselves off work due to stress therefore we have the right to sign ourselves out of this requirement.

During 2020 I will be honest I did wear a mask when shopping in one particular well known chain of stores access to which is controlled by a membership. This was because of the fear of having my membership withdrawn thus I continued to comply. Their attitude seemed to be if you cant wear a mask wear a face shield (worse in my view). But I complied for 20 minutes once a week. Yes I could have gone elsewhere but as a pay a membership fee I wasn't prepared to do that.

When it came to rail travel I did do quite a few heritage railway trips particularly in Wales.

I found one line particularly controlling and despite having during the lockdown signed up for life membership, decided to stay away after a visit just after they reopened and given Wales' enthusiasm for masks have stayed away.

However, I realised that several other lines also in Wales said one thing on web sites but in reality said nothing if you didn't comply and have not done so this year either.

As for network rail and bus travel I didn't attempt this until July this year. For various reasons I had not used public transport except for ferries much in recent years.

However, once back on the trains and buses I have travelled a lot in the south west and north of England - just for the pleasure of it. Face coverings will just take away the pleasure.

Two weeks ago booked a trip to York for the NRM for later this week. I am looking forward to see what happens when I turn up sans mask.

As the TOC provides complimentary refreshments in 1st Class am I not entering a hospitality venue?

 

[Freightmaster]

During 2020 I will be honest I did wear a mask when shopping in one particular well known chain of stores access to which is controlled by a membership. This was because of the fear of having my membership withdrawn thus I continued to comply.

"Welcome to Costco - I hate you"






MARK

 

[John Luxton]

"Welcome to Costco - I hate you"

MARK

Well done Hercule .....

 

[LSWR Cavalier]

I wear a mask because it is encouraged/required, and because it might help.

I wish people would try to keep 2m apart where possible,very simple, just walk on the right or left as instructed. Perhaps marshalls are needed.

 

[adc82140]

I wear a mask because it is encouraged/required, and because it might help.

I wish people would try to keep 2m apart where possible,very simple, just walk on the right or left as instructed. Perhaps marshalls are needed.

2m apart would work to reduce spread, but it'd also work to put a lot of places out of business. That's why social distancing was not mentioned by Johnson yesterday.

One way systems are just arbitrary, and serve no purpose.

Having people barking instructions at you in the street would be at best as popular as a traffic warden at 6.29pm, and at worst (and I in no way condone this) a danger to said marshal's wellbeing if they pick on the wrong person. The police have extensive conflict resolution training, and if needs be the powers of arrest. A member of the Rotary Club in a reflective anorak with a clipboard has neither of these.

 

[alex397]

We must not allow ourselves to be restricted again in any form whatsoever.

Interesting. So if someone tests positive for Coronavirus or has symptoms, especially if unvaccinated, should they disregard rules and just go to the pub and hug their friends?
You might want to change your wording.

 

[NorthOxonian]

I haven't decided. I find wearing masks incredibly uncomfortable, and my doctor has explicitly said I'm exempt. But I'm not really willing to deal with all the confrontation that claiming exemption would involve. Nor am I comfortable with wearing a lanyard - I hate the idea that it makes me stand out and because of the nature of my exemption (it's something I'm very sensitive about) I'm paranoid people will work out what it is and give me abuse over it. Obviously I have to choose one of those, but I genuinely don't know which - leaning towards the first but I'll probably only know for sure when I'm in that situation.

What I can say for certain is I'll be travelling far less (unfortunately I have an unavoidable four hour journey this week, but other than that probably never). And I'll be shopping as little as I possibly can.

 

[alex397]

Seeing as the other mask thread is being locked tonight, will this one also be?

 

[John Luxton]

Seeing as the other mask thread is being locked tonight, will this one also be?

I hope not - I think when I set this up the poll was set for 5 days which is a reasonable amount of time for occasional users of the forum to visit and cast their vote. It was not intended as an alternative thread but a way of ascertaining what people were going to do in the coming days.

