Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Why? It's the law, and most people are law-abiding even if they don't like the law.
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Observations of face covering in shops, public transport and other public places
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Why? It's the law, and most people are law-abiding even if they don't like the law.
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Journeyman
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Of course it's compulsion. Very few people wore masks out of choice.
It's a pointless law, imposed without democratic debate amongst our elected representatives. There's no justification for why it's imposed.
If I wanted to live in a police state, I would move to one. Until then, I am happy to register my dissent with non-compliance.
What i meant was that people do not have to wear masks in shops as you may have an exemption. Prior to it being mandatory, the majority of people did not wear masks because they did not like wearing them and still don't like wearing them.
I agree. I meant that people were not wearing them now because of exemptions.
I'm with you.
Journeyman
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I hate it as well, but I'm choosing to comply because I can't be bothered with the hassle of not doing so.
I am doing it to the absolute minimum required to comply with the law.
See posts 94 and 95.
I totally understand that. There are face coverings available printed with "This mask is useless" or "***k the government". I might consider that approach if I get battered into submission at any point. What's depressing about this is that this crap is going on for many many months. Remember we don't have any parameters to meet in order to be un-muzzled. It's all for the "greater good" - although I think that's the Facebook thickos equivalent of a comfort blanket.
Silverlinky
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I get that....and yes, perhaps it should be all or nothing. Not this half baked thing we have at the moment.
I did ask why all of a sudden masks were needed in shops when we’d been shopping for 15 or 16 weeks previously without one.
If wearing masks is so right then why are some of the most at risk people (asthma, lung problems) exempt from wearing them?
none of it makes any sense any more!
Journeyman
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All I can say is "don't be a dick". Shop workers didn't ask for the hassle, and I honestly can't see the point of being an obnoxious arse about the whole thing. It's not worth being a martyr over it. Like others have said, I hope the novelty wears off sooner or later.
Skimpot flyer
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I must say I’m disappointed at the level of compliance I’m witnessing. In Waitrose again today, I did not see one shopper without a covering, yet I did witness again people standing too close to one another in the checkout queues. I can only surmise that those who cannot wear one, or don’t want to but fear being hassled, are just staying away.
The gloves thing would really be the height of stupidity if it came in, and that for me would be the end of my compliance with these idiotic measures.
Anyone who challenged me would be shown this and if the shop didn’t want my custom, I’d never go back
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Because at no point has the law been about protecting the individual. It's all about protecting others. So someone who can wear a mask, at least in theory, wears one to protect those who cannot.
Actually, numerous ministers have been quoted as saying the purpose of the law is to make people "feel safe" to go out and spend money in bricks and mortar shops again.
Given I saw lots of people (staff and customers) fiddling with their filthy masks and then touching produce, baskets, trollies and tills without cleaning their hands, I actually found myself *more* worried about catching something than o have since this all started.
Journeyman
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That's absolute nonsense, as has been pointed out to you dozens of times.
A slight aside, but there was a study a few weeks ago that showed no greater risk in asthmatics than the general population.
https://www.independent.co.uk/indep...hma-risk-death-research-rutgers-a9604261.html
Asthma does not increase the severity of coronavirus, study finds
A common technique used in psychological warfare. Or alternatively the Government wants us to be angry at one another rather than at it. Or both.
Richard Scott
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Just been shopping in Wales do face masks not needed (yet), a few people wearing them but looked like shop floor staff were wearing them. Imagine they've been told to as one lad stacking shelves was struggling with his and kept fiddling with it and didn't seem happy wearing it. He turned around at one point hoping no one would see so that he could remove it. Shame if he's forced to wear it and then causes him stress.
My mind always immediately goes to Shaun of the Dead.
You're obviously not keeping up!
You can't spread the virus if you're sitting down in a coffee shop, but you can if you sit down in a supermarket.
You can't spread the virus if you work in a supermarket, but if you visit another store during your lunch break you can spread it, unless:
your visit is to a coffee shop AND you're sitting down
your visit is to another branch of the same company you work for AND you still have your uniform or staff badge clearly visible.
If you're on a train you can spread the virus if you're sitting down unless:
you're eating something (masks are not edible)
you're a train guard
you're a BTP officer
you're driving it
If you're a train guard you can't spread the virus if you're standing up unless
you get off the train
You get off the train and enter a coffee shop and don't sit down
you get off the train and onto another one you're not the guard on and don't sit down
you get off the train and onto another one you're not the guard on and sit down but don't eat anything
It's not exhaustive but it's a start
bramling
Veteran Member
I suspect it's more a case of don't want hassle and/or don't want a fine.