 

[westv]

I will

Seeing as the other mask thread is being locked tonight, will this one also be?

If it is I suspect it's all part of a cover up.

 

[MikeWM]

I'm exempt, assuming the exemptions are the same as previously, so no.

If I wasn't exempt, I suspect still no. At some point we have to make a stand against this nonsense, or it will be with us forever.

 

[joncombe]

Yes but only to avoid arguments I will be reducing shopping to only doing a once a week trip to the supermarket. No other shops and no public transport. I travelled over 1000 miles by train in the last month, but that will once again go to zero now masks are required. I will return to making all journeys on foot and by car as I did before.

 

[Freightmaster]

It was not intended as an alternative thread but a way of ascertaining what people were going to do in the coming days.

In my opinion, rather than having two options for "no", it would have been far more interesting
to have two options for "yes" instead:


○ Yes (but only because I don't want to break the law/cause a scene/draw attention to myself)

○ Yes (I have no issues whatsoever wearing them - bring em on!)





MARK

 

[John Luxton]

In my opinion, rather than having two options for "no", it would have been far more interesting
to have two options for "yes" instead:


○ Yes (but only because I don't want to break the law/cause a scene/draw attention to myself)

○ Yes (I have no issues whatsoever wearing them - bring em on!)

MARK

I wish I had thought of that. Bit late now.

 

[gg1]

In my opinion, rather than having two options for "no", it would have been far more interesting
to have two options for "yes" instead:


○ Yes (but only because I don't want to break the law/cause a scene/draw attention to myself)

○ Yes (I have no issues whatsoever wearing them - bring em on!)





MARK

And really the 2 options for no should be:

No - I choose not to wear one
No - I have a legitimate reason to claim exemption

The other thread had a number of people openly saying they would lie about being exempt.

 

[yorkie]

Interesting. So if someone tests positive for Coronavirus or has symptoms, especially if unvaccinated, should they disregard rules and just go to the pub and hug their friends?
You might want to change your wording.

I refer you to the other thread:

...let's take a country like Japan, well known for mask compliance during the pandemic. However prior to it masks were not routinely worn, they were worn primarily by people displaying symptoms of colds and flu. And they were worn not out of some courtesy as you fantasise, but because in Japanese culture being off sick from work is often considered rude, even unacceptable. So masks became a way around this, as they believed as you do that they stop people infecting others...

The best thing for people to do if they are unwell is to stay at home. Not to go round engaging in virtue signalling by wearing flimsy masks.

In my opinion, rather than having two options for "no", it would have been far more interesting
to have two options for "yes" instead:

○ Yes (but only because I don't want to break the law/cause a scene/draw attention to myself)

○ Yes (I have no issues whatsoever wearing them - bring em on!
MARK

Agreed but we can take is as read that almost everyone only does so because of a requirement/expectation; hardly anyone was wearing a face covering on my recent trip to Nottingham, on any of the trains or trams I caught.

I haven't decided. I find wearing masks incredibly uncomfortable, and my doctor has explicitly said I'm exempt. But I'm not really willing to deal with all the confrontation that claiming exemption would involve. Nor am I comfortable with wearing a lanyard - I hate the idea that it makes me stand out and because of the nature of my exemption (it's something I'm very sensitive about) I'm paranoid people will work out what it is and give me abuse over it. Obviously I have to choose one of those, but I genuinely don't know which - leaning towards the first but I'll probably only know for sure when I'm in that situation.

What I can say for certain is I'll be travelling far less (unfortunately I have an unavoidable four hour journey this week, but other than that probably never). And I'll be shopping as little as I possibly can.

I am sorry to hear this. Sadly the pro-maskers are the only victors here.

You have my unwavering support and if I fall out with pro-maskers, that's fine with me; uncaring people who seek to impose masks are not worth me wasting my time with.