The problem with the idea that "it's the law" in this case is that many people have completely lost confidence in Johnson and his government's judgement in making the right decisions on this, with the Cummings scandal being the final straw, as well as the mixed and conflicting messages coming out of the government machine. So like it or not we're all left with using our own instincts and judgements. In this case I am genuinely concerned that complying with this law increases risk. Various of the medical experts have been quite clear on that, and haven't made much of a case to supersede that. Given that there's certain places I *need* to go even if I attempt to minimise physical shopping as far as possible, I feel this leaves me with little option but to not comply with this law. Fortunately in my own work I am exempt, otherwise the same issue would apply.
I am sick of this idea that anyone devoid of mask is suddenly a walking biohazard. Personally myself and household, having worked right through this rather than having the luxury of home-working or furlough, have gone to some effort right through this to take measures, for example using handgels, extra cleaning, modifying our behaviours to avoid risky places, activities and settings, and taking steps at work such as cleaning surfaces down. I completely resent the idea that much of this may now go to waste thanks to a stupid political decision aimed at pacifying a small segment of society, and I now consider myself more at risk of contracting Covid as a result. Needless to say there's more chance of passing it on if infected than if not infected in the first place, mask or no mask. I'm sufficiently angry about all this that I'm certainly up for a bit of a stand over masks, and especially against the vigilante element.
Look no further than care homes for an example of how doing what the government wanted worked well...
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bramling
Veteran Member
You're obviously not keeping up!
You can't spread the virus if you're sitting down in a coffee shop, but you can if you sit down in a supermarket.
You can't spread the virus if you work in a supermarket, but if you visit another store during your lunch break you can spread it, unless:
your visit is to a coffee shop AND you're sitting down
your visit is to another branch of the same company you work for AND you still have your uniform or staff badge clearly visible.
If you're on a train you can spread the virus if you're sitting down unless:
you're eating something (masks are not edible)
you're a train guard
you're a BTP officer
you're driving it
If you're a train guard you can't spread the virus if you're standing up unless
you get off the train
You get off the train and enter a coffee shop and don't sit down
you get off the train and onto another one you're not the guard on and don't sit down
you get off the train and onto another one you're not the guard on and sit down but don't eat anything
It's not exhaustive but it's a start
Sums things up perfectly. I seem to remember hearing it's okay to be on the Settle & Carlisle special train as that's being treated as a restaurant not a train?!
Actually yes, I believe it is. My Winchester point still stands!
You're obviously not keeping up!
You can't spread the virus if you're sitting down in a coffee shop, but you can if you sit down in a supermarket.
You can't spread the virus if you work in a supermarket, but if you visit another store during your lunch break you can spread it, unless:
your visit is to a coffee shop AND you're sitting down
your visit is to another branch of the same company you work for AND you still have your uniform or staff badge clearly visible.
If you're on a train you can spread the virus if you're sitting down unless:
you're eating something (masks are not edible)
you're a train guard
you're a BTP officer
you're driving it
If you're a train guard you can't spread the virus if you're standing up unless
you get off the train
You get off the train and enter a coffee shop and don't sit down
you get off the train and onto another one you're not the guard on and don't sit down
you get off the train and onto another one you're not the guard on and sit down but don't eat anything
It's not exhaustive but it's a start
And don't forget that these risks all came into being at 0.00 last Friday.
According to the operator's website, with that one you needed a mask on the station and getting on the train (despite at the time that appeared masks not being required on stations according to the national rules), but not when you were sitting down on the train (whereas the national rules said that you did need one when sitting down on the train).
And let's not forget heritage railways either - until last Friday, many of them had decided that you needed a mask on the station but not on the train, whereas on the big railway you needed a mask on the train but not the station. Now you need masks on both train and station on the big railway, unless you are sitting at a table in a station pub/cafe, in which case you don't need one.
Keeping up over there?
RomeoCharlie71
Established Member
Actually you only need a face covering in "enclosed" transport hubs, or that was the last I read anyway...
SouthEastBuses
On Moderation
And only applies to England, for now
Sorry, I missed that bit from the list!
I wonder what 'enclosed' means? Is a shelter with two open doorways enclosed?
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Generally the definition used for the smoking ban has been used.
Which in 99% of cases includes open platforms.
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